Hellbilly Deluxe 2 [Explicit Lyrics]

I have to say it, I'm a big fan of the original release of Hellbilly Deluxe 2, but knew I had to get my hands on this 2 disc version. I'm not going to go too much into depth about the album itself, apart from saying it is an upbeat, eclectic, gratifyingly insane album so full of energy and aggression that it is a must have in any groove rock/hard metal collection. Here, I will focus on what's new in this release.

The big thing about the album is the inclusion of 3 new tracks featuring Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison, as well as an alternate version of the closing track The Man Who Laughs and the division of Mars Needs Women into 2 separate tracks. I'm a big fan of the new piece Michael, which fits into the album perfectly and has that brilliant creepy, long drawl Zombie has done to great effect on Educated Horses, but I'm not so into the 2 other new tracks (Devil's Hole Girls and the Big Revolution and Everything Is Boring). They are pretty standard for Zombie and seem like a step backwards in terms of style. They feel like outtakes that never belonged with the other tracks on the album. As for the changes made to The Man Who Laughs, I personally welcome them and embrace this new version as the definitive song. The splitting of Mars Need Women is in one way pointless, in another quite welcome. Makes it easier to put it on to just hear the driving parts of the song!

Now for the DVD, which is the real bonus on this release. A half hour tour documentary by Rob Zombie is the main attraction, essentially chronicling some off stage and performance footage of the band. To be honest, it's not big shakes and was filmed on handicams, but I've seen worse. Seeing some of the joking around and fan interaction is quite nice, though the poor sound quality makes a lot of the performance footage difficult to sit through. Any die hard fans should dig it, but casual fans may notice how much better Zombie sounds in the recordings than he does in the live performance. Also included on the DVD are two music videos, one a montage of performance footage for Mars Needs Women, the other the live performance of School's Out with Alice Cooper. Nice to see, not the biggest of shakes.

A quick word must be given to the lyric booklet. The art is (as always the case with Zombie) a homage to old horror movies and is a bit fun. There is plenty of his wife Sherri Moon Zombie, and just general love and attention in there. It's enough to make me mention it, so don't forget to give it a flip (in a good way!).

Overall, some of the tracks seem like the disk is just double-dipping, but this is definitely the definitive version of the album, as it always should have been. If you're going to hear this album, do yourself a favour and get this release of it.

This release has caused fans to throw their hands up in the air and question why they would buy an album they already have just for a few bonus tracks and a dvd. Well fear not Zombie fans...this album is well worth the buy...the bonus tracks are some of Rob's finest! It would seem that the addition of Joey Jordison to his touring band has given old Rob a kick up the behind and remember why he made us sit up and listen to his crazy insane music in the first place!

Without going into too much detail, this is the album Rob Zombie should have released as the official Hellbilly Deluxe 2!!! The added songs make the album sound so much better and finished!!!

Oh by the way the DVD is pretty cool too!!!

Buy it Zombie fans!!!

Im still a massive fan of White Zombies Astro Creep 2000 and the first Rob Zombie solo cd Hellbilly deluxe and fully admit that anything he does that doesnt have the same production style of those and to some extent the Sinister Urge cd, is always going to disappoint me. If your new to White/ Rob Zombie then id suggest picking them up first.
Hellbilly Deluxe 2 isnt similar to those in that way but its really grown on me and i now really like nearly every track on it. The style of HBD2 is similar to his last effort Educated Horses, a cd i was hugely disappointed with but the actual tracks are (in my opinion) much much better with some great riffs and rolling basslines and Robs vocals doing what you'd expect.
A definate return to form which im really pleased about but theres still a part of me that wants to hear the huge production style of Astro Creep and Hellbilly Deluxe return, as they are 2 of my all time favourite CDs. What about another remix cd Mr.Zombie?
Play it loud and enjoy!
Cheers

Rich