Hellbilly Deluxe 2

Rob Zombie, are you just trying to tick off your fans? The most common sense question would be....why call this Hellbilly Deluxe 2? IT SOUNDS NOTHING LIKE THE FIRST ONE! I MEAN...NOTHING! It's as if this is just a joke. My god the lyrics are so weak. Anything close to a decent riff is drowned out with terrible production quality. If you think educated horses was a bad album, do yourself a favor and listen to this one. Then, you'll think educated horses was a godsend.

i love this album! it is kickass metal done the way i expect from zombie! it's about the music and not the title! the lead guitar on here is killer and there are enough hooks to get stuck in your mouth forever! some people just have to find something to complain about instead of enjoying what the artist gives this time around!

The new Rob Zombie album is a sequel that follows the path of most sequels. The original was the inspired masterwork, the sequel makes you wonder why he bothered. Take off the Hellbilly Deluxe title, and you have a run of the mill metal album. Like Marilyn Mansonand later day Alice Cooper, Zombie is falling into a pattern that is easily predictable. "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" is catchy and rocks hard, but lacks inspiration and enthusiasm. You have eaten this dinner before, but you know it tasted better last time.

Like his fascination with tacky horror movies and grand guignol, HD2 seems crammed with winks and smirks aimed at fans of the genre, minus the expanse Zombie's best albums. The songs march along without the punching energy that fueled songs like "Dragula" or "More Human Than Human." The distilling of the influences is little more than copies of his better work. Guitarist John 5 is back to wailing industrial leads and powerful chording, but little propulsion. "Werewolf Baby" has the closest thing to Zombie's old drive, but the lyrics are poor. There's way too many lyrics that now come off as cartoonish (again, shades of latter day Cooper) like "Werewolf Women of The SS" or "Jesus Frankenstein."

There are two moments that show Rob Zombie may yet crack the mold he made for himself; "Jesus Frankenstein" has an interesting opening before it turns into a generic rock plodder, and "The Man Who Laughs" has a solid, epic feel to it as the album's closing number. For the most part, however, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" pales in comparison to even his experimental Educated Horses. This is metal painted by numbers; Zombie has recently said it will be his last album. Perhaps he sees the writing on the wall.

It seems some people didn't appreciate Rob's last one, Educated Horses. I for one think it's a great album - a bit of a departure, but still a very solid hard rock album and clearly a Rob Zombie one. It has a more relaxed, classic rock touch that makes it instantly listenable and accessible, showing a more mellow and mature side of Rob.

Hellbilly Deluxe II is a strange one. As the title suggests, it's an attempt to take a step back to the glory days of Rob's solo career, and he spouts out more classic movie monster stuff here, but it doesn't really work - he's found a new voice (literally) with Horses, and the new band doesn't give the same drive as back in the days. It mostly comes off as impulsive and whiny to me. Repeating the words "Mars needs women, angry red women" as a chorus, or a miserable song attempt (again) at his own faux trailer movie title, Werewolf Women Of The SS, just seems weak. I still can't argue that some of it is catchy (there's not a single Rob Zombie album that fails with catchy), especially "Jesus Frankenstein", "Sick Bubble-Gum" or "Burn", but it's not as inspired as Educated Horses or as viciously rocking as Hellbilly Deluxe. It also sports one of the ugliest album covers I might've ever seen, and that from the man who claims he put all into the artwork this time as it's said to be his last album on a physical CD format. If that's true, for shame.

Simply put...this is not a great Zombie record. Boaring, underproduced, silly songs...all sound the same. A couple of hot tracks...that's it. Nuff said.