The Raid: Redemption was widely considered one of the best martial arts movies of the post-aughts, combining a furious pace with the brutal Indonesian martial art style Pencak Silat. Hyperactive and hyper-violent, the movie had a soundtrack that perfectly matched. Composed and performed by
Mike Shinoda (
Linkin Park,
Fort Minor) and
Joseph Trapanese (
Straight Outta Compton,
Tron), the score deftly upped the anxiety and fervor with a mix of hip-hop beats, lush atmospherics, and industrial edge, not unlike one of
Shinoda's biggest influences (and also a fan of the movie),
Trent Reznor (
Nine Inch Nails,
How to Destroy Angels). Much like
Reznor's score work with
Atticus Ross for
David Fincher's films (and his ambient
Ghosts project),
Shinoda and
Trapanese create tense soundscapes tinged with moments of high-octane energy. Some of the most impressively choreographed fight scenes in the film have equally amplified accompaniment: "We Have Company" buzzes with industrial noise and heavy beats, "Hole Drop" brings a leg-trembling dubstep drop that sounds like a Transformer blasting into battle, and brutal movie highlight "Machete Standoff" throbs with martial drums, the beats hitting as each punch finds its mark. This combination of throbbing industrial grooves and dance breaks could have come from some distant dimension where
Daft Punk was on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. Toward the end -- as the scenes from the movie grow bolder and crazier -- the blood-roiling adrenaline rush and overwhelming dread are ramped up to a non-stop fight fest ("Drug Lab" and "Putting a Mad Dog Down").
Chino Moreno (
Deftones,
†††) gets his "RAZORS.OUT" on a blissfully industrial banger, and the
Get Busy Committee trio contribute a blistering rap on "SUICIDE MUSIC" that would fit finely on the
Run the Jewels albums. They're fun inclusions, a bit of a breather after a movie's worth of fight music.
Shinoda and
Trapanese crafted one of the better action-oriented soundtracks with
The Raid. Fans of the film,
Linkin Park, or
Nine Inch Nails/
Trent Reznor should be very pleased with this gem. ~ Neil Z. Yeung