Rob Zombie : Hellbilly Deluxe 2 :: Review
Rob Zombie is an incredibly gifted performer who has created a niche industry focused on his talents as a musician, artist, director, producer, animator and artist. With all of these hats to wear and because of his in demand directing skills, it seems obvious that one of these areas where he is proficient would suffer. Sadly enough, the area that suffered the most was his music, which seems like it has been coasting along on pure shtick value for years. Zombie’s aural homage to EC Comics and Creepy Magazine seemed tired by the time that White Zombie broke up in the 90’s.
When Zombie reemerged in 1998 with “Hellbilly Deluxe,” he declared that he was the solo auteur behind his former band and once again laid claim to the horror genre that he was keen on reviving. Ten years on and Rob Zombie has become more of a brand than a musician and nowhere is this more apparent than on “Hellbilly Deluxe 2,” the sequel to his first solo album. Everything that you would expect to be on a Rob Zombie album is here, the foot stomping graveyard anthems, the color-by-number soundtrack snippets and the cartoony ghoulish odes to the great beyond.
The album opens with a clichéd and ominous wind gust before the jagged and bluesy heavy metal of “Jesus Frankenstein” kicks off the proceedings. “Jesus Frankenstein” features a monotonous refrain of “All hail, Jesus Frankenstein” and not much else other than a turgid riff that dominates the rest of the track. What follows is the centerpiece of the album, “Sick Bubblegum” a track featuring a flanged vocal effect and an overabundance of “Rock, Mother Fucker” in the lyrics. At this point, it doesn’t even seem like Zombie is trying, although the fuzzed out vocals and organ combo of “What?” provide an interesting diversion.
The backwoods acoustic country rhythm intro of “Mars Needs Women” might be the best thing about that song although it sounds like the dropped D tuned version of “Love and Affection” by hair rockers Nelson. Elsewhere, “Werewolf, Baby” and “Virgin Witch” should satiate every teenage boys need for songs about monsters but both feature woefully undercooked lyrics. As this seems to be an album with an emphasis on textures, Zombie again calls forth the fuzz machine on “Death and Destiny Inside The Dream Factory” echoing the punchy “What?” from earlier in the album. However, “Death and Destiny Inside The Dream Factory” winds up a pale imitation of that track. The grind of “Burn” falls flat against the Pink Floyd inspired space rock of “Cease To Exist.” “Werewolf Women of the SS” taps into Zombie’s known love of The Munsters theme song steering itself dangerously close to plagiarism. Album closer, “The Man Who Laughs” offers the most cinematic and experimental track on the album with its Bernard Hermann string accompaniment and boogie guitar riffing. Sadly, “The Man Who Laughs” collapses on itself after a few minutes and dissolves into a fading drum track for another five minutes.
“Hellbilly Deluxe 2” is an interesting listen in small doses but is also semi-scattered with ideas that never truly pan out. It seems like Rob Zombie deserves a break that would allow him to get his creative juices flowing again.
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