Various Artists - Music From The Original Motion Picture: Gravesend (1997)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre: Hip-Hop, Rapcore, Electronic

Label Number: 314-524 432-2

.FLAC via Florenfile

.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1997 Island Records

Gravesend Review by Victor W. Valdivia

A mixture of rap-metal, hip-hop, alternative rock, and Bill Laswell's original score, the soundtrack to Gravesend captures the feeling of dread and violence at the heart of the film (right down to including brief, though sufficiently intriguing, snippets of the film's dialogue). Lordz of Brooklyn's title cut makes the point clearly, even going so far as to sample the Meat Puppets' "Lake of Fire" for an added touch of spookiness. Though Local H's Christmas song seems to be here purely because it appears in the film, their other original fits in well. The brutality of Cypress Hill's cut and the murky, unnerving Everlast song also works effectively. By contrast, the other Lordz of Brooklyn songs rely too much on rap-metal theatrics to really be as powerful. Similarly, Cake's country parody "Multiply the Heartaches" sounds woefully out of place amidst all the darkness. The real heart of the soundtrack, though, is Bill Laswell's original score, which is as impressive as much of the work he's done for his groups Material and Praxis. By incorporating the Indian, Arabic, and hip-hop influences he's most famous for, Laswell delivers a score that not only complements the film, but stands up as listenable in its own right. What's more, it also fits in well with the mood established by the previous tracks (which is all the more surprising considering he had little or nothing to do with selecting them). Apart from some clinkers, Gravesend is a surprisingly cohesive soundtrack, and fans of the artists' previous works, especially Bill Laswell's, should especially check it out.

tags: various artists, music from the motion picture gravesend, ost, soundtrack, 1997, flac,