Tuesday 17 August 2010

Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe (1998)

Tracklist:
1. Call of the Zombie
2. Superbeast
3. Dragula
4. Living Dead Girl
5. Perversion 99
6. Demonoid Phenomenon
7. Spookshow Baby
8. How to Make a Monster
9. Meet the Creeper
10. The Ballad of Resurrection Joe and Rosa Whore
11. What Lurks on Channel X?
12. Return of the Phantom Stranger
13. The Beginning of the End

Horror Metal...?! – 7/10

In search for some good industrial metal, I came across Rob Zombie’s debut album Hellbilly Deluxe. While this album is mostly industrial in terms of style, Zombie’s name already suggests he won’t be singing about ladybugs and flowers. The lyrics are true horror tales in itself, which gives a dark-but-not-depressive tone to the album. As for the music; it was probably one of the biggest industrial metal albums to be released in the late nineties. Let me tell you what to expect...

This is industrial in the very meaning of the genre. It’s metal to dance to. It mostly relies on grooves and rhythms that encourage you to dance. Think of offbeat drums, cool keyboard samples and simple catchy anthems. That is basically what every song on this record is about. The riffs are very simple, quite heavy and undeniably catchy. Now, all you need is a simple and obvious song structure and you’ve got your average Rob Zombie track. This all sounds pretty plain, but that’s exactly what this album is, which makes sure you will like this album but later totally forget about it. As for Rob Zombie himself; the man has a very low, bluesy and raw voice. Basically he can’t sing, but he can hold the tone, which is alright for this kind of music. Still, he can be a real pain in the ass when you’re not in the mood for his voice.

What could have made the album more interesting or more memorable is more variation among and more substance to the songs. Now, “Superbeast” is an excellent opener with its drum-heavy verses and brilliant build up. From here on we get a lot of tracks that in essence sound the same, such as “Dragula”, “Living Dead Girl”, “Demonoid Phenomenon” and “Spookshow Baby”. I’m not the type of listener that’s easy to please with ‘more of the same’. Every time the songs begin with some theme that’s alright, and then go to the monotonous but groovy verses with low vocals from Zombie, we sometimes get a pre-chorus of some sort and then there’s the chorus with that temporal attractive force. There are not really songs with reasonable sustainability. “Return of the Phantom Stranger” on the other hand is clearly different with at least an attempt at creating an epic in the industrial genre. Furthermore there are some fragments of uselessness like “Perversion 99” or “How to Make a Monster”. Personally, if one song on the album is not a song but some intermezzo, I don’t mind, but there are at least three of them on here. A bit too much for me that is.

In the end, it’s a solid industrial album, but not really fascinating on the long term. That being said, it is a must have for any fan of industrial music. If you expect ear candy rather than food for the masses in the disco, then you shouldn’t try this album.

Strongest tracks: “Superbeast”, “Dragula” and “Return of the Phantom Stranger”.

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