Review of Various Artists - The Cave - Soundtrack

It’s always nice to see Hollywood involve metal in their movies, and The Cave is the latest film to use heavy music as its backdrop. These days producing a marketable soundtrack and a glossy, top class trailer seem to be nearly as important as the movie itself. The last move to turn metal heads was Alone in the Dark, which boasted a uniquely credible soundtrack bursting with real deal metal from vets like Bloodbath, Kataklysm, Exodus, and Meshuggah. Unfortunately, the movie was utter crap, and crashed out of the theaters quicker than it took to get through the double discs of its accompanying soundtrack. Hopefully, The Cave, which looks to be a bit like Alien in an underwater cave, will fare better. Unlike Alone in the Dark, which featured music that was inordinately heavy, The Cave is shooting for a much more commercially viable sound, so it will come as no surprise that the focus of the project is centered on the thriving American metalcore scene.

The heavier metalcore contributions on the album come from big names like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, and rising stars Trivium. But those guys are really just doing the heavy lifting to leverage the lighter and more commercially viable approaches on the album, like Atreyu and Ill Nino, as well as the smooth female crooning of Nightwish and Lacuna Coil. There are a couple of square pegs in the group—Mastodon and Strapping Young Lad must be feeling a little out of place in this company. Open Hand’s grooving A Perfect Circle flavored “Hard Night” provides some enjoyable variety but seems out of place, and the same could be said for the punkish alt screamer from Burning Brides and the Vext track, which sounds like Bush gone metalcore.

The more memorable soundtracks, like Singles, River’s Edge, Judgment Night, and Top Gun (just seeing if you were still paying attention) worked because they gave fans something they didn’t already have. Non-album tracks and/or collaborations are the only reliable way to entice fans of the genre to seriously consider a soundtrack. As good as Alone in the Dark was, most of us just picked it up in the store, nodded in earnest appreciation, and put it down, as we already owned all of it we cared to. That said, it seems clear that our readership is not the target audience for this album. Many won’t like the metalcore focus, and those that do will find nearly all of this material to be old news. This is for new listeners who will pick this up because of a track or two, and will secondarily be exposed to some new bands. And if they come for Atreyu and end up loving Mastodon, the world is a better place in my book.

1. Irreversal - Killswitch Engage
2. Nemo - Nightwish
3. You Eclipsed By Me - Atreyu
4. I'll Find The Way - Ill Nino
5. Inspiration On Demand - Shadows Fall
6. Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr - Trivium
7. Daylight Dancer - Lacuna Coil
8. Hard Night - Open Hand
9. Love Lost In A Hail Of Gunfire - Bleeding Through
10. Medieval - Diecast
11. Love? - Strapping Young Lad
12. Magnolia - Bury Your Dead
13. A Threnody For Modern Romance - It Dies Today
14. Blood & Thunder - Mastodon
15. Prescription - Vext
16. King Of The Demimonde - Burning Brides
17. Taking You Down - Egypt Central
18. Conflicted, Conditioned - Devilinside
19. Bring The Pain/Multiple Incisions - Candiria

Release Details

Various Artists

The Cave - Soundtrack

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