Worth losing a head for

I bet there's hardly any hardcore gamer out there who has not heard of Mortal Kombat series. I can recall back when I was in school and my friend told me about the awesome game where you can beat the living daylights out of your opponent and then finish them off with a fatality. Mortal Kombat has progressed a long way since then-there is at least one Mortal Kombat game for every major game console, and 2 were made movies based on the game. One aspect of the Mortal Kombat universe which has not been noticed much is the music.

Mortal Kombat: The Album features theme songs from 8 of the Mortal Kombat characters (Johnny Cage, Kano, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sonya, Rayden, and Goro), plus two additional theme songs. The songs are face-paced and have a catchy beat. Each song is performed by The Immortals (I assume they are part of the movie's production team, and were assigned to compose this album and a few additional tracks on other MK albums.
It's too bad hardly anyone knows this CD exists; it's very enjoyable. I would categorize the genre as mostly "dance" or "nightclub music" with a touch of electronica and hip-hop. There are a total of 10 tracks on the CD. I will give the track name, an overall rating, and a brief explanation of each song on the CD:

1. Johnny Cage (Prepare Yourself)-9/10: One of the better songs on the CD, it has a steady beat produced by many drums. It starts off with an announcer stating "Please welcome Mr. John Carlton...", which gives the perception of an arena with many people waiting for their most admired fan to step into the ring (Can ya smell what The Rock is cookin?). The drums combined with the keyboard produces a catchy beat and an interesting perception of what Mortal Kombat might be like if it really existed.

2. Kano (Use Your Might)-8/10: You have to give the singer credit in this song. She hits notes higher than the ones I can play on a violin. There's a constant rapid pace on which this song follows as it goes in and out of the refrains. The drum cymbals and bells are used to keep the constant pace. The only recessions in the intensity are brief pauses after the refrains in which the singer screams to reach some of the highest alto notes.

3. Sub-Zero (Chinese Ninja Warrior)-9/10: Begins with soft piano melodies with a soft drumbeat in the background. It then almost immediately leads into a fast, up-beat tempo lead by drums and keyboard. Like Sub-Zero, the song has a kind of mysterious quality to it, which makes it all the more unique.

4. Liu Kang (Born In China)-8.5/10: The whole song has a Chinese aspect to it (chimes, monks, and Liu Kang's screams of fury). This is probably the funniest song on the CD (between Liu Kang's screams and "OH OH, AH! OH OH, AH!"). The beat's jumpy, but it comes together well. Despite its humor, it's still good song and deserves no less than a 8/10.

5. Techno Syndrome (Mortal Kombat)-8.5/10: This is the overall theme song of the first movie. Starts off awesome-one big cymbal ring followed by some keyboard notes. The beat is moderate and the keyboard is especially awesome. One thing that could have been done better-Shoa Kahn's voice; it's way too low and it shows absolutely no enthusiasm!

6. Scorpion (Lost Soul Bent On Revenge)-9/10: Begins with a bit of drums and keyboard, and then turns to a techno style with an upped beat. The song is a representation of Scorpion's hellish anger, and thus results in a fast and furious tempo throughout most of the song (not to mention him shouting, "Come 'ere! Get over here!" It's pretty clever and creative on how they incorporated the character’s voices into their theme songs and bases the overall mood of the song on the mood of the character.

7. Sonya (Go Go Go)-7.5/10: Combine dance and keyboard with a cocky female fighter. The tempo is accelerated throughout the whole song, symbolizing the energy and power of Sonya Blade. It's composed with mostly keyboard and no drums-the kind of song that makes you want to get up and run 5 miles.

8. Rayden (Eternal Light)-9/10: This veers more in the hip-hop direction, especially the lyrics. The singer has to spit the words out in a "rap" sort of style in order to keep
up with the tempo. The song's symbolic meaning is Rayden's eternal life (think of the energizer bunny-it keeps going and going and going...). The drums produce a really nice beat, which makes for a most enjoyable song.

9. Goro (The Out world Prince)-5.5/10: Goro-the first boss of Mortal Kombat. Very little is known about his history before he entered the tournament. There's not much to this song, just like there not much to his history. After the introduction, nothing more is said throughout the whole song besides "Goro". The consistent tempo keeps repeating itself until the song fades just as mysteriously as it began.

10.Hypnotic House (Mortal Kombat)-6.5: A combination on various keyboard effects and cymbals. Besides its slight techno aspect, there's not much else to the song. Basically, it's a worse version of track 5: Techno Syndrome (Mortal Kombat). The song's similar to track 9: Goro (The Out world Prince) in that it doesn't follow any specific path and just keeps repeating itself.

Overall Rating-8.4/10
When I first purchased this CD, I totally loved it. I used to listen to it every night I went to bed and sometimes during the day too. Now when I listen to it again, some of the magic is gone, although I still sometimes listen to the CD while I am exercising. I have to give credit to The Immortals-their pretty good performers, considering that only the select few who bought this CD actually realize they exist. If you like dance and/or electronica, and are familiar with Mortal Kombat, you might want to give this CD a try. I did and ended up liking it!