Said tracks along with the ROCK BAND-released “Burn” stand out as highlights on HBD2, with “What?” undoubtedly being the most infectious song on the album despite the simplicity of it’s construction. 'Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool' 2010 Rob Zombie. If you caught Rob on his recent Fall Tour, chances are you’ve already experienced the best that this album has to offer, with only a handful of songs (“What?”, “Sick Bubblegum”, “Werewolf Women of the SS”) making it into a set consisting largely of “greatest hits” from Zombie’s past work. Officially a follow-up to Zombie’s 1998 solo debut HELLBILLY DELUXE, Part 2 feels nothing like a sequel, and if anything feels like a collection of b-sides and studio outtakes. Unless your name is Meatloaf, sequels to albums rarely work, and unfortunately HELLBILLY DELUXE 2 is no exception. I like that Rob Zombie is experimenting more with the Surfabilly sound, but it isn’t enough to recommend picking this up.“All hail Jesus Frankenstein” wails Rob Zombie on the opening track of his long-awaited HELLBILLY DELUXE 2: NOBLE JACKALS, PENNY DREADFULS, AND THE SYSTEMATIC DEHUMANIZATION OF COOL, the fourth studio album from the musician-turned-filmmaker, and his first for Roadrunner’s Loud & Proud imprint. I really only liked “Jesus Frankenstein.” I find “Sick Bubblegum” gets stuck in my head, but so does “Manic Monday” by the Bangles, and that doesn’t make it great. Hellbilly Deluxe 2 could have been a decent EP, but ended up being a rather boring album. The last song “The Man Who Laughs” opens with strings, descends into a kinda lame song, and then has a seemingly endless drum interlude in the middle. “Werewolf Women of the SS” return to the rockabilly sound played with earlier and is kinda fun. This is followed by a slapped together track “Werewolf Baby,” and then the Black Sabbath sounding “Virgin Witch.” By track 7, I was just bored, and found myself distracted by anything else going on around me. This was one of the least stressful records I’ve ever made. It’s no easy feat to record a companion-style follow-up 10 years later, but Rob Zombie makes it look and sound easy. “Mars needs Women” has a strangely tribal drum opening which reminded me of Roots era Sepultura, and then descends into a rather pedestrian chunky sound. Hellbilly Deluxe 2 is Rob Zombie in 2010: leaner and meaner, with the same snarl and appreciation for all things dark and a little bit dastardly. Starting with the 4 th track we start to lose identity. The third track, “What?,” has a strong rockabilly/surf guitar vibe, which is an obvious thing for Rob to do for anyone who has followed his career. This is followed by “Sick Bubblegum” which to me sounds the most like a White Zombie song, but while listening to it, I can’t help but think that it is a cover for a Marilyn Manson song that doesn’t exist. It shows that he is letting his new band mates play a bit, and the song has a great hook. It opens really strong with “Jesus Frankenstein,” a track that has a nice rock opening. Hellbilly Deluxe 2 does not succeed as an album. I approached with trepidation and hope that he had succeeded. For this album, he had put together a band, they had been writing the songs together (obviously with his lead), and the concentration had been on putting together a real album again.
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He was talking about the fact that there really hasn’t been a band since White Zombie, and his distractions in his movie directorial career. More recently, I saw a blip with Rob Zombie talking about putting together Hellbilly Deluxe 2, and it gave me hope. However this trend continued, and musically I have found little to enjoy about Rob Zombie since Urge was released in 2001. Of course this album was released as he was putting together his first movie, and the album wasn’t terrible, just disjointed, so I gave a bit of a pass. With the release of The Sinister Urge, the music started to be less consistent, and Rob seemed distracted. Yes it was a bit more pop-py, but the spectacle and tongue-in-cheek attitude was still there.įor me, this is where the love started to come apart. When White Zombie unraveled, there was a moment of pause among the fan base, including me, but when Hellbilly Deluxe was released in 1998, much of that worry was relieved. He seemed to have fun with the whole thing: expanding beyond just the music, doing cover illustrations for the CD’s, directing the videos, and popping up all over in the metal world to add Zombie flair. Even when White Zombie was at their height, it was clear that it was his show. Of course this was all overseen by Rob Zombie. White Zombie also put on one of the best live shows I have ever seen. I liked that they didn’t write lyrics like it was some sort of gospel, and I liked the spectacle of the band. I liked that they sounded different than most of the other bands out there. I went through my teenage years in the 90’s, and in a way grew up with White Zombie. In this review of Rob Zombie’s latest album, I think it is only fair to give some of my background.