CD Reviews

Transformers

The Album | Warner Bros.

By MATT ASHARE | July 3, 2007

2.0 Stars

If Transformers the film is a feature-length GM commercial with a sci-fi narrative, then Transformers: The Album is an equally shameless business opportunity for Warner Bros. Four of the 12 tracks, including Mutemath’s pleasantly ridiculous “Transformers Theme,” don’t even appear in the film, and most of the remaining eight are either repurposed from newer releases on Warner Bros. and Reprise or, as the album wears on, designed to introduce listeners to artists who have recently signed to the label. That’s not to suggest that the collection lacks coherence: Warner/Reprise has cornered a big part of the neo-metal market, so we have Linkin Park, Disturbed, and the Used joined by newer arrivals Taking Back Sunday, Armor for Sleep, and the reunited Smashing Pumpkins. “Doomsday Clock,” from the Pumpkins’ new Zeitgeist, is typical of the disc’s dense, top-heavy first half — it’s another whiny Billy Corgan angst-ridden anthem to emptiness. The only ray of hope from the front six comes courtesy of Goo Goo

Toys are us: Transformers puts the commercial back into cinema. By Peter Keough.

Dolls, whose “Before It’s Too Late (Sam and Mikaela’s Theme)” is a middle-of-the-road movie ballad that could as easily have been called “Batman and Robin’s Theme.” The newer/lesser-known talent includes Linkin Park MC Mike Shinoda with Styles of Beyond and the Orgy electronic offshoot Julien-K, and it gives a bit more diversity to the back six. Taking Back Sunday and Armor for Sleep lighten the mood with their hopeful post-emo guitar riffage. But it’s Mutemath, with the silly techno-lite of their not-ready-for-prime-time themesong, who break the dark spell cast by Linkin Park and company, hamming it up with their playful interpretation of a tune some might remember from childhood. Did I mention that they too are signed to Warners?

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