Album Review
Ah, the video game soundtrack... One of the many wonders of the modern world. You just couldn’t sell a CD with the "Super Mario Bros." music on it back in 1988, but now with actual music being used in today’s far more advanced games, you can relive the playing experience anywhere with just a CD player! The problem is, without original music, they all become more novelty than necessity - but then, the target market isn’t pre-existing fans of whatever music is featured. Think of these soundtracks as gateway drugs, and Calvin Records has stepped in to bring us this one featuring music from the latest in the popular "Rainbow Six" series, "Lockdown". I might add I have never played this game so I will not be commenting much on how these songs relate to the game playing experience. I will simply be commenting on the songs themselves.
The first seven songs here have likely never been heard by most of us, so I’m going to consider them all to be previously unreleased. And oh, what a shitty batch of songs it is. The only plus side here is the original work from Fear Factory, the title track and a collaboration with composer Bill Brown on the game’s instrumental theme song. “Lockdown” is better than about 98% of the music on Transgression, so it’s good to see they still have it in them after that dud. The original version appears at the end of this disc. Aside from that, it’s a bunch of crap. The tracks from Killing Zone and Kush are almost identical in style, tempo, rhythm, and vocals, which sound like B-Real from Cypress Hill. Not Forgotten give two tracks of emocore annoyance, although they do show promise on “Waiting”. Last Amanda are the most out of place here with a slab of mid-90s alternative. A friend of mine loves this band, and I still don’t see why. It’s just dull.
That’s it for the originals. The rest of the soundtrack is a hot list of modern metal bands contributing previously released songs. Trivium’s “Like Light to the Flies” is probably the most essential here since it is taken from their From Ember to Inferno debut that probably didn’t see as much circulation as Ascendancy. Most everything else is a year old or less – tracks from Soilwork, Mnemic, and Strapping Young Lad, among others. By this time, you likely already own the albums these songs were originally on and have no need for this collection. The best use I can see for this is for metal newbies who bought and played the game and loved this fresh, exciting new music. Otherwise, the 1.5 new Fear Factory songs are hardly worth the sticker price.
The first seven songs here have likely never been heard by most of us, so I’m going to consider them all to be previously unreleased. And oh, what a shitty batch of songs it is. The only plus side here is the original work from Fear Factory, the title track and a collaboration with composer Bill Brown on the game’s instrumental theme song. “Lockdown” is better than about 98% of the music on Transgression, so it’s good to see they still have it in them after that dud. The original version appears at the end of this disc. Aside from that, it’s a bunch of crap. The tracks from Killing Zone and Kush are almost identical in style, tempo, rhythm, and vocals, which sound like B-Real from Cypress Hill. Not Forgotten give two tracks of emocore annoyance, although they do show promise on “Waiting”. Last Amanda are the most out of place here with a slab of mid-90s alternative. A friend of mine loves this band, and I still don’t see why. It’s just dull.
That’s it for the originals. The rest of the soundtrack is a hot list of modern metal bands contributing previously released songs. Trivium’s “Like Light to the Flies” is probably the most essential here since it is taken from their From Ember to Inferno debut that probably didn’t see as much circulation as Ascendancy. Most everything else is a year old or less – tracks from Soilwork, Mnemic, and Strapping Young Lad, among others. By this time, you likely already own the albums these songs were originally on and have no need for this collection. The best use I can see for this is for metal newbies who bought and played the game and loved this fresh, exciting new music. Otherwise, the 1.5 new Fear Factory songs are hardly worth the sticker price.
