By FRITZ "DOC" FREAKENSTEIN
"Virgin Witch" is the sixth cut on Rob Zombie’s HELLBILLY DELUXE 2 and what it lacks in lyrical clarity, it makes up for in mind pounding drumming and unremitting gnashing guitars! The chorus "Vigin Witch", is interspersed with the narrative verse, forming a strange mind picture, but still not telling a clear tale. “Death and Destiny: Inside the Dream Factory” is obviously Rob’s rant on his love/hate (and if the lyrics of this song are any indication – mostly hate) relationship with the film making industry known as Hollywood. This is one of Rob Zombie’s angriest and most sarcastic songs yet! The verse “Free your mind and feel the passion, baby, Death and suntan, still in fashion, baby” is followed by “Crush your idols, they can afford it, baby, Permanently vile and fascinating” clearly demonstrates Rob’s frustration with the magic movie machine that is Hollywood. This song makes me wonder how much longer Rob is gonn’a be barfing out crud like Halloween II. The next song on the cd, “Burn”, puzzles the crap out of me! The verse is a mixture of end of the world type scenarios, which are interrupted by the ironic chorus of “Papp-oow-mow-mow, Papp-oow-mow” – which is a nonsensical lyric from the doo wop song by The Rivingtons, but better known as the chorus from the song “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen. I dig this one, baby, but it’s still wack! “Cease to Exist” is a paean to death; with darkly emotive lyrics that are accompanied by telephone-noise vocal effects, dirge-like synthetic keyboards, and a steady base-drumbeat. It ends in a crescendo of pulsing rhythms and synthetic noise with the simple refrain of “Cease to exist, your mind is breaking free”! Disturbing, but brilliant! “Werewolf Women
of the SS” is a song that riffs off his fake trailer from the 2007 film Grindhouse. An interesting choice of surf-guitar style is played - including a wicked pissa solo - to the funniest lyrics that Rob is likely to write in a long time. This song is major mojo manic and a classic in the making! The last song on the disc is “The Man Who Laughs”, which is a song based on the (most likely) 1928 silent film of the same name; which was adapted from the 1869 Victor Hugo novel. The song tells an abbreviated version of the film/novel about the mutilation of children to use as slaves to beg for money. Rob’s use of violins and other classical instrumentation, clearly demonstrate his admiration for the silent film version of The Man Who Laughs. Typical of Rob, there is a four minute drum solo in the middle of this song, for no apparent reason other than to show off drummer Tommy C’s mad skills! Overall, Rob Zombie’s HELLBILLY DELUXE 2 is a culmination of Rob’s past musical skills, mashed up with his recent creative divergences, to provide this Rob-freak with one wicked good long ‘n loud rockin’ ruckus! Bring mo a’ da ruckus, Rob!
of the SS” is a song that riffs off his fake trailer from the 2007 film Grindhouse. An interesting choice of surf-guitar style is played - including a wicked pissa solo - to the funniest lyrics that Rob is likely to write in a long time. This song is major mojo manic and a classic in the making! The last song on the disc is “The Man Who Laughs”, which is a song based on the (most likely) 1928 silent film of the same name; which was adapted from the 1869 Victor Hugo novel. The song tells an abbreviated version of the film/novel about the mutilation of children to use as slaves to beg for money. Rob’s use of violins and other classical instrumentation, clearly demonstrate his admiration for the silent film version of The Man Who Laughs. Typical of Rob, there is a four minute drum solo in the middle of this song, for no apparent reason other than to show off drummer Tommy C’s mad skills! Overall, Rob Zombie’s HELLBILLY DELUXE 2 is a culmination of Rob’s past musical skills, mashed up with his recent creative divergences, to provide this Rob-freak with one wicked good long ‘n loud rockin’ ruckus! Bring mo a’ da ruckus, Rob! 
Sounds like a blind buy to me! I love every single one of his albums, but my favorite is HEllbilly Deluxe...cause of the whole horror aura, the drawings on the cd booklet, the songs...its all cartoony horror comic book fun!
ReplyDeleteIll be getting this one soon, thanks for that review, now I got a pretty good idea of what to expect.
If you liked HELLBILLY DELUXE (and who didn't), you're gonna L-O-V-E HELLBILLY DELUXE 2 twice as much! The cd booklet to HELLBILLY DELUXE 2 also contains pissa good art by comic artists like Horley, Brereton and Hartman! Put HELLBILLY DELUXE 2 into your playa, turn it up to 11 and kick out da jambs!
ReplyDeleteBrereton, I love that comic he made The Nocturnals? I bought a couple of the graphic novels and immediately fell in love with them. The comic is Halloweenish, and Lovecraftian. A potent mix!
ReplyDeleteI heard a movie was going to be made out of these characters, but its never happened sadly.
Great review. I also really dig this album. I even got Baker to play "What" on the latest Hauntcast.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the wicked kind words, JT. It's easy to write reviews of things I get psyched about! "What" isn't my favorite cut on HBD2, but still rocks! I listened to Hauntcast 16 and enjoyed your review of The Wolfman. I didn't like the movie as much as you did. If anything, I didn't think The Wolfman was quite "old fashioned" enough. BTW: I was one of those people who liked that "craptastic" Van Helsing, precisely because it didn't try to be an old skool film and embraced the modern horror-action movie genre.
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