In 1995 metal was still in a questionable stage. Grunge was still ruling the radio waves, the new wave of extra shitty punk music was beginning to get bigger and nu-metal was in its embryonic stage. Metal bands were not getting the attention they deserved, but the horror movies still knew that sometimes the best music to go along with a good thriller, was metal.

Tales From The Crypt, the popular HBO series released their first movie starring probably one of the worst actors ever; Billy Zane and Thomas Haden Church. Okay, so Billy Zane isn’t that bad and is kind of funny in this flick. Oh, and Jada Pinkett Smith didn’t exactly offer any Oscar material to the movie either. Aside from a cast of mediocre actors, in my opinion, the film was a favorite of mine back then and the soundtrack was filled with veteran and up and coming metal bands.

Pantera offered up a shortened version of Cemetery Gates to start off the mix. Ministry, though I have always hated industrial, contributed Tonight We Murder. Very repetitive and growingly annoying. Machine Head contributed My Misery, followed up with Megadeth‘s Diadems. Both amazing tracks that stand on their own. Diadems is perhaps one of the best singles that Megadeth has ever written for a soundtrack, with Angry Again(Last Action Hero) and 99 Ways To Die (Beavis And Butthead Experience, not a soundtrack) coming in right behind it.

The Melvins added a heavy Instant Larry in to the middle of the soundtrack, which is just a ballsy, raw song. Henry Rollins did the best he could by writing Fall Guy and, well, it sounds like Rollins. Sepultura contributed their cover of Titãs (Brazilian rock band) Policia, which you may also know from Blood Rooted and the Brazilian release of Chaos A.D.

Biohazard contributed Beaten, a Rap infused hardcore song. (I almost forgot) Filter also contributed Hey Man Nice Shot, their hit single from 1995′s Short Bus album. A classic for the ages; I don’t care who you are.

The last song  on the soundtrack was called 1-800-SUICIDE by Gravediggaz. Do I really need to talk about this track? Well, yes. Gravediggaz, an underground hip-hop group were singing about horror type shit, long before two retarded dudes started painting their faces like jackass clowns and rapping about hatchets and Faygo. They had hip-hop-ish names associated with death, a dark, eerie themed sound and even added some humor in to the mix.

Overall, for the time period, Tale From The Crypt Demon Knight soundtrack was a pretty solid soundtrack for a cool movie. I mean, none of these tracks are like Alice Cooper’s He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask) from Friday the 13th  Part 6 or Dokken’s Dream Warriors from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, but they stand the test of time.

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