Movie Snobs ; Movie Tunes: Resident Evil: Apocalypse


		Movie Tunes: Resident Evil: Apocalypse

This week’s Movie Tunes is the soundtrack to the second in the Resident Evil movie series, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Last week we took a listen to the Resident Evil soundtrack, which was pretty awesome. This week’s soundtrack is even better, with a record 6 tracks you can’t miss.

The disc kicks off with Slipknot’s “Vermillion,” a great starting track. It’s the kind of hard rock you’d expect from a zombie movie - screaming vocals, heavy guitars, and pounding drums. This track flows into “Just A Little” from The Used. I haven’t listened to The Used since college, so this track reminds me of my spiky, jet-black hair days. It’s a good track if you like “screamo” music, as they’ve been called (or crap, as my college roommate used to call it). It’s a typical track from The Used, so if you like their music, you’ll love this track.

Tracks 3 & 4 aren’t my favorites. I’m not a fan of either The Cure or Lacuna Coil, so their tracks (”Us or Them” and “Swamped” respectively) don’t really interest me. The Cure track isn’t bad; I’m just not a fan. I really like the music on the Lacuna Coil track, but I’m not a fan of the vocals. At times they sound almost like an SNL skit of what rock music sounds like.

On the other hand, I’m a big, big fan of A Perfect Circle. I also happen to be a fan of Renholder’s (aka Danny Lohner) remix work, so the “Resident Renholder Mix” of “The Outsider” is my favorite track on the disc. (I also like the Renholder mix of the APC track “Judith” on the Underworld soundtrack.)

Another great track on the disc is Killswitch Engage’s “The End of Heartache.” It’s the first Killswitch Engage song I’ve ever heard, and I will definitely be buying some of their music in the future. The song is great - heavy drums, unique vocals, and awesome guitar riffs. The more I listen to it, the more I realize it would be a killer track for Guitar Hero. The guitar melodies are actually really infectious. To the point that I’ve listened to the track three times in a row while writing about it.

While I really like the intro music of “Mein Teil,” I’ve never been a fan of Rammstein. I’m really into song lyrics, so listening to a song in German doesn’t really appeal to me. Plus, it always sounds like they’re saying something dirty.

DevilDriver’s track “Digging Up The Corpses” features angry ass-kicking music and growling vocals. It’s almost as if the guy swallows barbed wire before singing. Which, believe it or not, is a good thing in this situation.

Similar to the Lacuna Coil track, the Cradle of Filth track “Nymphetamine” just doesn’t interest me. I’d much prefer an instrumental version. The female vocals sound pretty, but too weak for hard rock, and the male vocals sound like one of the creatures from The Descent would if they sang.

Another standout track is “Escape From Hellview” from CKY. I can’t remember the first time I heard this track (it was at least 3 or 4 years ago), but I immediately liked it. The song has a rocking quality to it - not in the sense of rocking like rock music (although it does plenty of that), but more in the sense of rocking rhythmically like a crowd of concert-goers. The melody behind the hard rock really drives the song.

The next two tracks carry along the heavy rock, scary zombie movie vibe of the soundtrack. “The Chaffeur” comes from the Deftones and “Join Me In Death” comes from H.I.M. The first is an okay track, while the second reminds me of a song that might have come out in the mid-80s. Maybe it’s the piano. Neither is bad, but they’re not my favorite tracks either.

The next track is from Demon Hunter, easily one of the best hard rock band names, with “My Heartstrings Come Undone.” It’s a melodic hard rock track, which seems to be standard for this album. At first listen it wasn’t a standout track, but after having it in my head all day I’ve changed my mind. It’s a catchy tune.

The next three tracks are more of my favorites. Thrice, another band I had never listened to, has an awesome track called “Under A Killing Moon.” It has some awesome guitar riffs, and I can imagine they’d be a really impressive live band. I’ll be picking up some of their CDs soon.

36 Crazyfists, yet another band I had only heard of, has a pounding track called “Bloodwork” (so very appropriately named for a zombie flick where the zombies where infected by a scientific company’s virus). It’s really simply just a great rock track - rocking guitars, pounding drums, and great vocals.

An acoustic track by Cold leads to the end of the CD and is called “End of the World.” Strong vocals, great lyrics, and a beautifully recorded acoustic guitar. (As a former audio student, I understand the pain involved in properly recording acoustic guitars. This track captures it perfectly.)

The last two tracks speed it back up, starting with a Renholder mix of Rob Zombie’s “Girl on Fire.” I’m not a big fan of Rob Zombie’s movies (see my reviews of Halloween and The Devil’s Rejects, both two and a half stars), but the man truly knows rock music. I’m also a big fan of Renholder remixes, as I mentioned earlier, so this track’s a double-win.

Finally, there’s a track by Massive Attack called “Future Proof” that’s a creepy & weird-sounding track that works as a perfect closer to the disc.

Tracks You Can’t Miss: