Released:  1998

Genre:  Various, including nu-metal and alternative metal

Record Label:  TVT

Duration:  72:49

Producer:  Patricia Joseph

[expand title=”Track Listing” trigpos=”above” tag=”h22″]

1. Dee Snider – Inconclusion
2. Sevendust – Breathe
3. Megadeth – A Secrete Place
4. Pantera – Where You Come From
5. Anthrax – P & V
6. Snot – Absent
7. dayinthelife… – Street Justice
8. Coal Chamber – Not Living
9. Bile – In League
10. Marilyn Manson – Sweet Tooth
11. Soulfly – Eye for an Eye
12. (hed)p.e. – Serpent Boy (Radio Edit)
13. Kid Rock feat. Eminem – Fuck Off
14. The Clay People – Awake
15. System of a Down – Marmalade
16. Nashville Pussy – I’m the Man
17. Crisis – Captain Howdy
18. Twisted Sister – Heroes are Hard to Find [/expand]

Why the Strangeland OST is One of My Favorites

Strangeland was a pretty lame movie even for those of us who can tolerate B, C, and even Z grade horror films, primarily because it didn’t try to do anything original.  Bad movies can at least still be interesting (due to gore, or maybe gore, costumes, concept, even gore) but Strangeland tries too hard to create a Freddy or Jason for the Internet Age (dubbed “Captain Howdy”), and it ends up feeling forced. Worst of all it’s boring, and movies just don’t bounce back from being boring.

However, one look at the track list ought to be enough to send any 90’s metal fan into a catatonic state of glee.  It’s got Coal Chamber, Manson, System of a Down, Snot, Soulfly, Sevendust…and for those who’ve dug a little more into more traditional, older acts, names like Pantera, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Twisted Sister will pop out as well (Dee Snider “made” the film, after all).  Throw in some rap rock ((hed)p.e. and Kid Rock featuring a then-unknown Eminem) and irreproachable Bile, and it’s one hell of a soundtrack, right?

For the most part, the Strangeland Original Soundtrack (OST) is a solid listen from start to finish.  It featured a lot of artists I was interested at the time, and it provides a great gateway to bands like Coal Chamber, Soulfly, and Sevendust that didn’t see as much radio play as more popular alternative metal and nu-metal acts.  This had to be one of the best compilations of the late 90’s in terms of said genres (and it actually embraces much of what nu-metal began as rather than what it turned into; see my rant in Issue #38 for more), and I still pop this CD occasionally to this day.

Curiously, this record contains tracks from 2 of the 4 thrash heavyweights, Megadeth and Anthrax (the other 2 being Metallica and Slayer).  However, they aren’t the Megadeth and Anthrax of days past.  Older fans will be thoroughly sickened, though I would argue that it helps introduce these bands to a new generation; a way of saying, “here’s what these guys are doing now!”  Both “A Secret Place” and “P & V” can be found on Megadeth’s 1997 release Cryptic Writings and Anthrax’s 1998 album Volume 8, respectively, so they’re somewhat indicative of what these guys were doing in the late 90’s.  “A Secret Place” is decent enough, but Mustaine has always had this air of desperation that seeps into his music.  The poor guy spent every second of his career being upset over getting kicked out of Metallica, and maybe it’s just me, but this always shines through.  Regardless, “P & V” is an excellent track even if it doesn’t sound like the Anthrax from Among the Living or Spreading the Disease.  It’s got a bouncy, punk-ish feel to it with heavy riffing, gravitating towards groove metal, and might be one of my favorite 2 or 3 cuts from the OST.

Pantera stays close to its groove metal formula, and the tracks from Snot, Coal Chamber, System of a Down, Sevendust, and Soulfly are more or less indicative of what each of these groups were capable of at the time.  Kid Rock’s “Fuck Off” is notable not only for featuring a guest appearance from Eminem before he exploded in ’99, but also for featuring the “cancer” and “homo” references that are played backwards on the actual album version from Devil Without a Cause.  Manson’s track (which is why I was keenly aware of the album, even though I’d long since heard/owned “Sweet Tooth” via the band’s 1994 debut) is a bit of a strange inclusion from the group’s first album, Portrait of an American Family which had a markedly different sound than their Antichrist Superstar–era work.  (Then again, Manson would elect to follow in Bowie’s footsteps by often drastically altering their sound from one record to the next.)  Ironically, of all the songs here, I find “Sweet Toot

My favorite track is Bile’s “In League.”  After becoming smitten with Bile’s “I Reject” on the Mortal Kombat OST, I was ecstatic to see them return here on Strangeland.  “In League” doesn’t disappoint; it’s harder, heavier, and darker than “I Reject,” which was already a damn fantastic track.  Twisted Sister’s “Heroes Are Hard to Find” closes out the album, seeming strangely out of place with its upbeat tone and lyrics; however, it’s still a great son (up there with my favorites from the record), and closing out a marginally gloomy, sometimes angry set of songs with something positive proves to be effective.

In my introduction to Volume 2: Soundtracks, I mentioned that most soundtracks are snapshots of a genre that will (hopefully) appeal to the same audience that comes to see the film.  In the case of Strangeland’s OST, that’s exactly what we’ve got.  What makes it stand out in my mind is just how clear this snapshot is and how it acts as a superb sampler to this new breed of metal that was popping up in the mainstream at the time.  I can’t exactly remember which of these artists I got into before or after hearing the record, but either way it’s great to have so many of these acts on a single disc.

Written by The Cubist

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