BY ANDREW LEVENGOOD
Lions’ Pride Staff Writer

On February 2, Rob Zombie released his first album since 2006’s Educated Horses, Hellbilly Deluxe 2.

Intended as a sequel to 1998’s Hellbilly Deluxe, Rob Zombie’s newest album comes with much anticipation. For the first time, Zombie’s album featured his full touring band; usually Zombie relies on friends and session musicians to finish an album.

This album features long time Zombie tour drummer Tommy Clufetos, bassist Piggy D., and star guitarist John 5. Zombie claims that this will be his last CD.

“Well, pretty soon the CD will be dead. All you will have left is digital downloads. So before we say goodbye to the almighty CD, I thought I would give it a big send-off.” Zombie said.

The album features many obscure B-movie cuts intertwined with the classic Zombie metal and an underlying feeling of industrial rock. The album opens with its strongest track, Jesus Frankenstein. This rally cry features a chilling guitar intro by John 5, followed by inspiring vocals by Zombie, who demands his audience to follow his horror film subtext.

The album then has its two singles, Sick Bubblegum and What?. Sick Bubblegum’s lyrics make absolutely no sense, but they induce chronic head banging. What? starts with an obscure B-movie clip, followed by industrial rock vocals from Zombie and a simple but fantastic riff by John 5, whose contributions to this album are fantastically insane.

An acoustic guitar intro leads the album into the Marilyn Manson-like Mars Needs Women, whose repetitive chorus forces the listener to eagerly await the unique guitar parts from John 5 amongst the various sound bites from B-movies. An eerie guitar/bass trade off takes Zombie into one of his creepiest songs, Werewolf, Baby! whose whispering vocals crawl into a full fledged yell by the master of horror.

On the album’s next track, Virgin Witch, a mysterious synthesizer part creeps its way into one of John 5’s greatest solos, taking the album in a new direction. Zombie goes into an industrial rock vocal style over a fantastic drum arrangement by Tommy Clufetos on Death and Destiny Inside the Dream Factory.

Zombie tones it down to a whisper on Burn, which features Zombie making weird sounds with his mouth as a chorus and a guitar solo with a 1980’s feel by John 5. On Cease To Exist, Zombie does a vocal trade off with a computerized version of his voice over a subtle acoustic guitar, with synthesizer leading the song into a ridiculous drum solo.

Next, Zombie goes into Werewolf Women of the SS, which was also the name of a fake trailer he made for Robert Rodriguez‘s and Quentin Tarantino’s double feature Grindhouse. This is the most notable song on the album, but also its weirdest. Finally, the album goes into The Man Who Laughs, a ten minute epic featuring a string arrangement by Tyler Bates that leads into a precise energy filed solo by John 5.

Overall, Hellbilly Deluxe 2 is Zombie’s greatest album, but it lacks the hit single to get it continuous airplay. However, this masterpiece will more than satisfy the fanatical Zombie fan and any other fans of heavy metal. John 5 provides the backbone to Rob Zombie’s obscure vocal style, making this a very unique album.