Rob Zombie thinks the Grammy awards are "pathetic."

The veteran heavy metal singer doesn't like what the awards show, because he doesn't feel the performers put in as much energy as real rock bands do.

"Rock bands can deliver it live, whereas a lot of pop act - you watch the Grammys and it's pathetic sometimes. You know, 60-year-old Bruce Springsteen comes out and he rocks and whatever pop star of the moment comes out and lip-synchs through some pathetic performance and you're like, 'Really? Is this what it's come down to?'" he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Rob - has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance - thinks heavy music has been pushed aside in recent years, but is excited to be making a new album now, as it is ready to make a comeback.

"I feel like hard rock and heavy metal has been pushed back underground for the last couple of years. Even if you're playing arenas, it still feels pushed underground. For a while there, it was rap and pop and country. Started to get the feeling like 'Do you people just hate rock music or something?' But it doesn't seem like that anymore. So that's why I'm kind of excited to make a record again."

The new solo album will be Rob's fifth, and follows 2010's Hellbilly Deluxe 2. It is expected for release in late 2012.