Possessed, The Exorcist - 8.5/10, One of the most ferocious death metal songs ever recorded to this day. Classic with a frantic, angry tempo and beat, it seethes with primordial staples of what would become death metal. It even sounds a little black metal at points with some great tremolo picked guitar. The solo thrashes and tears, and Jeff Becerra shows off why he's one of the finest extreme metal vocalists period. Doesn't match the intensity of the actual movie sadly. So close.
Zombie Holocaust, Boba Fett - 4/10, Sounds a little more hardcore punk than metal at certain points. Love the bends on the soloing. Very mundane and generic though. A pathetic attempt at saluting a legendary film franchise.
Dokken, Dream Warriors - 8/10, One of the legendary metal hits of the 80's. Don Dokken's soulful R&B/glam metal tenor rockets and sears like an expertly thrown javelin while George Lynch demonstrates his virtuosic, ultra-melodic prowess as an axe man and Jeff Pilson and Mick Brown hold down the funk. Plus Dokken dueling Freddy Krueger is the most epic shit ever. One of the greatest cinematic and musical match ups ever.
Reverend Bizarre, Blood On Satan's Claw - 6.5/10, The bass has some serious tone and groove, so do the drums. Rhythmically smooth number with decent vocals. If the guitar were more prominent in some parts this would be even cooler. It would be improved by cutting some excess fat lengthwise too. Never seen the movie.
Hexx, Sardonicus - 8/10, Thunderous maelstrom of guitar opening on this one, awesome, the undulating riff is great too. Feral, animalistic vocals and crashy, blasting drums seal the deal in addition to a monster solo. Matches the film.
Crydebris, Mononoke Picture - 2/10, Garbage inhaled screeching transitioning in and out of bad, pitchy emo metal moaning while mindless, antiseptic screamo metal guitar, drum, and bass lines clamor along aimlessly and inchoately. Veritable anus bleed inducing trash. Only succeeds in receiving a two due to the shittiness of the song probably matching the shittiness of the useless animu crap it's based on.
Death, Evil Dead - 9/10, Dear sweet, buttery, chocolate-covered, titty-fucking Jesus H. Christ of Nazareth, yes. Chuck unequivocally rips on both vocals and guitar on this song, backed by a jittery, raging rhythm section, perfect tune for Ash to waste some undead shitbags to.
Godflesh, Dream Long Dead - 2/10, Ambling, tuneless zombie noise completely bereft of intriguing musicality in even one solitary fucking crevice. Never seen or heard of the most likely AIDS-tastic heap of festering carbuncles and cow shit it's based off of.
Satan's Host, Strongest of The Night - 7/10, Low-fi, fuzzy, and hectic riffing and vocals with a power metal twist. Badass, but I haven't seen the movie, so I have no clue of its thematic fidelity. That vocal crescendo at the end is unbelievable too.
Blood Freak, Gobble Up Your Guts Part 2: Revenge of The Turkey Monster - 5/10, Holy cow, my first thought on the sonic aesthetic, especially concerning the guitars is "death metal Ramones". Vocals are acceptable, and manage to stay away from total C is for cookie territory. Is sufficiently congruent with the film.
Blood Farmers, Headless Eyes - 7.5/10, Some genuinely fascinating doom metal, opening with skull crunching riffs and proceeding on to this laid back quasi-Black Sabbath, quasi-Jazz thing which I really love. Then back to the doom riffage. Strikes up a superb and direct connectivity with the film, even using voice samples from it. Changes itself up just enough to maintain itself as a convincing and attention-grabbing number. Goes full Sabbath 8 minutes in or so, and does it well.
Blind Guardian, Time What Is Time - 6.5/10, Far above average acoustic intro into a monstrous power metal gallop, which then slows down then accelerates again a little after the vocals kick in again. Growly yet tonally bright vocal performance from Kürsch, it impressed me. Sadly, I must confess the song overall is a little repetitive and aimless. Good track otherwise. Never seen the movie.
Deicide, Dead By Dawn - 7.5/10, Exquisite death metal, pure fucking musical lethality all channelled into one singular, ass-reaming barrage of badassery. Fits the movie to a tee.
Witchfinder General, Witchfinder General - 6.5/10, Top-notch doomy NWOBHM with swaggering, melodically awesome vocals and guitar. Never seen the movie, but it's presumably as gloriously campy as this song. Better in some parts than others, the guitars are mostly what carries it to a state of actual qualitative value.
Iced Earth, Damien - 9/10, Matt Barlow's a little goofy during the downpaced segments, but when that motherfucker lets loose? The very bowels of hell shit their drawers. Guitar work is epic, and pristinely phrased, same goes for the drumming and bass playing. Choral/piano combo at the end is serene. Entirely in sync with its filmic muse.