Ok, so the Homefront video game people (in conjunction with Traxion Control, Outerloop Management, and some other outfits) put together a compilation/limited edition soundtrack for the new Homefront game (you can attempt to download it here). In a fit of recklessness, I decided to give it a spin or two and write a little "review." Why, you ask? I have no idea.
As I Lay Dying - "War Ensemble"
I'll give As I Lay Dying credit for choosing a challenging (technically speaking) song. I'd say they do an admirable job here. The performance is faithful to the original and certainly competent. It is weird hearing someone other than Tommy Araya sing this though, and I can't imagine I'd rather listen to this than the original.
Dillinger Escape Plan - "Fight The Power"
I used to be a huge Public Enemy fan back in the day, and this was obviously one of their seminal songs. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's cool that Chuck D. participated and I guess DEP does their thing nicely, but there's something missing. It just doesn't hit hard enough. A song like this needs more groove and less up-tempo spazz. Honestly, there's no reason to listen to this twice when the original is so good. I do like the song choice though.
Iwrestledabearonce - "Uprising"
I wasn't even sure who the original artist was here. I honestly thought it sounded like the Blondie song "Call Me," but obviously that wasn't right. Enter Wikipedia. Ok, as most of you probably know, this is Muse, a group I never listened to intentionally. Not a huge fan of the song itself, but I guess IWABO does a decent job here. Of course, what do I know, as I still haven't heard the original. And, no, I'm not even going to bother listening to it (I'm lazy). Interestingly, the Wikipedia entry for this track does cite similarities to the aforementioned Blondie track.
The Acacia Strain - "War Pigs"
Before listening to this, my thoughts: Probably not the best choice for TAS. I'm not sure they have the chops (vocal or otherwise) to pull this off. And of course Faith No More did this song so well many years ago. After listening, my thoughts: The Acacia Strain does pretty much the only thing they can do -- turn it into a dumbed down, metalcore version of the song. The guitarwork is ok, in context, but the drum production is pretty annoying (think reverb and triggers). I'm not really feeling this.
Periphery - "One"
Like "War Ensemble," this is another challenging selection, particularly because of all those guitar leads. Not only is this song difficult to play technically, but everyone is obviously well-acquainted with the original, and covers seldom top originals. This is no exception. The musical performance is decent, and not much of a departure from the original, save for truncating some parts and reworking the guitar solos a bit. The vocals, however, are a disappointment. For the first half of the song it sounds like a younger James Hetfield, only without testicles. The necessary vocal [St.] anger is applied during the song's heavy section, but it's not enough to make me want to hear this again.
The Ghost Inside - "Fortunate Son"
I like the song choice; much more inspired than "One" or "War Ensemble." This is a decent hardcore/metal take on the song, complete with a breakdown in the middle. Not the greatest thing I've ever heard, but not the worst. Of course I'd take CCR's version over this any day, but who wouldn't?
Winds of Plauge - "For What It's Worth"
I'm not really sure what to say about this. I mean if you're going to do a metal version of the song I guess this will suffice, but I don't like this cover. It probably has more to do with the original than WOPs execution though. Or does it? I don't know, but the main lead guitar melody gets annoying after 10 seconds, let alone three minutes.
Misery Signals - "Us and Them"
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan. Dare I say, I'm a Floyd expert. If there was a Floyd trivia game, I'd beat anyone but the (remaining) bandmembers themselves. As such, I was interested in hearing how Misery Signals would do here, particularly considering that Between The Buried And Me did an extremely faithful version several years ago (in which BTBAM even recreated the subtle Gilmour and Wright vocal harmonies). Thankfully, Misery Signals doesn't attempt to compete with BTBAM, opting instead to deliver a reworked metal version of the song, with thumping double-bass and tasteful vocals (tasteful from a heavy perspective). I think they did a decent job here. It's probably the one song of the bunch that nicely blends the original song with the traits of the band covering it. It does seem to drag on a bit, but the original is pretty repetitive as well.
Arsonists Get All The Girls - "Masters of War"
I only know the original song by name, so I'm not really in a position to review this cover. It sounds ok. The clean singing is a bit suspect, but I guess they didn't want this to sound like just another generic metalcore song? Regardless, in the unlikely chance Bob Dylan ever hears this, I'm sure his head will explode.
Oceano - "War"
Pretty much exactly what you'd expect. This is a deathcore cover. The original song actually lends itself to this kind of treatement, so it actually works to a degree (it's almost catchy). If you like Oceano, you'll like this. If you don't, well, listen to Muse or something.
Veil of Maya - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Pressing the play button, I really had no idea what to expect. One thing I didn't expect was production this lousy. Was this recorded on a Tascam four-track cassette multitrack unit? If you can ignore its engineering faults, the song itself is predictable. Veil of Maya covers a U2 track. It sounds like Veil of Maya playing technical metal with a few bits thrown in to (barely) remind everybody of the original. Meh.
