The project was compared to releases from White Zombie by AllMusic, who wrote that the album was "complete with thunderous industrial rhythms, drilling metal guitars, and B-movie obsessions."[28] Entertainment Weekly noted the common usage of horror elements in the lyrics, stating Zombie had "concocted a veritable blood feast of hair-raising guitars, spine-tingling drum loops, and a cast of ghoulish characters who could be refugees from an old William Castle horror flick."[29] Tower Records said that Hellbilly Deluxe "continue[d] to explore Zombie's fascination with psychotic noise, pummeling grooves, campy samples, and all things horrific."[30] Legends Magazine stated that all of the songs on the album "follow the same formula of anger, sex, death, monster, demon, zombie, satanic, drug abuse kinda raw drive a tractor over your neighbor's skull kinda hate the world so I'll burn it all down music."[31]
The album was met with controversy upon its release when retail chain Walmart refused to carry the album unless an edited version was made.[44] Though initially hesitant, Zombie complied with the request as "for some of these kids, it was the only place they can buy records. At the end of the day, it's these kids who are getting fucked."[53] The edited version of the album removes the skull and crossbones, pentagram, and "x" from the album artwork; multiple pages are removed from the booklet, as are the album's lyrics.[53] The title of "The Ballad of Resurrection Joe and Rosa Whore" was shortened to simply "The Ballad of Resurrection Joe".[53] Seven years after the release of the album, Zombie released a deluxe edition of Hellbilly Deluxe featuring a bonus DVD.[54] The DVD included a music video for all thirteen of the album's songs, with Zombie being credited as the director for all of them.[55] The project was officially released on November 22, 2005.[54]
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