I’ve always been a big supporter of the idea behind compilation albums, and I’ve accumulated more than my fair share over the years. That is the only reason I decided to tackle this release. It’s not that I’m particularly a fan of any of the bands or that I’m in love with the movie that’s the unifying theme between all the songs, I figured a relatively unbiased and mildly curious approach would be well suited for this one.  Even if you don't like what I have to say, I doubt any one else would give that much of a different reaction from mine. 

Sadly, Mastodon and All That Remains present some of the few and far between respites from what I’d otherwise describe as a near hour span of aural rape, and not the good kind. Most of the material fluctuates pretty regularly from tolerable to flat out agitating with little speckles of decency here and there. At the very least it’s a consistent display; one that doesn’t really hold any delusions of being something other than a mainstream menagerie of radio rock and mallgoth metal. Honestly, the only mildly interesting track I hadn’t already heard before was the closing industrial statement of Charlie Clouser. These are the highlights, yes, the only ones. Chances are you could quickly browse the tracklist and immediately know how much something like this would appeal to you. I’m not going to take the time to write an expose of each track considering it’s probably exactly what you’d think it sounds like.

As far as the rest of the noteworthy material goes, this is actually my first time to sit all the way through an Avenged Sevenfold song, considering I avoid the band out principle, and as expected I’m rather irate that I can’t unlisten that five-minute sojourn of enjoyment back. No one told me the singer was that annoyingly nasal and the music was…well…was that gay. Another band I’ve tired to avoid like the plague, Bullet for my Valentine, lays down a faceless core-inspired song that sounds exactly like any other faceless and uninspired walking cliché.  And I assure you that bands like Distrubed remain relatively unchanged since the last encounter

One would hope that the presence of one of thrash's greatest heroes would be a highlight of the compilation, but really Slayer’s “Eyes of the Insane” passes by with less fanfare than Columbus Day.  Their portion of the album is little more than a somber reminder of how far downhill they’ve decended since the days of South of Heaven, or even Seasons in the Abyss for that matter. Some of you might care about Meshuggah, but as far as I’m concerned they only continue their place as one extreme metals most over hyped and agonizingly one trick bands that absolutely bores me to tears every time I'm convinced to sit through one of their songs.

Pure and simple, I highly doubt bands like Static-X and Drowning Pool really need any more publicity than what they have already have to get their name out there. In fact, outside of the average Joe, even people who pretend to know what metal is will find more than a few familiar faces present on the Saw III Soundtrack. And that’s the thing--rather than being a compilation to promote new music that you may not have heard or increase exposure of undervalued acts, in fact the only reason this exists is the bands and the record label hoping they can make another pretty penny off consumers by repackaging the same shit we’ve already heard and probably avoided in a more condensed format. Unless you’ve just been dying to hear more mainstream music or you visit Hot Topic more than once a week, chances are that like me, you really could give less of a damn about this one. Save your money and go watch yet another Saw movie, at the very least the prospect of sitting through another half-assed regurgitation of the same plot line might provide a small bit of entertainment.


01 All That Remains - "This Calling "
02 Static X - "No Submission"
03 Slayer - "Eyes of The Insane"
04 Lamb of God - "Walk With Me In Hell"
05 Helmet - "Monochrome"
06 Disturbed - "Guarded"
07 Blue October - "Drilled A Wire Through My Cheek"
08 Drowning Pool - "No More"
09 Avenged Sevenfold - "Burn It Down"
10 Eighteen Visions - "Your Nightmare"
11 Opiate For The Masses - "Dead Underground"
12 Bullet For My Valentine - "Suffocating Under Words"
13 Ministry - "Fear Is Big Business"
14 Mastodon - "The Wolf is Loose"
15 Hydrovibe feat. Shawnee Smith - "Killer Inside"
16 Hourcast - "Sakkara"
17 Meshuggah - "Shed"
18 The Smashup - "Effigy"
19 Ghost Machine - "Siesta Loca"
20 Charlie Clouser - "S*!thole Theme"