REVIEW: Soundtrack, Universal Soldier The Return (Trauma) - Linda Scott
Quick summary: if you like soundtracks featuring metal and aggro, this album's for you. Not for the faint of heart; but, then, neither is the movie. Universal Soldier: The Return is a Jean-Claude Van Damme sequel to Universal Soldier. Van Damme seems to release one bomb after another, but if you can ignore the ridiculous plot and bad acting, you'll see a better than average, explosive action movie with battles and gory deaths aplenty. The soundtrack reflects the movie well. It's really heavy rock, sometimes techno, sometimes thrash, but always aggro, in your face, pounding tracks.
The album's highpoint is clearly the Megadeth contribution on the first track. "Crush 'Em" is the first single and first music video off the soundtrack. Megadeth's lead singer Dave Mustaine says he wanted to write a song for sports that pumps up the audience and the teams. He calls "Crush 'Em" a "bone crushing kick...or a body...slam to the mat." It fits the Van Damme movie like a fist in the eye.
Another good one is the new version of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Times" which is covered by the Flys. This recording and two others on the soundtrack are not in the film. Thrash metalists Anthrax put up a remix of "Fueled" which was previously available only in Australia. Fear Factory comes through with "Securitron (Police State 2000) a killer song from their new album Obsolete. Other notable tracks are GWAR's "Saddam A Go-Go" from This Toilet Earth. Long time favorites Ministry surface with "Eureka Pile" to give a touch of techno and heavy rock to the soundtrack.
All the tracks here have appeared on other CDs by these artists. So there's nothing new except the movie score. If you like these artists, you probably have every one of these tracks somewhere. Now you can gather them up on one CD which seems to be the main benefit to this soundtrack along with providing a great backdrop for Van Damme and his Universal Soldier escapades.
