Review by E.C.McMullen Jr.

Dee Snider's STRANGELAND: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK TVT Records [Parental Advisory Notice]

STAY AWAY: FROM CAPT. HOWDY

As a kid, I really enjoyed the sound and look of TWISTED SISTER. These five guys, looking like muscle bound hoodlum transvestites, were mud in the face to every Hollywood Hair Band that ever hit stage in mousse, make-up and tights. Plus, the band could really Rock! They weren't just some novelty no-talents! They Freakin' Jammed!

Over a decade later, the band leader Dee Snider announces that he is putting out a horror flick. WHOA! Who better to make a rockin' soundtrack than a former Heavy Metal Rocker?

Dee was too cool to keep the show all to himself however, and has put together a pretty kickin' set of musicians who actually saw real play in the movie, not just little quick sound cuts here and there.

Dee Snider starts off the album and the movie with INCONCLUSION, and it is a perfect opening number for both movie and disc.

SEVENDUST is up next and their song BREATHE gets right inside you. Reminiscent of ALICE IN CHAINS, this is a kick jamming tune.

Probably one of the better MEGADETH songs I've ever heard is A SECRET PLACE. Since 1993, Dave Mustaine has led the band into territory's that are wholly his own, and the band is much better for it.

PANTERA remain who they are. Dynamite under pressure. While this band has shown little to no growth in their sound, they were damn good to start with. WHERE YOU COME FROM is the same hard driving rock I've come to asscociate with this great metal band.

The same can't be said for ANTHRAX. On one hand, they have always had one way of doing things and the idea that change would mean moving more product was always resisted. But for ANTHRAX, change IS the remaining constant. Their music is always definitely ANTHRAX, but they slam hard into whatever style they investigate, busting down the doors on all forms of music they invade. ANTHRAX delivers with P&V.

SNOT is a blend of danceable Rap beats with a Heavy Metal guitars. Their track ABSENT is a strong force in this album, equal to the best the soundtrack has to offer.

dayinthelife sings a Dee Snider tune with STREET JUSTICE. Fortunately, since Snider is already on this disc both as himself and with TWISTED SISTER, I'm glad that the band opted to sound Nothing like Dee at all!

COAL CHAMBER follows in the footsteps of PANTERA and CANNIBAL CORPSE as they carve their own sound. NOT LIVING is poetry set to explosive metal with Goth overtones.

BILE, who is the featured band in the movie's club scene, has a great scuzzy sound. While IN LEAGUE doesn't stand as tall as the bands that preceded them on this disc, that's hardly an insult. They are in the studio right now and I'm eagerly looking forward to their new album.

MARILYN MANSON is creepy as always with SWEET TOOTH, few can open our sores as well as this band. Still, this is not their best song and BILE outshines them. Now that I think of it, are there any recent horror movies that have NOT had a MARILYN MANSON song on their soundtrack?

SOULFLY is an amalgamation of members from FEAR FACTORY, LIMP BIZKIT, DEFTONES, CYPRESS HILL, and CHICO SCIENCE. The problem for me is that I listen to all these bands and so, the song EYE FOR AN EYE winds up sounding too derivative. I can intellectually understand the reason for this, (I recognize all their sounds!) but unoriginal is still how it feels just the same. These guys are all too good independently to go mixing themselves together. SOULFLY just doesn't have a unique enough sound of its own.

(hed)p.e. has a radio edit (read censored) version of SERPENT BOY. This is the kind of crawl up your ass, scary Rap that I Love to hear.

KID ROCK does FUCK OFF, which defines this song and his popularity. "Oooh! He dares to say fuck!" squeal the little white girls. Shit! What rapper doesn't? What movie doesn't? The soundtrack takes a nosedive with this dull Rap suckup song making KID ROCK sound like old VANILLA ICE with a fouler mouth. Yawn. I dunno, maybe I'm jaded, but KID ROCK sounds one hell of a lot better on his CD. There is a lot more to the Kid than this trivial drivel.

Things look up a little with THE CLAY PEOPLE's: AWAKE, but not by much.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN starts getting things back on track with MARMALADE. A catchy oddball number that reminds me of the early I.R.S. bands from back in the early 80's. It's so misplaced and out of sync with the rest of this disc that its welcome in its fresh difference.

NASHVILLE PUSSY is a fun loving metal band with an incendiary name and a firey sound. Their song I'M THE MAN is the sound of trailer trash Heavy Metal with solid Southern roots, this band smashes all presumptive posers. I really like NASHVILLE PUSSY.

CRISES has a really good sound, good drumming and a dizzingly good guitar. Karyn Crises has a spacey "yeah, whatever" quality to her voice, but the lyrics by Dee Snider fall flat on this one.

TWISTED SISTER finishes the soundtrack with HEROES ARE HARD TO FIND. By comparison to the songs that came before it, the song is too innocent and upbeat with its positive message and preachy - ness. The music is tame (by comparison only) and very early 80's. It sounds good with other TWISTED SISTER songs, but doesn't belong with this nihilistic disc.

Over all, Dee Snider's STRANGELAND: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a damn good album and easily earns its four perplex skulls.

This review copyright 1999 E.C.McMullen Jr.

Return to Shadow Music