Artist: Various
Album: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen – The Album
Genre: varied, mainly rock
Label: Reprise

You know what’s almost as exciting as Summer movie blockbuster season? Summer movie SOUNDTRACK season. You can’t have a crowd pleaser that lacks the emotional depth of any award worthy film without a memorable soundtrack or at least score that people can cling to after the film has finished. For Summer 2009, there is nothing in the film world that can compare to Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and, in the same vein, the soundtrack stands equally on its own.

Now there isn’t much to review for the overall quality of the recordings or anything of that nature due to this being a high budget compilation, but we can weigh the good and the bad of the material that was chosen to represent a film of this proportion.

Let’s start out on the positive end of the spectrum because that’s exactly what the record does. Linkin Park, who, beyond most critic’s reason, have managed to stay overly relevant as the rest of their genre died off and “New Divide” is no different. Though a bit more emo than some of their other recent works, it’s a very compelling track that could pull me into any film or album. In addition to this, we have the latest single from Green Day [“21 Guns”], a song about Fred leaving Taking Back Sunday [“Capitol M-E”], a scene rockified cover of “Burning Down The House” by The Used and finally some straight rock and roll from the best mainstream band in the US currently, Theory of A Deadman. I know that’s only five of thirteen tracks, but there’s always going to be that grey area. It’s not black and white. In this case, All American Rejects and a decent attempt at the Transformers theme from Cheap Trick come in above average, but not by any astounding amount.

Now, if you’ve peaked at the track list, you’ll see there are six remaining songs to the record. They’re all decent songs in their own respect, but for the sake of using something this size to make a musical statement, they could have tried harder. Nickelback and Staind? These bands had their moments years ago and now they’re fighting to do as well as they once did. I understand it’s a recognizable band, but with a film like this, you only need one of two solid tracks [which there obviously are] and then you can find fresh talent. Something that sets the song apart. The first film made Megan Fox a semi-household name and it could do the same for bands that make more fitting and better songs. Also, Avenged Sevenfold’s “Almost Easy” is old and not in the classic sense. Come on crew, you can do better.

Like I said, soundtracks and reviewing them are very subjective. Having seen the film and how the songs work, I can say it’s above average for something using mainstream bands, but I can’t stress the need for the group’s developing these to walk away from all current or prior top 40 acts. Get a few exclusives to lure people in and be creative. Don’t sell out. If you’re not sure about buying the whole record, you must buy the new Linkin Park song. That simply shreds. However, there is a lot of other great gems to be had here.

Score: 7.5/10

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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