Customer Reviews

Threat: Music That Inspired the Movie

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When I first heard about the Threat soundtrack, I literally called everybody I could think of that would care and announced that the best soundtrack in existence would soon be released. Yet, a month later, I had completely forgotten about it until an e-mail reminded me.

Now that I have heard it, I would say it's about 75% of what I was expecting. In other words, it's not perfect. But that is easily overlooked by the mere insanity of Glassjaw being remixed by Enduser.

What is being remixed here is not completely hardcore. Classic acts like VOD and Minor Threat do fulfill the promise of true hardcore remixed, but acts like Bleeding Through and Eighteen Visions fall into the newer brand of faux-hardcore. In the end, though, this matters little.

You see, it's the men and women who have been asked to re-envision those tracks that really make the noise what it is. The two reliable heavy-hitters here are Edgey and Enduser. Both have been pivotal players in the American digital Hardcore scene since the "Don't F*** With Us" compilation in the '90s. As a result, their work here is the smoothest and most consistent of the bunch. Edgey's remix of Killswitch Engage is a standout wrecking ball of frantic breakbeats and charging riffs with an oddly haunting background ambience that all seemlessly merges into something modern extreme music has been lacking since Nailbomb worked their magic. And delivering the right hook to Edgey's left is Enduser's killer reworking of Terror's track "Overcome", mosh-pit bound.

However, the big names here don't fail to deliver, either. Most Precious Blood gets a vital infusion courtesy of DHR-founder Alec Empire, his riot-level energy elevating the song with freight train momentum.

Schizoid, of Canada's D-Trash Records, creates a monstrous blend of stomping riffs and distinctly harsh electronics that is unique his own while accentuating Agnostic Front's powerful vocal performance.

Oktopus, of NYC hip-hop sensation Dalek, shows up and trashes the scene with an unexpectedly eerie, feedback-drenched beast that once was Inside Out.

Other highlights include Hecate's collision against Bleeding Through, Defragmentation's butchering (in a good way) of Gorilla Biscuit's "New Direction", and Bill Youngman remixing Judge to great effect.

However, the rest of the CD is not quite so immediately appealing, and some of it requires a taste for bleeding-edge noise and digital hardcore eclecticism, leaving most casual listeners bored at best, absent at worst.

When it works, it works miracles. Even when it doesn't, it's not like this isn't revolutionary work going on here. You've got to respect that.