Metal Underground.com

Having never seen "Saw VI" — or, in fact, any of the "Saw" films — I can't comment on how well the songs on the soundtrack match the action on the screen. I can, however, tell you that the soundtrack is a pretty impressive mix of metal styles, if a little heavy on the metalcore. The disc begins with a bang with Hatebreed's "In Ashes They Shall Reap." With its often-repeated chorus and muscular mid-tempo riffing, it's like the first punch thrown in what's going to be a long fight.

It's probably kind of the producers to give us a quieter moment — Lacuna Coil's "The Last Goodbye" — to mop up the blood after that first punch in the face. Cristina Scabbia's vocals are as great as ever, but the song's not particularly memorable.

It Dies Today's "Reckless Abandon" ratchets up the speed and aggression to impressive effect. I particularly liked how the guitars seemed to be trying to catch up with the drums. Sure, it's got a bit of a skater-metal chorus, but that's fine. Then, it's on to more melodic territory with Mushroomhead's "Your Soul Is Mine." It's a boring song that never really goes anywhere.

Then, we head back into metalcore territory with Chimaira's "Warpath." It's heavy, aggressive, and likely to make you punch a hole in your wall. What more can you ask for? Unfortunately, all that energy dissipates with Danko Jones' "Code Of The Road," a mildly hard rock number that really just sucks all the air out of the room. Of the 18 tracks on the album, this one seemed like it'd be the least missed if the producers had left it off.

Suicide Silence's "Genocide" gets remixed here to less than spectacular effect. The song doesn't seem like a coherent whole as much as just an excuse for screaming and bashing. At least it has a nice guitar break at around the two-minute mark.

Memphis May Fire's "Ghost In the Mirror" and Outbreak's "The Countdown Begins" restore the energy level, before Shadows Fall's "Still I Rise" remix shows up. I liked Shadows Fall's new album, and this was one of my favorite songs on it.

Type O Negative gets things nice and spooky with the Black Sabbath-meets-the-Ramones tune "Dead Again." An intriguing mix of fast and slow, it's probably my favorite song on the album.

Warp-speed guitar heroics are the order of the day in Converge's "Dark Horse," while the always-reliable Kittie hacks up a heavy hairball with "Cut Throat." Then, Nitzer Ebb's "Never Known" adds some industrial strength to the proceedings.

Every Time I Die's "Roman Holiday" is a bit discordant for my taste, but there's no denying the heaviness. My My Misfire's "The Sinatra" has a few nice punky bits, but by now I'm a little tired of the screaming.

Flood's "Lethal Injection" has some interesting slow, clean parts with melodic vocals, which is a nice change from the throat-ripping growls and shrieks that preceded it.

The final track, "More Than A Sin," is a little jarring, given its quiet acoustic guitar and melodic vocals that kind of reminded me a bit of Jon Bon Jovi in parts. It's moody and melodic, which I liked. But I can't say that it's necessarily the right note for the album to go out on.

I mostly liked this album, but toward the end, the over-emphasis on shouting and metalcore did grow a bit tiresome — and this is coming from a guy who owns nearly every album by Shadows Fall and Trivium.

Still, I can't really find it in me to seriously bash an hour-long album of mostly good-to-great metal tracks. Even if you haven't seen "Saw VI" splattered on the silver screen, its soundtrack will likely get your blood pumping.