Just one glance at the sinister, bloody and bruised headshot of Rob Zombie featured on the cover of his fourth solo album Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool will send many frightened viewers running in search of the new Nick Jonas album. Zombie isn’t making his horror-inspired music for the faint of heart, and his bravest fans will be pleased with more of the same Zombie they have grown to love if not left yearning for something fresher.

Many Zombie fans had reason to worry as Hellbilly Deluxe 2, the sequel to the his first 1998 solo album Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International, was continually pushed back from being released from the time of its completion in late 2008. Zombie certainly has been keeping himself busy making a name for himself in the film world by directing already cult horror classics such as “The Devil’s Rejects” and his revivals of the “Halloween” franchise. Fans should be content as Hellbilly Deluxe 2 does not disappoint and brings more of the same growling, pummeling guitar riffs and ghoulish humor that have become staples in Zombie’s act.

There are no standout tracks on this album like the smash hit “Dragula,” which helped to make the original Hellbilly Deluxe one of the defining metal albums of the late ’90s. However, Zombie is able to channel some of the spirit of his first album with his latest single “Sick Bubble-Gum,” a pummeling assault to the ears in which he orders his listeners to “Chew it up/ Spit it out!” and “Shove it in/ Rip it out!” It’s a song that manages to make chewing gum sound more menacing than the other nightmarish figures he references throughout the album.

The album’s first single, “What?” is one of the catchiest and most radio-friendly tunes that Zombie has ever released. It’s a song that seamlessly blends several of his musical staples, including scary movie sound bites and incomprehensible yet catchy grunting over organ-like synth as he challenges his listeners to “Rave on with me.”

“The Man Who Laughs” features a killer and seemingly endless drum solo, while Zombie shows more versatility on the standout track “Mars Needs Women” which starts off with a sleazy bluegrass solo before he insists that “Mars needs women/ Angry red women!”

This is the first album Zombie has recorded with his full touring band, unlike previous albums, which featured a slew of rotating musicians. It is clear Zombie is enjoying the new freedom of being able to jam out and experiment with a consistent group of rockers, who include the skull-faced guitarist John 5 of Marilyn Manson fame.

The classic and often creepily cheeky monster references are rife with jams like the gloomy and electric guitar heavy “Jesus Frankenstein,” the bass blaring “Virgin Witch” and “Werewolf Women of the SS,” which horror geeks will recognize from the fake movie trailer Zombie created to play before Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 B movie homage “Grindhouse.”

Hellbilly Deluxe 2 is a solid sequel to the original triple platinum Hellbilly that gave Zombie rock god status. Back in 1999, this was some groundbreaking and genre-defining music, but over a decade later, after three albums of the same screaming and raging, it is beginning to sound stale and almost clich�. Hardcore Rob Zombie fans should be more than pleased with this latest installment of head-banging spooks, but the general public will be left wondering just what exactly Noble Jackals and Penny Dreadfuls are, and if Zombie should just focus on his scary movie shtick.

3 stars out of 5.