Some movie soundtracks are notorious for overshadowing the actual movie. There’s a few that come to mind pretty quickly – Whitney Houston on The Bodyguard soundtrack (still the best-selling soundtrack album in history), The Crow (okay, it’s probably on par with the movie, but hey!), and Saturday Night Fever all were essential soundtracks that loomed large.
Vampires are pretty metal though, right? Though the movie itself was fairly maligned at the time, the Queen Of The Damned soundtrack is a true nu-metal/industrial timepiece, if we’re being honest here. All you have to do is look at the soundtrack’s tracklist to figure that out rather quickly. Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington stars on “System”, showing a much darker side of himself than on Linkin Park’s material to date (again, 2002, so no Meteora), and various popular songs from the era pop up during pivotal scenes in the movie (Deftones’ “Change (In The House Of Flies)” in particular), and Disturbed’s “Down With The Sickness”.
Of course, these aren’t the only prominent tracks here. The tracklist really does read like a “who’s who” list of nu-metal acts of the day, including Static-X, Papa Roach, Orgy’s Jay Gordon, and even underrated bands of the era like Godhead and Earshot (the latter of which would gain more attention a couple years later). There’s even trip-hop and industrial vibes with the likes of Tricky (of Massive Attack fame) and Dry Cell, ensuring that every track on the album has a place.
Due to strict contract rules, Korn’s Jonathan Davis was unable to appear on the actual album, though his voice is a prominent part of the movie. He also co-produced the soundtrack with Richard Gibbs. The only thing that could’ve made the soundtrack even better would’ve been a collaboration between any of the artists featured here and Aaliyah, who sadly passed away before anything could materialize. That would’ve been a truly epic collaboration – imagine Aaliyah with Jonathan Davis, or even Chester Bennington. Would’ve been truly incredible.
Full of songs that represented the era (and fit with the movie’s overall vibe, as well), the Queen Of The Damned soundtrack is representative of its time, but if anything, that just makes it timeless. Plus, who doesn’t love vampires?
