"Rob Zombie's 'Hellbilly Deluxe 2.'" - Album Review.

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I became a Rob Zombie fan shortly after the original “Hellbilly Deluxe” album was released. A friend had an extra ticket to the “Rock is Dead Tour” featuring Korn and Rob Zombie. I didn’t know any Korn songs and I only knew a handful of White Zombie/Rob Zombie songs. Rob Zombie is known most for his incredible live shows and he gained a fan that night. Now Zombie is back with a new album entitled “Hellbilly Deluxe 2,” a sequel to his 1998 album “Hellbilly Deluxe.” Zombie’s latest effort is heavy and very groove oriented, but what I found most interesting was how musical it is. The playing on the album is top notch. John 5’s guitar work is nothing short of phenomenal.



The opening track off of “Hellbilly Deluxe 2” is called “Jesus Frankenstein.” The song opens up creepy and calm, and then jumps into a slow crunch of drums and electric guitars. Once Zombie yells “All Hail” the song and album takes off. The riff for “Jesus Frankenstein” is very easy on the ear. After the chorus, out of nowhere the song drops into a Pink Floydish acoustic riff and it works, and then jumps right back into the main riff. Like I said this album is very musical.

The next two songs are the two radio friendly hits. “Sick Bubblegum” is the song that sounds the most like a typical Rob Zombie song, whatever that means. Listen to it and you’ll know what I’m talking about. What I love about “Sick Bubblegum” is the amazing guitar solo at the end of the song. The next song “What,” is a more stripped down song than “Sick Bubblegum,” but equally as ear catching. It has a nice punkish riff that is hopping all over the place.

The following song “Mars Needs Women” opens up with John 5 on acoustic guitar playing a creepy southern sounding number. I know this is going to sound funny, but it’s kind of like The Allman Brothers meets Pink Floyd. When Rob speaks up, yelling “Mars Needs Women” the guitars, bass and drums get turned up and become very heavy and groove friendly.

“Werewolf, Baby!” features John 5 on slide guitar and I love it. “Werewolf, Baby!” has a very southern rock sound. This is definitely a sound that suits Zombie and co. very well. The next two songs “Virgin Witch” and “Death & Destiny Inside the Dream Factory” contain adrenaline filled riffs. I recently started working out again and Rob Zombie has a lot of good music to run to. This album and these two songs are no exception.



I’ve mentioned a couple times that this album is versatile/very musical. The song “Burn” is the perfect example of this. The main lick is very heavy with a great groove to it, but the bridge just takes the song somewhere else. The groove remains the same, but the guitar riff just seems to start climbing and then rips right back into the main lick. The song “Cease to Exist” is another mixture of a great acoustic playing and heavy electric playing. This song belongs to Tommy Clufetos. The drumming over the bridge is very reminiscent or John Bonham. Roll your eyes if you want to, I thought he was going to bust into “Moby Dick” for a second.

Zombie has made songs based on his movies include “House of 1000 Corpses” and “The Devil’s Rejects,” and on “Hellbilly Deluxe 2” Zombie gives us “Werewolf Women from the SS,” (the trailer he made for Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s “Grind House” movie). This song is one of the standouts of the album. John 5 shines on this song; I love the guitar solo about 2/3’s of the way through the song. The song is fast and full of energy.

My absolute favorite song on the album though belongs to the final track “The Man Who Laughs.” This song has what sound like an orchestra or at least a string section from an orchestra playing over it and contains a return to the rock drum solo. If this song could be pulled off live it would be an amazing site to see. It’s got a nice catchy guitar riff; a nice groove to it, but the strings on top of it just give the song this extra layer that makes it standout for me. John 5 takes his turn with a mind blowing guitar solo just before Tommy Clufetos jumps into his extended/amazing drum solo (think “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” maybe better, seriously, I’m not joking, this solo is awesome).

While the album is very musical, it is very much a Rob Zombie album. So if you can’t stand Rob Zombie you’re probably not going to like this album. That said if you’re into listening to virtuoso’s play their instruments then check this album out. Zombie is probably playing with the most talented group of musicians he’s ever played with. I can’t wait to see these songs played live at the “Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival” with Korn.

BYLINE:

Bob Zerull is the Managing Editor of Zoiks! Online. He writes pop culture commentary, does interviews with bands, and reviews music and stand-up concerts. He also administers Zoiks! Online's Facebook page. Follow Bob on twitter at bzerull. Email Bob at bob@zoiksonline.com.

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