Hellbound Billy Lucky Thirteen Nightmares Part II Review
Hellbound Billy
Lucky Thirteen Nightmares Part II
Self-Released
2025
Earlier this year, I tripped face-first into the sticky cobwebs of Denver’s own Hellbound Billy. And holy hell, what a goddamn find. These creeps ooze creativity, dripped in grease and grave dust, and hits like a Rockabilly/Psychobilly freight train straight outta the underworld. It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s mean, and best of all, it’s one big spookshow that doesn’t let up.
Most bands are lucky if they put out a decent EP every few years. Hellbound Billy is different breed entirely. These fiends are down in the lab 24/7, sewing together riffs and howls into monstrous tales of heartbreak and Horror. They ain’t resting, they resurrecting.
Their latest slab, “Lucky Thirteen Nightmares Part II”, dropped a few weeks back. Yeah, I’m late to the funeral, but screw it, at least I made it before the coffin lid slammed shut. This round’s got more octane, more bite, and a heavier Psychobilly vibe than the first part. But lurking underneath all that throttle, there’s a slick throwback to those early Sun Records ghosts. I swear I even hear a trace of The Hillbilly Hellcats haunting the mix, could just be me chasing phantoms, but it’s there.
“Werewolf Wedding Bells” kicks things off with pure vintage bite, those guitar licks are razor-clean but soaked in reverb and attitude. There’s a sneaky sax riff slithering around in there too, and it’s killer. “Monster’s Heart” stays in that same spooky pocket, but darker, like it’s bleeding from the shadows. “Vampire Blues” drags that mood through the fog, slow and thick. Then “Under This Orchard Moon” hits, a moody number that feels like a late-night confession under cemetery lights. You can feel it breathing, moving, twisting on the strength of its words and arrangement alone.
Then the gas pedal hits the floor. “Haunted Hot Rod” is where the band lets the Psychobilly beast out of the cage. It’s wild, reckless, and damn near out of control, like Reverend Horton Heat on a three-day bender. This is the kind of song that makes you want to floor it till you see headlights in the rearview and hope they ain’t the devils. One wrong turn and you’re bones and chrome. “Thirteen Screams” keeps that fire roaring, those riffs are absolutely filthy, just how they should be. “Dead Man Walking” closes it all out in a blaze of tire smoke and coffin nails, it’s the fastest, nastiest track on the EP, and the perfect way to end it.
Hellbound Billy is the real deal, gritty, greasy, and unholy in all the right ways. They’ve got the chops and the twisted charm to wreck house in both the Rockabilly and Psychobilly scenes. “Lucky Thirteen Nightmares Part II” hits just as hard as the first, maybe harder. The only negative thought I have is there’s a touch of auto-tune on a few vocal spots, it’s not constant, but when it shows up, I can’t not hear it, Still, minor gripe and nothing is ever perfect. The whole record’s a blast from the crypt that demands volume, whiskey, weed, and a half-tanked crowd of ghouls screaming along.
So yeah, don’t wait for this one to come knocking. Go find Hellbound Billy. Buy the record. Play it loud enough to wake the dead.