Metal soundtrack to horror television
Tying in as the official soundtrack to the soon to aired Masters Of Horror mini-series (Thirteen instalments of horror based material from the likes of noted directors such as John Carpenter (Halloween), Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), John Landis (An American Werewolf In London), Dario Argento and Don Coscarelli (Phantasm), and all put together by The Stand creator Mick Garris), this mammoth double album effort puts together a list of known (And some fairly lesser known) acts from all manner of genres (Ranging from metalcore, emo-rock, punk and metal in general), with a fair majority of the tracks included previously unreleased.
Spearheading this collection is Mudvayne with Small Silhouette (A track that was recorded during their Lost And Found sessions), which could have easily been included on their last album, while Norma Jean (ShaunLuu), It Dies Today (With a cover of Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Silence), The Bled (Covering Black Flag's Nervous Breakdown), Death By Stereo (With Bottled Up, a leftover from their Death For Life album sessions), Funeral For A Friend (Lazarus (In The Wilderness), which was the b-side to their Streetcar single), Andrew WK (With another Jim Steinman sounding track in You Will Remember Tonight), Mastodon (A live version of Megalodon), Thursday (A rather impressive acoustic version of Division St) and Shadows Fall (With the Japanese only bonus track This Is My Own) all noteworthy acts contributing new or rare cuts to the first disc.
Opening up the second half in peculiar fashion is guitarist Buckethead, who teams up with System Of A Down's vocalist Serj Tankian on We Are One (Which in general sounds very reminiscent of System Of A Down), while Rise Against (Obstructed), From Autumn To Ashes (With the heavy Betwixt Her Getaway Sticks), Alkaline Trio (We Can Never Break Up, which is previously unreleased from the band's Crimson sessions), Avenged Sevenfold (A live version of Beast And The Harlot), indie rockers Bear Vs Shark (Victoria Iceberg) and Fear Before The March Of Flames (237, which is apparently a tribute to The Shining) all provide the second discs (Stronger sounding and) unreleased material.
Although Masters Of Horror rarely delves into horror material as such (And I'm not talking about the quality of the acts featured on the album either), this compilation does have just enough above average numbers (And acts) to warrant a little bit of it's own attention as a spin off from the series.
(Immortal Records/Sony B.M.G. Music Entertainment)
