Normally, when I receive a soundtrack to review, I’m at a
\ndisadvantage because I haven’t seen the movie. In the case of
\nUniversal Soldier – The Return<\/i>, I have a good excuse – the
\nmovie isn’t out in the theaters yet! (The movie is scheduled to
\nopen on August 20.)<\/p>\n
You’d almost expect any soundtrack to a movie featuring
\nprofessional wrestler Bill Goldberg to be filled with good hard
\nrock and heavy metal. And while there are some good (and even
\nsurprising) performances on this disc, there are also some major
\ndisappointments. It’s kind of like walking in a minefield; things
\nfeel good until you make that one bad step.<\/p>\n
The most notable inclusion on this disc is “Crush ‘Em,” the
\nlatest track from Megadeth, and a track from their upcoming album.
\nDave Mustaine and crew go for a new sound on this song – and,
\nunfortunately, it’s not a great move for Megadeth. Sure, I realize
\nthat any band that has been around for over 15 years has to change
\nand adapt as they get older, but when compared to what they
\nrecorded for
\nCryptic Writings<\/i>, “Crush ‘Em” sounds like a leftover
\ntrack.<\/p>\n
One of the more pleasant surprises comes from The Flys, a band
\nthat I hadn’t discovered until hearing their rendition of Ozzy
\nOsbourne’s “Crazy Train”. (Only one complaint: the song isn’t
\nallowed to finish by going into the third verse. Sorry, but I’m a
\npurist at heart.) The true-to-form rendition, as well as the
\namazing harmonies, make me very curious about this band – and
\nsomething tells me I’ll be picking up their album for my own
\nenjoyment very soon.<\/p>\n
The Clay People – one of the more exciting acts to come out of
\nthe industrial metal category over the last 18 months – is always a
\nwelcome addition to a soundtrack, but while I love the track
\n“Awake,” couldn’t someone have selected a different track? (The
\nsame song was featured in Dee Snider’s horror movie
\nStrangeland<\/i>.) Another pleasant addition to this soundtrack
\nis Static-X’s “Bled For Days”; this band is one worth watching in
\nthe very near future. I truly think they’re onto something.<\/p>\n
With all the wonderful surprises and inclusions on
\nUniversal Soldier – The Return<\/i>, there are some rather ho-hum
\nmoments as well. For one, Anthrax is a band who have had some great
\nsongs over the years; why choose one from their neutron-bomb
\nStomp 442<\/i> for this disc (“Fueled”)? In another vein, Gwar is
\nnot a band I would call one of my favorites; I heard their album
\nAmerica Will Be Destroyed<\/i> and almost lost my lunch. Yet,
\ntheir inclusion on this disc, “Saddam A Go-Go,” is almost, well…
\ntame<\/i>.<\/p>\n
A few other bands on this disc were okay, but I didn’t hear
\nanything special in their performances to merit pulling them out
\nfor major mention. Some of these bands included One Minute Warning
\n(“Remain Calm”), Jact (“Magic #3”) and D Generation (“Hatred”).<\/p>\n
\nUniversal Soldier – The Return<\/i> has some moments that will
\nmake you proud to be a rocker, as well as some moments that will
\nhave you scrambling for the nearest foxhole. It’s worth checking
\nout – but tread lightly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5729],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-39180","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-soundtrack","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39180"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}