The most hotly anticipated Horror of the Halloween season has spawned a fitting devilish soundtrack of haunting proportions. This comes courtesy of global indie metal label giants Trustkill Records. The album is split into three sections. This I can only assume echoes a theme that runs throughout the film and with titles like “In The Ashes They Shall Reap”, “Your Soul Is Mine” and “Cut Throat” the song choices seem like a no brainer but collectively they create the imagery you would expect from a Saw soundtrack. Thick in concrete layered metal mutilation this music inspired by the motion picture (or whatever they call a collection of songs which don’t actually feature in the film!) proves to be quite a cool metal compilation. Horror soundtrack veterans Hatebreed set the pace with a thick slice of metal core and what better way to kick off a Saw soundtrack than with a song title like “In Ashes They Shall Reap” The record offers a good selection of metal spanning most of the sub genres you would expect to be associated with a film of this nature; for hardcore fans you have Hatebreed and converge, for heavy metallers you have Shadows Fall and Chimaira, Goth metal addicts can appreciate the likes of Suicide Silence and theres even a bit of electro industrial metal thrown in with Nitzer Ebb and Mushroomhead. There are only a few tracks I think this album could do without and for me those tracks are “Code of the Road” from Danko Jones and Type O Negative “Dead Again” They just don’t sit well with the other tracks but saying that they still meet the criteria for the album. All in all this is a pretty consistent collection of heavy music, which will appeal to the people that appreciate all types of the metal spectrum.

One of the oldest traditions of rock music is for hard rock and metal bands to make contributions to horror movies. The music has always had the appeal to horror fans, and so creating eerie and hard hitting songs for an album is something rock bands always look forward to. This is the case with the full length album for the movie, Saw VI. Featuring the likes of Lacuna Coil, Mushroomhead, Danko Jones, Memphis May Fire and Shadows Fall, this is definitely a dark yet hard rock music album. Full of soulful and elegantly rough vocals, non-stop guitar riffs, and insane drumming, this album shows off the darker and yet graceful side of rock. In order to capture the element of a movie about a psychopathic man who kidnaps people and puts them through horrendous acts of torture in what he dubs a “game of survival”, there was never a doubt that hard rock and metal were meant to bring out the edge the album needed. The great standouts on the album are Lacuna Coil’s 'The Last Goodbye', the hard rock band Hatebreed’s 'In Ashes they shall reap', and Danko Jones’s 'Code of the Road'. Those songs really capture every side of the album, from the graceful yet hard rock side, to the straight up hard rock, to the full blown heavy metal side. They bring out the feeling of Good vs. Evil that defines every serial killer horror movie, and build an anticipation like no other. The way they split up the album is even better. There are six songs labeled “6 Chances”, six songs labeled “6 Lessons”, and six songs labeled “6 Choices”. This album tells a story all of its own and was a great album to rock out to. It definitely has us anxious to see the latest installment in the Saw franchise.

I’ll confess something, I’ve never actually listened to a soundtrack before. Normally if I like a movie, the soundtrack doesn’t even come into the equation because the movie blew me away. When I popped the Saw 6 soundtrack into the computer to give it a listen I was immediately greeted with something pleasant. A brand new Hatebreed track “Ashes They Shall Reap.” The song itself reminds me very much of the movies. Brutal, but with a message that “those who sew in flames/in ashes they shall reap.” In other words, if you play with fire, you’re going to get burned. That seemed to be the over all message of the previous Saw movies, and something I found perfectly personified in the first track off the album. What I thought was even more awesome were the birage of previously unreleased tracks that were on this album, and some faces I hadn’t seen in sometime. The most surprising track for me was Kittie’s “Cut Throat.” This song is so blistering and brutal that if you don’t find yourself tapping your foot and nodding your head than there is something wrong with you. I don’t hesitate to say that there isn’t one band who can seem to pull off what Kittie does. Newcomers My My Misfire knock it out of the park with their track “The Sinatra.” I’ve never heard My My Misfire before this, but I’ll tell you I can’t wait to get this band’s album. The breakdown is incredible, and the dueling vocals were something I found myself digging when normally I don’t. This song made me want to clear my office of all it’s furniture just so I didn’t break lamps while trying to dance. Also on the album was one of my new favorite bands: Outbreak. The song “The Countdown Begins” so hardcore that it hardly seems fair to put it on the soundtrack because it overshadows damn near everything on it. The fact it’s also a previously unreleased track made it especially nice. I must confess it’s been played so much in the YPA Press office that people popping by on occasion were starting to recognize it as “Justin YPA’s new favorite song.” Be sure to check out some of the other bands like Shadows Fall, Memphis May Fire and It Dies Today who all make really noteworthy appearances as well. The soundtrack is dropping the same week as the film (October 20th). If this album is any indication, I’m going to love the movie. I definitely recommend picking yourself up a copy to listen to leading up the movie’s release. I know I’ll be in line at the theaters, so if you see me with ear buds in, you’ll know what I’m listening to.

It’s always good to see a great movie with a great soundtrack – they go hand and hand. Sometimes you have one, sometimes the other, but with SAW VI, it looks like we have both. You can judge for yourself because the movie is open on 3000+ screens today, but regardless of the movie, do pick up the soundtrack because it is packed with a ton of great music. Let’s take a look into the many benefits the soundtrack offers… Featuring music from Hatebreed, Converge, It Dies Today, Ventana, among many more, the SAW VI SOUNDTRACK is solid, and is bound to have something on there that you’ll love. The soundtrack has a great variety, and the flow is great from start to finish. Also featuring unreleased music from Lacuna Coil, Mushroomhead, Chimaira, Outbreak, Nitzer Ebb, and unreleased Saw VI remixes from Suicide Silence and Shadows Fall, it’s great to get all of this value on the SAW VI SOUNDTRACK, plus it helps establish the band’s commodities, and stuff like that. All the more reason to spend the cash. You can thank the fine folks at Trustkill for all this. Also, look out for exclusive music videos from Hatebreed, Mushroomhead, Suicide Silence, and Memphis May Fire to promote for this soundtrack. Go buy your copy now!