The gaming industry is every bit as important as the movie industry when it comes to soundtracks, if not more so these days, so the benefits from having your music attached to a popular game series these days are immense. The Devil May Cry series of games has sold several millions of copies, and the exposure generated cannot be overlooked. Being the type of hack n’ slash, fast moving demon killing fest that it is, Combichrist are a good fit with their brand of aggressive techno industrial. It’s quite surprising to hear what they have done then, as the music on No Redemption is reasonably good, and fits the game, but it’s not at all what you would expect from this band.
Knowing that through the game their music is likely to reach a lot of younger ears, the sexual and misogynistic content has been largely eliminated, with songs such as ‘Shut Up and Swallow’ being eschewed in favour of more appropriate songs like ‘Zombie Fistfight’ and ‘How Old Is Your Soul’. The issue of titles aside it’s the music itself that is the surprise. Combichrist have a quite identifiable sound, with aggressive use of electronics in place of guitars and two live drummers that often sound so completely in-sync that you could mistake them for a drum machine. The big surprise then is that for No Redemption they have backed well away from their regular challenging sound and instead favoured a more straight-up metal approach. Normally, I’d consider this a good thing, but in this instance it neuters the effectiveness of the material.
Andy LaPlegua is the creative force behind Combichrist, and his aggressive shouty vocal style is a hallmark of the band. This has worked absolutely fine in the past, but on No Redemption it sounds not only forced, but also largely boring. As the music itself lacks the creative spark, Andy’s voice does nothing to grab the attention with monotone shouting that actually makes Jamey Jasta seem interesting and varied. The combination of voice and guitars have more in common with Static X than their usual sound, but that is not to say the whole thing is a disappointment. As cinematic as games have become these days, so the music must also be dramatic, and tracks such as ‘Feed The Fire’ and the title track most definitely have that cinematic feel, largely due to the presence of an orchestral synth backing, but otherwise the generic metalcore sound they have gone for here is distinctly underwhelming.
I’m not at all sure why this has gone so wrong. If it’s a case of bowing to the creative wishes of the games creators, they clearly chose the wrong band. If it was Andy LaPlegua’s idea to go down this musical route, he has absolutely missed a trick. When offered an opportunity like this to reach an enormous new fan base, why would you come up with a soundtrack that sounds so little like your usual material, especially when your usual sound would be so perfect for such a platform? In addition to the disc of new material, the album comes with a second disc of Combichrist ‘classics’ which have also been licenced for the game, containing some of their more popular songs such as ‘Get Your Body Beat’, ‘All Pain Is Gone’ and ‘What The Fuck Is Wrong With You’; a question that may well be asked of them in this instance. There is some passable material here, but this has more of the air of a massive opportunity squandered.
(5/10 Lee Kimber)
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