It's interesting and pleasant, but the soundtrack to Louis Leterrier's Unleashed will throw longtime
Massive Attack fans for a loop. The band's trademark deep sound is untraceable for the most part. It's probably a testament to how hard they stuck to the soundtracking rules, but this program music is rather run of the mill, especially when compared to
Massive Attack's proper albums, which -- to be fair -- would overtake most filmmaker's visuals. Harpsichords play over neo-noir beats and guitars echo forever as tension builds, and while
Massive Attack's keen sense of sonic structure is intact, they're layering things much less than usual here and traveling some previously explored territory. Tracks like "Everything About You Is New," with its reverberating piano, and the faux rocking "The Dog Obeys" are so undistinguished you have to look twice at the cover to make sure
Massive are behind this. The
Coil-esque "P Is for Piano" and the funky-fun "One Thought at a Time" almost make it worth it for everyone, but only hardcore fans are going to get much out of the rest. They can pick away at the recordings and try to figure out who did what while everyone else waits for the next real album. [The movie Unleashed was originally released as Danny the Dog outside of the United States, and a similar soundtrack is available under the
Danny the Dog title. However, the Unleashed title does add two bonus tracks to the
Danny the Dog soundtrack album: Thea's "Baby Boy" and
RZA's "Unleash Me."] ~ David Jeffries