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JennYVarious Artists - Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen Soundtrack Review
July 18th 2009 03:36
Genre: Alternative Rock, Post-grunge, Punk Pop, Emo, Hard Rock, Alternative Metal
Length: 51:46
Label: Warner Bros. Record
Like its movie, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen's soundtrack is the kind of material directed towards the 15-25 age range. With groups such as Linkin Park, Green Day, Taking Back Sunday, The Fray, The All-American Rejects, Hoobastank, and Avenged Sevenfold all getting a share of the spotlight, the soundtrack is a compilation of loud, obnoxious tracks perfect for radio airplay.
The album unsurprisingly starts with the movie's promotional single, New Divide by Linkin Park. Being a huge fan of LP, I was happy to see them come out with new material since 2007's Minutes To Midnight. New Divide is similar to the first Transformers' single “What I've Done” (also by Linkin Park) only edgier. Chester's singing is impeccable on this one to the point of giving me shivers every time I hear this song.
21 Guns by Green Day is the second track of the album. The song is also the second single from their latest album 21st Century Breakdown (reviewed HERE). The track is a move away from Green Day's punk side as they enter classic rock territory. The song features acoustic guitars on the verses and hard-riffing electric guitars during the chorus and the bridge. Although 21 Guns isn't as great as New Divide, it's still a crowd-pleaser – a put-your-cellphones-up (as in put-your-lighters-up) kind of song with a nice chorus.
Hard rock band Cavo comes in third with Let It Go. The first singing lines of this track instantly took me back to Nickelback's 2006 single “Far Away.” The song aren't that similar but they appeal to the same crowd. Let It Go is a lot edgier than “Far Away.” I wouldn't be surprised to see it reach the Top 15 of the Billboards' charts if it ever came to be released as a single.
Taking Back Sunday's Capital M-E is where the quality of the soundtrack starts to decline a bit. Singer Adam Lazzara sounds a bit like My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way, making this song a bit too whiny for me. It's perfect for the teenage crowd though.
Never Say Never is the second single off of The Fray's self-titled album (reviewed HERE). The song is a piano-driven ballad tailor-made for adult contemporary radio stations. Although the instrumental is beautiful, the singer's average voice brings the track down a bit. Still, it's a nice song.
The Fray - Never Say Never (Official Music Video) - For more amazing video clips, click here
Canadian rockers Nickelback come up next with the fifth single off of Dark Horse (reviewed HERE) called Burn It To The Ground. The song is a high-energy, high-tempo track, perfect to get a crowd going. This song didn't impress me at first because the image of a bad-ass Chad Kroeger seemed simply wrong in my head. Still, once you get past the fact that it's Nickelback who created this track, it's pretty damn good if you're looking for something to pump you up. Basic riff but pretty effective.
Burning Down The House by The Used is a cover of a song of the same name by Talking Heads. The instrumental felt a little awkward at first but after awhile I realized that it went well with the overall sound of Linkin Park's New Divide. It wouldn't have looked so much out of place if it was placed after New Divide. But, here, in the middle of some many radio-friendly tracks, it felt disconnected from the rest.
Not Meant To Be is the fifth single of Theory Of A Deadman's Scars & Souvenirs. It's the kind of song you would expect of Nickelback – a guitar-driven rock ballad dealing with love.
Real World by The All-American Rejects is the second of three songs not used in the film (the other two are Not Meant To Be and I Don't Think I Love You). The song is a high-tempo powerpop track. With their third album, AAR are lot louder on the guitars and keyboard. The song starts kinda slow but ends with a bang.
I Don't Think I Love You by Hoobastank is another high-tempo track. The hard-biting instrumental isn't edgy enough for listeners to figure out that Hoobastank are another pop group pretending to be rockers. Just by the title, you guys can figure out what this song is about. At some point, Hoobastank will have to try to reach for a higher level of songwriting because this is getting old.
I didn't really dig This Is It by Staind. I know that they're a great band and all but this song didn't do much for me. It felt like Aaron Lewis was falling asleep when singing the verses, and simply started screaming in the chorus. I may change my mind after a couple more listen, but right now, This Is It is simply “meh.”
The second single of Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album, Almost Easy is a masterpiece. It's the kind of song that gives me hope for the new generation of metal bands. There are two guitar solos on the track – one at the beginning and one at the bridge. The drumming is excellent and M. Shadows' raw voice fits perfectly with the main guitar riff. An excellent track.
Transformers (The Fallen Remix) by Cheap Trick sounds like the theme for an 80's TV show. It probably was intended as a throwback to the cartoon series. Instead, it comes out as a cheap and godawful way to conclude a soundtrack. It's almost like the album decreased in quality as the songs went on.
In the end, just like the movie, Transformers' soundtrack is a massive disappointment. Almost all tracks had or have a certain degree of success on radio airwaves, but here it just feels like they were put together for no other reason than to make some money. There's no sense of connection between tracks, whether it's the genres or themes. Although the Twilight soundtrack wasn't that great, you could tell there was a certain order to it. Here, it's just a mishmash of tracks that aren't all that great to begin with. The highlights are definitely Linkin Park, Cavo, and Avenged Sevenfold. The rest are good but not great. I give this album a 3/5.
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