Various Artists

La Foresta Della Morte (Original Soundtrack) CD

Toyo Records November 9, 1999

Recorded and Mixed by Jeremy at Loft on Paulina, 1999

I have not seen the movie that this CD is the soundtrack for. But, I can say with confidence that it's probably very strange. The bands on the CD are pretty widely varied, going from Melt Banana to Joan of Arc and Colossamite to Euphone. Thrones, The Need, and C4AM95 are also on it. The C4AM95 song is what the term math rock should actually refer to. The reason I say this is because it sounds as if the way the two guitars harmonize (think lots of 5ths ala Dream Theater and Spinal Tap) was plotted mathematically to ensure that it was always the most metal it could possibly be. This isn't something I would enjoy beyond a joke, but C4AM95 take it so far over the top that I can't help but be charmed by it. The Joan of Arc song "You (single)" would fit in nicely with the songs they put on the Live in Chicago, 1999 album. That is, it fits in with the better songs from the album. Euphone's song is just like everything else I've heard of theirs, none of which I've liked a lot. So, it's probably really great, I just don't get into jazzy minimal groove oriented stuff. Some of the other bands teeter on the edge of hardcore-metal (Armatron, Impaled), while others (Colossamite, Melt Banana, Pablos Triangle) dabble in the bizarre side of aggression. I'm sure that these songs all accompany the movie well, but some of them don't stand on their own all that well. The strangest song on the soundtrack is perhaps "The People vs" by Transitional. The song itself is a very straightforward pop song. But, it's so far off the paths of the other bands that it stands out among 13 other tracks of scattered weirdness.

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