Review: Queen of the Damned

Soundtrack
“Queen of the Damned”
(Warner Brothers)

A film with music by Static-X, the whores of the movie soundtrack world? Say it isn’t so! Actually, it’s not the only the band’s work on here, but also includes a song solely performed by singer Wayne Static.  Wayne and three other lead singers, David Draiman of Distrubed, Chester Bennington of Linkin Poop, and Jay Gordon of Orgy, individually perform four songs written by Korn singer Jon Davis, along with a little help from ex-Oingo Boingo Richard Gibbs. Squished with these original tracks are fun picks from a variety of metal: “Change” – Deftones, “Redeemer” – Marilyn Manson, “Dead Cell” – Papa Roach, “Penetrate” – Godhead, “Headstrong” – Earshot, “Body Crumbles” – Dry Cell, “Excess” – Tricky” and “Before I’m Dead” – Kidneythieves. Sounds like a typical half hour off of late night KROQ, but cool for the kid that digs radio metal and wants a bunch of singles with a little taste of originality.  I was actually suprised by Jonathan Davis’s songs–they’re all very good, showing off talent by singer’s of bands I’m admittedly sick to my stomach of.  A  good example of excellent vocals is “Forsaken” by Disturbed frontman David Draiman.  He really croons on this one, creating a melodic, darker feeling to the album, which is a big change from the Disturbed sound–again, a miracle performed by Jon’s musical creation skills.  From what I understand, these singers were picked out, and as hesitant the average hater of this genre will be, this is one of the better nu metal soundtracks out.