by Mott the Dog
re-mastered By Ella Crew
4 Stars ****
“What if tomorrow this war could be over? Isn’t
that worth fighting for? Isn’t that worth dying for?” Stirring stuff
from the lips of Morpheus as he rallies the people before the final battle
at the beginning of Matrix Reloaded.
‘Matrix Reloaded’ followed in the present trend of
Hollywood movies, where the sequel is better than the original. (Although
I must admit to the plot being a bit too confusing for my associates Lang
Reid and Dear Hillary, both of whom had their feathers thoroughly ruffled
in the confusion of who was what, and where and when, Hillary kept on
swooning over Neo though.) Harry Potter’s magical second movie certainly
outstripped it’s predecessor; the Lord of The Ring movies just get
better and better; Charlie’s Angels get sexier and sexier, and
Terminator gets more rowdy by the minute. Perhaps the only one not
managing to keep up with the trend is the Star Wars pre-quells, but then
that was quite a hard act to follow. ‘Matrix Reloaded’ was a huge
seminal step forward from the first movie, setting the bar even higher for
the others to follow. The same can be said for the double CD collection
that goes under the collective title, ‘Music from and Inspired by the
Motion Picture’. Knocking the soundtrack from the previous movie into a
cocked hat.
The music is split between the two discs into inspired
by and actual soundtrack. The first coming under the various artist
category and the second mainly coming from the pen of the wonderful Don
Davis.
Opening song is ‘Session’ by ‘Linkin Park’, one
of those bands that perhaps us old metal dogs have been a bit sniffy about
in the past, because of their cross overuse of sampling and rap vocals.
But this short little burst fits in very well here giving off just the
right amount of vibes to set the Matrix groove, opening the door to the
experience if you like. Certainly a band worth further inspection.
Next song has a lovely quiet beginning with tinkling
keyboards before slamming in with an almighty ‘More’ and a kick like
Agent Smith X 20 smacking right into the pit of your stomach. The guitars
slam and the vocals go from choirboy-like to full blooded roar. It is, of
course, the magnificent new champion of shock/rock ‘Marilyn Manson’.
By the end of this song you are right back in the Matrix.
Marilyn Manson is the perfect artist to have on this
collection with his song titled ‘This Is The New ‘Stuff’’. (It’s
not actually called that, but the Mail is after all a family
newspaper. Hillary went all peculiar when she saw what the real title
was).
Fitting in perfectly with all these new young artists
is that old codger of heavy metal ‘Rob Zombie’, who lets go with both
barrels on the third song of the opening trio on ‘Reload’, affected
vocals and sledge hammer guitars. It is music that Morpheus would of
approved of in his youth. (Do they have youth in Zion or are you just
there?)
Things are then slowed way down for three relatively
forgettable tracks by ‘Rob Dougan’ - ‘Deftones’ and
‘Teamsleep’. Probably something for Trinity to relax to when she is
not racing a motorbike the wrong way up the highway.
Things are brought back with a bang to a more
hard-edged sound with a couple of songs from ‘P. O. D.’ and
‘Unloco’, before ‘Rage Against The Machine’ weigh in with a slab
of ‘Calm Like A Bomb’. ‘Oekenfold’ gives us ‘Dreadrock’, which
sounds like an outtake from a bad seventies disco movie and doesn’t fit
in at all well here.
‘Fluke’ then gives us ‘Zion’, which at least
keeps the theme going. The remix version of ‘Dave Matthews Band’
‘When The World Ends’ is appalling and would of been better left off
the album.
As the albino twins said: “We are aggravated. Yes, we
are.”
The second disc is pure class, the actual music written
for the movie. Three pieces of music from Don Davis, two from the pen of
Ben Watkins, and one co-written by the pair. Plus the pulsating
‘Chateau’ from Rob Dougan. This music lives and breathes Matrix.
The ‘Main Title’ sets the scene; ‘Trinity
Dream’ is the stuff nightmares are made of; and ‘Teahouse’ is the
music from the dance ritual in the movie, where Neo and Trinity get it on,
while Link and Zee give it the Hoochie Choochie. (Let’s hope we get more
of Zee in the future.) ‘Chateau’ has the heaviest bass line ever,
almost knocking you out of your seat as Neo does his Superman thing. Then
with over ten minutes of ‘Mona Lisa Overdrive’ you can almost feel the
Keymaker hanging on for dear life as Trinity weaves through the oncoming
traffic. The ‘Burly Brawl’ brings out the best of Neo as he battles
two, twenty, two hundred Agent Smiths. Any Army marching to battle with
this as their battle cry would turn into a bunch of berserkers.
Then to finish off the music is the ‘Matrix Reloaded
Suite’, where Don Davis is able to bring all the threads that musically
tie the Matrix together during its nearly 18-minute length. Very
impressive it is too, bringing out all the best parts from the related
music, sometimes slow, sometimes loud, but always dramatic. A very
impressive way to end this collection of songs.
The second C.D. also includes extras that you can view
on your computer.
We now wait with great anticipation for the third and
concluding part of this trilogy Matrix Revolutions. The movie should be
great. Let’s hope the soundtrack is too.
NOTE: The Matrix Revolutions is being released
worldwide in the cinemas (even in Pattaya) on Wednesday November 5.
Songs
Disc One