It's a nightmare. I'm at a rave and coming up the steps to the hard room. The music is pounding loud enough to move the shit through my intestines. Ahead of me in a dark pocket stand some guys, but I can't quite see them. Suddenly, the lights flash in their direction and they're all clad in faded jean-jackets bearing patches saying: Rollins Band, Korn, Butthole Surfers, Marilyn Manson, Slayer, and the King of Kill 'Em All, Metallica. They turn, showing only five or six teef between them, grease-stains under their fingernails brought to high relief by the strobes, and suicidally tight jeans. I awaken, screaming, just as "Enter Sandman" is segued onto "Pearl's Girl" in the background.

Techno and Metal. Ravers and Headbangers. Flowers and Chainsaws. It hurts to think about it. Spawn is this nightmare given birth. However, unlike the Judgment Night soundtrack, this CD is actually more than a passing novelty. Where Judgment Night was an ego contest in the cult of personality, Spawn exhibits a group of solid tracks that have staying power. They jam, except for:

5) Butthole Surfers and Moby: Who would be the Techno artist and who's the Headbanger? Sounds like a nursery rhyme sung by my dead grandmother on PCP.

7) Stabbing Westward and Wink: Josh deserves someone better to work with than Reznor wannabes.

8) Mansun and 808 State: Like a cat being squeezed through a pasta maker.

11) Rollins and Goldie: When is just a tiny bit of Rollins too much? Now.

Other than these, there are some fresh trax with The Crystal Method, Sneaker Pimps, Orbital, The Dust Brothers, DJ Spooky, Prodigy and Atari Teenage Riot. Worth your money if you like the ride intense.

-James P. Wisdom