![]() There are artists who change and evolve their sound over time (REM, U2), and there are artists who discover that they are only really good at one thing early in their career and they stick to it, prevailing cultural winds be damned (Motorhead, AC/DC). Prog rock excess does not belong on a Rob Zombie record. About the only thing that doesn’t work on this belated sequel is the closing “The Man Who Laughs,” which is a bloated overblown production complete with string arrangements by film composer Tyler Bates and a (very) extended drum solo. The industrial beats and distorted guitars that worked in 1998 on tracks like “Dragula” and “Superbeast” still work fine on “Dream Factory” and “Werewolf Women of the SS” (the latter of which named after Zombie’s mock trailer for “Grindhouse”). And while nothing here is original, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun. Coming 12 years after the original Hellbilly Deluxe, this album finds Rob Zombie forcefully stripping away every development and evolution in his sound to deliver an album that is intentionally uninspired and derivative, but is that a bad thing? Because even though Educated Horses was a bold move for Zombie and it showed he could do more than he did in the past the brand of rock he first showed us with “Thunder Kiss ’65” is still the what he does best. It was mature, experimental and a brave move for the man who hadn’t really advanced his musical style since 1992. Rob Zombie’s 2006 album Educated Horses was a shocking departure for the shock rocker where he dropped the industrial dance beats and heavy production in lieu of classic rock riffs and heavy metal grooves. Rob Zombie needs to make a new full-length, for sure, but he could also do well by emptying the vaults of whatever he hasn’t gotten around to releasing, as the bonus cuts here clearly indicate.RIYL: Rob Zombie, White Zombie…other zombie related culture The other new track, “Michael,” sways with extra weight as it threatens to come loose from Zombie’s hand and crush anyone in its way. Zombie also adds a raw garage-rock pulse to what he does. “Everything Is Boring” is more standard metal aggression with the usual dissatisfactions with life. That’s not to say that tunes such as “Jesus Frankenstein,” “Sick Bubblegum” and “Death and Destiny Inside the Dream Factory” aren’t filled with plenty of road rage, but the additional tunes do a nice job of augmenting the original album. “Theme for an Angry Red Planet” is the intro to “Mars Needs Women” split into its own track and “The Man Who Laughs” is a new version of the album’s closer. “Devil’s Hole Girls and the Big Revolution” is an intense beating that’s heavier than many of the album’s original tracks. For the special edition of Hellbilly Deluxe 2, three additional tracks were added. ![]()
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December 2022
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