New(er) Album of The Week is posted every Friday
Today we are looking at the soundtrack album for the DC film Suicide Squad. Much like one of my other favorite film soundtracks, The Great Gatsby, there is a bit of confusion over which version is the official version. I will be looking at the 10 track version that seems to be all original songs or covers done specifically for Suicide Squad. The 14 track version features the Classic Rock tracks Slippin Into Darkness and Fortunate Son as well as Eminem’s Without Me and a really good cover of You Don’t Own Me by Grace and G-Eazy.
The album opens up with probably the most in your face track here, Purple Lamborghini by Rick Ross and Skrillex. Ross does a pretty good job of detailing various aspects of the Suicide Squad, referencing various characters and locations from the DC Universe. His rhymes are solid enough and match with Skrillex’s amazing beat. The only real weaknesses are that Ross slips into some of his generic boasts a few times and seems uncertain on if he’s taking the role of Joker or if he’s rapping about the squad in general. Skrillex’s beat makes this song amazing however, from the horn and synth lines on the verses to the huge drop that makes up the hook, this is just further proof of Sonny Moore’s brilliance.
The next track is a collaboration between rap heavyweights Lil’ Wayne and Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons with Logic, Ty Dolla $ign and X Ambassadors. Sucker For Pain surprisingly doesn’t feel overcrowded at any point, largely because each verse adds a piece of the rapper’s personality without straying too far from the main theme. This song relates to the film more so in tone than in content, with each artist adopting some form of pain obsessed crazed criminal. While there is a decent bit of bragging it’s all set to a somber tone, with some of the rappers alluding to having a chance to do some good, paralleling the villains turned heroes of the Suicide Squad. All the rappers are fantastic and Dan Reynolds does the hook perfectly while the rest of Imagine Dragons handle the backing music brilliantly.
We then have the biggest hit to come off of this album, twenty one pilots’ Heathens. As I’ve well established by now I am a huge TOP fan, but I actually heard this song pretty early into my discovery of them. This was the second thing I heard from twenty one pilots after the Blurryface album and I love it’s more traditional rock feel. While the verses still feature Tyler rapping, the track feels mostly like a down tempo Alt Rock track. The octave effects put on Tyler’s voice help sustain a really eerie feeling as. Along with production tricks, they also throw you off a bit by playing with syncopation on the chorus, hitting lines either early or late. It’s a very simple song with some really sophisticated elements to it and it just get’s stuck in your head for days.
Nothing else on this album matches the power and excellence of the first three tracks; nonetheless it’s still pretty solid throughout. Kehlani’s Gangsta is a damn fine gangster’s girlfriend track that I think is supposed to be Harley Quinn’s theme song of sorts. The beat is pretty solid but Kehlani’s vocals are what makes the track work so well. Two-thirds of the next track, Standing In The Rain works pretty well; Dan Auerbach's delivery on the hook works beautifully at conveying a sense of desperation and sadness at being betrayed. The other thing that works is Mark Ronson’s beat and production, which even makes Action Bronson’s crappy rap verses sound decent. But that is what ultimately sinks this song, Action Bronson’s raps do not match the tone of anything else in the song at all, honestly Kevin Gates verses on the next track would have worked better for this song.
Speaking of Kevin Gates, this is the first time I’ve ever bothered to listen to him and I see why so many of my friends like this guy. First off his lower voice and power behind his lines gives off this raw masculine vibe that’s missing in modern hip hop. Gate’s flow and lyrics are masterful on this track, perfectly blending his actual life into the song in a way that makes it fit with the Suicide Squad. This is the only track that gets close to the epic level of the first three tracks.
Skylar Grey’s Wreak Havoc seems to be portraying Enchantress, if I’m going to continue trying to link songs to characters. The lyrics convey this really arrogant attitude that would really only fit Enchantress since she’s basically a goddess. There are also lines about people hating that they need her and the overall idea that all she’s here for is to wreak havoc. After this we have Grimes’ song Medieval Warfare that is just kind of there. I honestly forgot this song existed and pretty much have forgotten it again already. While I Started A Joke is technically the closing track, it’s pretty boring and not really worth talking about, to me the closer to this album is Panic! At The Disco’s cover of the Queen classic Bohemian Rhapsody.
For some background, Panic! Have been covering this track live for some time now, with the members of the touring band going as far to replicate Brian May’s guitar sounds and other aspects as closely as possible. On top of the attention to details, Brendon Urie is one of three or four singers who could actually hope to do a Freddie Mercury song justice. Even though his voice isn’t quite Mercury, Urie hits every single note of the song and gives the best performance I’ve seen anyone who wasn’t a Muppet give covering this song. While I’m certainly not going to say it holds a candle to the original, this is the best cover I think we'll ever get.
Overall this album is a little bit of a mixed bag at times, but just like the Suicide Squad movie I think the positives outweigh the negatives for me. I would definitely recommend six, maybe even seven of the songs on this album, and obviously I’d recommend the four extra ones on other versions of the soundtrack. I have to give it credit though, because basically every track on this album has a similar enough tone and style to make this feel like an album and not a collection of random songs used in a movie.
