Richard reviews the Saw II soundtrack

I haven’t seen Saw II yet, but the vein is similar to Saw. It’s to be dark, tense, thrilling, unsettling, and above all, frightening. The movie is intended to take you out of your comfort zone and drop you into the minds of people trapped in a complex puzzle, to lose that comfortable feeling and to be put on edge.

Listening to the soundtrack for Saw II I was well aware this was out of my comfort zone, I am far from a metalhead. Still, after listening to it a few times I’ve actually really begun to enjoy it.

The track list matches with nothing in my collection…

1. “Irresponsible Hate Anthem” (Venus Head Trap Mix) MARILYN MANSON
2. “Sound Effects and Over Dramatics” THE USED
3. “Forget To Remember” MUDVAYNE
4. “September” BLOODSIMPLE
5. “Blood (Empty Promises)” PAPA ROACH
6. “REV 22:20” (Rev 4:20 Mix)PUSCIFER
7. “Pieces” SEVENDUST
8. “Rodent” (Ken ‘Hiwatt’ Marshall remix/ DDT mix) SKINNY PUPPY
9. “Burn The Witch” (Unkle Variation) QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
10. “Holy” A BAND CALLED PAIN
11. “Three Fingers” BUCKETHEAD & FRIENDS w/SAUL WILLIAMS
12. “Home Invasion Robbery” THE LEGION OF DOOM
13. “Caliente (Dark Entries)” REVOLTING COCKS FEAT. GIBBY HAYNES (Butthole Surfers) & AL JOURGENSEN(Ministry)
14. “Step Up” OPIATE FOR THE MASSES
15. “Don’t Forget The Rules” (score) CHARLIE CLOUSER

The music is hard and totally in your face. Manson and Used open to a blasting and screaming galore, but the beats good and with the hard guitar riffs just as strong, it makes for some excellent driving or frustration venting listening. Sevendust just blows me away. Mad and wild, and definitely not something for me. A really big metal track for fans only. Opiate are in the same vein here too, although it does have more of an accessible side to it, it’s still a metal track that’s out of my listening range.

Mudvayne eases up slightly, and I found this a more enjoyable song, I found myself humming along at times. Bloodsimple keeps this up but Papa Roach really takes the baton on this and starts running. This is more towards my style, and it’s a really strong song that I’ve found going round my head during the day and one that is definitely going to reach my player. Stone Age are undoubtedly going on that player, it’s a really funky song carrying it’s harder guitar a lot more in the background, obviously in a more off kilter moment of the movie and managing to pull the soundtrack in a different direction, but still fitting well with the soundtrack.

A Band called Pain don’t really live up to their name, but that’s good, because they deliver some strong guitar music that really does fit well with me. With a good tune and some great harmonies rammed up against the heavy guitar, it’s another winner for my tracklist.

Puscifer really takes the speed and metal gauges way down, but using deep base and hard electronic percussion you’re kept in that musical mindset of unease and edginess. It’s another good song that does grow on you after a few listenings. Skinny Puppy keep the electronic feel and blend the metal roots of the other songs together for a pretty good thumping tune. Legion of Doom pick up where Puppy left off, keeping the electronic feel and then ramping up the metal to a fantastic trance-like beat, although I know I shouldn’t like this track I’m really drawn to it.

Finally we have what is probably the opening and closing credits song. Partly mixed from Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, with some heavy brooding orchestrated music. It carries perfectly with the tone of the movie, and fits surprisingly well with the rest of the soundtrack, despite the incredible range.

Those are the keys for this soundtrack, it’s range in the heavier side of music, but never losing sight of what the movie is there to achieve. The unnerving and unsettling feelings, building tension and bombarding the listeners senses.

The sleeve contains some shots and a short dedication of the music from the soundtrack and also inspired by – that means music they’ve thrown onto the CD in order to make it a full size album, but still in keeping with the feel of the movie – from the Director. There’s also a big thanks from the Twisted Pictures crew as well. Then it’s onto the usual titles and credits merged over more stills. It’s actually a cool looking CD, mainly due to the two severed fingers with broken nails sticking on the front!

It’s a good and strong soundtrack, and I think if I were to have heard it in conjunction with the movie I would be raving about how well it fits. Perhaps those that have seen Saw II can say how the score works with the film. However standing on its own there are some very strong songs, and some that appeal to even me, someone who isn’t exactly a fan of metal. For those who are, I think this promises a surprisingly strong grouping of songs and artists for you.