(Roadrunner/Warner)

Grave-desecrating auteur returns to music

Rob Zombie’s career diversity is staggering. Now, the ex-White Zombie frontman does not only sing about shitty horror movies, but he even finds time, somehow, to write and direct – you guessed it – shitty horror movies (House Of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects). As you would expect, the love of B-grade schlock that has defined Rob Zombie’s career ever since White Zombie released Soul-Crusher in 1987 continues on Hellbilly Deluxe 2. Serving as a sequel of sorts to Zombie’s first solo record, 1998’s Hellbilly Deluxe, the new record sees Zombie write some guilty-pleasure, catchy, organ-laced hard rock, that will prove more infectious than you’ll be willing to admit. Single Sick Bubblegum has an anthemic, sleazy industrial vibe that makes it the album’s standout offering. Characterising the groove and power of tracks like Dragula and Living Dead Girl off the first Hellbilly Deluxe record, Sick Bubblegum is like a killer in a horror flick: even your best laid plans to escape from it will fail. Other album highlights include the staccato chorus to the deliriously idiotic Mars Needs Women, where Zombie chants Mars Needs Women/Angry Red Women ad naseam or the Grindhouse trailer-turned-song, Werewolf Women Of The SS. As you would expect the case to be from the man who directed last year’s Halloween 2 movie, Hellbilly Deluxe 2 offers no surprises. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll pay the price of admission and be entertained at a highly superficial level for a short amount of time.

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TOM HERSEY

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