Compilation discs are supposed to have a purpose, right? Obviously Masters of Horror is a tribute to the Horror movie industry, but why? It seems a little pointless, but in the liner notes, all is explained. Ever since horror movies started becoming popular in the 1950's, there has always been a "rockin" soundtrack that could be danced to. Well, there you go. If you didn't like that explanation then I guess you can go bitch about while I review a "rockin" soundtrack.
The lead single for the album,
We Are One, is a new song that is recorded by both Buckethead, and Serj Tankian, lead singer of System of a Down. The song itself, feels much like older System with fast paced vocals from Serj, matched evenly with the music. Later in the song, Serj starts singing like the Dalik's talk from Doctor Who, very cool. It's probably a good choice as a single, but compared to the rest of the compilation, it's not that good. One huge standout comes early in the form of a Depeche Mode cover. It Dies Today cover the song,
Enjoy The Silence. Now, it's not good as Evergreen Terrace's cover job, but is still excellent. The music seems spot on, and in place. The vocal job is key to the song, and doesn't disappoint at all. Smooth vocals aesthetically work well on the whole song, especially with catchy openings lyrics such as, "Words like violence, break the silence. Come crashing in, into my little world". I'll be as biased as I want when I say that this is such a classic song, and a terrific choice to do a cover of.
Avenged Sevenfold contribute to the compilation by having a live version of
Beast and The Harlot on here. After some instrumental playing, M. Shadows goes into a full on scream, proving what the band has been saying all along, his voice is better, but Shadow chooses to not scream anymore. Huge mistake. His voice is appallingly bad, only to make my jaw drop even further when I hear the backup vocals. The musical performance is above average, drums standout considerably with double bass, and the guitars deliver a solid performance. Bedlight For Blue Eyes have an interesting song with
Hindsight. The song starts off with something similar to the music of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, which is from the Excorcist. The rest of the song is has post-hardcore elements to it, but is rather relaxing, except for the unexpected breakdown in the middle of the song. Alkaline Trio contributes a good surprise. A song sung by bassist Daniel Andriano, called
We Can Never Break Up . The music is the recent standard for the band, simplistic guitar, and ever-present drums. The only disappointment is that there's not much of a chorus to go along with the song, which has always been something I consider key in the bands songs.
Discover Me Like Emptiness is a b-side from In Flames' Soundtrack To Your Escape. Something I don't understand, as this song is better than about half the songs on that album. The song contains heavy, entertaining music, and contains a solid vocal performance from Anders Friedman, where he doesn't sound like Jon Davis.
Shadows Fall also contributes a b-side from The War Within with the song
This is My Own, which is incredibly poor compared to every other song by the band. The guitar riffs are incredibly bland, and seem a tad like something Lamb of God would've written. Brian Fair's vocals are standard for him, except slightly more rougher. The only really good thing about the song is the wickedly fancy solo that pops out near the end. For every song I heard, I either liked it right off the bat, or didn't like it, and that opinion stayed with me, and never changed, except for one song. That song is by Armor For Sleep, and is called
Very Invisible. It's obviously a b-side from their latest album, as the lyrical content makes that plainly obvious.
"I came back down to stay with you, even if you don't know". The reason I didn't like at first was because it sounded a lot like all of the bands other work, but the interesting guitar hook in the beginning, and catchy vocals eventually won me over. The song
Victoria Iceberg by Bear Vs. Shark is fun, upbeat, and feels a little influenced by Andrew W.K., which is always a plus in my book. Speaking of the party-hardy master, Andrew W.K. He makes an appearance with the song,
You Will Remember Tonight. There's some class piano for the song, and simple, but cool guitar riffing that goes perfectly with Andrew's rough, yet catchy singing (heart). The concept of horror is pleasantly achieved when the relaxing acoustic song,
If Ever ends, and Fear Before The March of Flames assaults the listener with
237. Scary screaming from the vocalist, and some nice (albeit weird) guitar playing later in the song makes it quite memorable.
This compilation disc might seem unnecessary to some, but let me assure you that it is indeed a worthy buy for fans of many types of rock, ranging from post-hardcore, pop-punk, as well as straight metal. Something I ask myself is why there's pop-punk on here when that has nothing to do with metal. After all, Matchbook Romance contributes a rather syrupy acoustic song. There's enough new, and older material from bands, along with a few covers to go with it also to make this an enjoyable buy. Both discs are almost an hour each, so that's almost two hours of mainly entertaining music from several bands, both well known, and not so well-know. I would call $15 a good deal for something where you're sure to discover at least one band you could end up being a big fan of, as well as music from bands you already love, but have yet to hear certain songs on this that are sure to please.
