Strangeland
Old- and new-school metalheads unite on this 18-track soundtrack to Dee Snider's film. The best songs here come from the vets. Snider's track with Anton Sanko, "Inconclusion," is dark, Tool-influenced music; it's well-executed and far removed from the Twisted Sister frontman's roots. Megadeth's engaging, Indian-influenced "A Secret Place" and Anthrax's grooving "P-N-V" also rock with energy and melody. But there are some surprises from the new generation of heavy rockers: System of a Down deliver the amusingly tongue-in-cheek, retro-Goth "Marmalade," while the ever-annoying industrial group Bile offer the appropriately sleazy and somewhat catchy electro-rock assault "In League." Twisted Sister themselves reunite for "Heroes Are Hard to Find," an amiable anthem delivered in their classic '80s style. There are also two curious Twisted covers provided by dayinthelife... and Crisis, each group handling one half of the two-part epic "Horror-Teria," the tune from Sister'sStay Hungrythat inspired this horror flick. Overall, it's a very mixed bag, but the Snider and Twisted originals are the attraction here, with a few other tracks being pretty decent.--Bryan Reesman