AA.VV.
Judgment Night: Music From The Motion Picture

THE REVIEW

"Judgment Night" is a 1993 film (released in Italy with the unlikely title of "Cuba Libre"), a sort of cross between "After Hours" and "The Warriors," in which the (mis)adventures of a group of friends are narrated. After getting lost in the most notorious neighborhood of Chicago, they are hunted down by a gang of thugs determined to take them out.

If the film can be considered sufficiently well-made but ultimately negligible, the soundtrack is a different matter, centered on a series of collaborations between hip-hop artists and some of the most reputable figures of the alternative rock (and metal) scene of the time.

An experiment decidedly original then, since up until that moment the precedents were limited to just two (fortunate) episodes: Aerosmith with Run DMC ("Walk This Way", 1986) and Anthrax with Public Enemy ("Bring The Noise", 1991). Sure, the path had already been previously paved by true innovators like Living Colour, Faith No More, and Red Hot Chili Peppers (let's not forget Rage Against The Machine, who had debuted just the previous year with their self-titled album), groups that worked to create a connection between white music and black music, characterized by a genre mixing rap and funk with rock, metal, and punk: the "crossover."

As you might imagine, the 'rock band + rapper' formula has mixed results, not always successful (such is the case for the title track entrusted to the duo Onyx - Biohazard, but also Therapy? with Fatal, decidedly uninspired). The overall level is reasonably high, thanks to tracks like "Just Another Victim" by Helmet and House Of Pain, or the captivating "Another Body Murdered" by Faith No More and Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (probably one of the best songs). There are surprises too, like the unlikely (but unexpectedly fitting) pairings of Mudhoney with Sir Mix-A-Lot ("Freak Mama") or Dinosaur Jr. and Del Funky Homosapien ("Missing Link"). It’s obligatory to mention Teenage Fan Club together with De La Soul (their "Fallin'" is another gem of the album) and Cypress Hill, present here in two different moments: both with Sonic Youth ("I Love You Mary Jane") and with Pearl Jam ("The Real Thing"). Intriguing (if not particularly thrilling) contributions from Slayer and Living Colour, respectively accompanied by Ice-T and Run DMC.

We are thus dealing with a compilation that holds a dual value: as a "curiosity," since you can listen to important bands challenging themselves with a style very different from their usual one; but it also has value as a "historical document", since it captures a particular period (spanning the late '80s and early '90s) during which the foundations were laid for what would later be called "nu-metal."