Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe II Review

Transforming himself into a movie director hasn't relieved Rob Zombie of his need to rock 'n' rage. It was his first medium for indulging in the wild extremes of pop Americana, and he returns to it here with ghoulish joy.

A dozen years after his genre-defining solo debut, "Hellbilly Deluxe," Zombie has unleashed a sequel of sorts with the grim self-explanatory subtitle: "Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool." His obsessions remain fast cars, famous monsters, bikinis and sci-fi, which Zombie and guitarist John 5 translate into brutal hooks and a new musical clarity amid the sludge-storm.

The singer again steamrolls sacred family traditions with a wicked sense of fun while riffs and beats erupt like muscle cars. The album opens with "Jesus Frankenstein," layering waves of Black Sabbath gloom with madman electric guitar and a steady, oppressive beat, as Zombie groans: "Hallowed be thy name, redeemer of the witches, is what he became . . ." ...full text S
equels are tricky in any art form, but Rob Zombie-who has revived the "Halloween" horror film franchise and has "The Blob" on his radar-certainly seems like the right guy for the job. While "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" certainly captures the Saturday afternoon matinee spirit of his 1998 solo debut, it's also a different kind of creature. With a facile band and a particularly fertile collaborator in guitarist John 5, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" is a more diverse and wide-ranging affair, from the industrial grind of "Sick Bubblegum" and "Mars Needs Women" to the garage-y fury of "Death and Destiny Inside the Dream Factory" and the bluesy, slide-fueled classic rock stomp of such tracks as "Virgin Witch" and "Burn." Acoustic guitars (talk about horror) even pop up a couple of times. Movie dialogue loops and titles like "Jesus Frankenstein," "Werewolf, Baby!" and "Werewolf Women of the SS" keep Zombie on well-established B-movie terrain. And if some of the song arrangements overreach, the nearly 10-minute "The Man Who Laughs," complete with orchestrations and Tommy Clufetos' four-minute drum solo (take that, Iron Butterfly!), ends the album on an appropriately epic note. -Gary Graff...full text It's hard to divine why Mr. Zombie has made this particular CD. Hellbilly Deluxe 2, an official ''sequel'' to his 1998 solo debut, given that his two subsequent releases both stuck close to that collection's muscular horror-rock vibe. Regardless, the musician-auteur does not overly besmirch the memory of HD1 with such monster-invoking metalers as ''Jesus Frankenstein'' and ''Werewolf Women of the SS.'' However, he saves the true horror for CD closer ''The Man Who Laughs.'' A drum solo? Now, that's scary. B-...full text