Linkin Park - Blackout (Renholder Remix) for Underworld soundtrack

When you're soundtracking a dark gothy movie like Underworld (the forth instalment of which - Awakening - is out in cinemas in January), the likes of Linkin Park, The Cure and Evanescence seem like obvious shoe-ins. They certainly play to the tastes of what you might imagine the target audience to be.

Of particular interest is the Renholder Remix of Linkin Park's Blackout - easily one of the standout tracks from their A Thousand Suns album. As the band work on its follow-up, this remix serves as a tantalising offering to tide us fans over until new material proper arrives.

The original version of Blackout was Linkin Park at both their most epic and sonically adventurous - while all the time still maintaining their vital commercial sensibilities, those hooks that have kept fans coming back for more again and again.

Renholder himself (AKA Danny Lohner) has worked with rock royalty himself in the form of Trent Reznor, so we can hopefully expect something suitably industrial and amazing. His previous work with the Underworld franchise encompassed pulsing, low-slung basslines throbbing with darkly sexual rhythms and synthetic power.

With Linkin Park previously covering NIN classic Wish, this new remix of Blackout represents another coming together (of sorts) of the bands' collective legacies and one we're definitely down for.

The full Underworld: Awakening soundtrack is as follows:

Evanescence - 'Made of Stone' (Renholder Remix)
Lacey Sturm - 'Heavy Prey'
Linkin Park - 'Blackout' (Renholder Remix)
The Cure - 'Apart' (Renholder Remix)
Stella Katsoudas - 'Killer & a Queen'
Ministry - 'Watch Yourself' (Renholder Remix)
Lacuna Coil - 'Trip The Darkness' (Ben Weinman Remix)
The Naked and Famous - 'Young Blood' (Renholder Remix)
Black Light Burns - 'It Rapes All In Its Path'
William Control - 'The Posthumous Letter'
Civil Twilights - 'How I'm I Supposed To Die'
& Sons - 'Consolation Prize'
8MM - 'Liar'
Ryan T. Hope - 'You Won't See the Light'
Combichrist - 'Bottle of Pain'
Collide - 'Intruder'
Justin Lassen feat. Silent Fury - 'Exit Wounds' (Justin Lassen Remix)

Leona Lewis covers Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt'

In the history of unlikely cover versions, Leona Lewis taking on Nine Inch Nails ranks as potentially one of the most unexpected combinations... but then again, considering she's already tackled Snow Patrol and Oasis, it's fair to say she has at least some experience in the 'rock' sphere.

Of course, much of the popularity of Hurt has to be attributed to the Johnny Cash version, but remarkably, amazingly, Leona's version of Hurt actually begins sounding far more like the NIN original. The central discordant piano hook is there, as is the haunting whistle of blowing wind. Leona's vocals suit the dark sensuality of the track perfectly.

As the track builds and builds, it morphs more into generic Leona EpicBallad territory - but with its soaring string sections and flanged guitar riffs, it stands a rousing take on the original that manages to carve out its own merits.

(Part of me hoped she'd sing the infamous 'crown of shit' line... but of course, she doesn't. This is strictly PG rated. But still, rather amazing.)

Leona's cover of Hurt features on the forthcoming EP of the same name alongside other cover version, including the Goo Goo Dolls' Iris.

Innerpartysystem - American Trash

Fresh from supporting American electro-poppers 3OH!3 on tour, Innerpartysystem have a headline show at XOYO on the 1st June in the works which will see them playing tracks from their new mini album Never Be Content. With the passion and raw energy of gritty, dirty rock at their heart, but twinned with a throbbing dance beat, Innerpartysystem come on like the love-child of Nine Inch Nails and Pendulum.

New single American Trash pulsates with a primal malevolence, the basslines threatening to explode from your speakers. Indeed, the band supported Pendulum on their US tour, delighting audiences across the pond.

For a band named after a term from George Orwell's iconic Nineteen Eighty-Four, they cloak themselves in suitably science-fiction-esque sounds. The bleeps and building waves of synths in the middle-eight carry you away on a sea of bliss as singer Patrick Nissley repeats 'wake up, the dream is over'. And then the thundering chorus collides in again, a mechanistic and unstoppable slab of brute force. It's the kind of track that shakes buildings to their very foundations, that blasts from car stereos on the hottest of summer days.

Innerpartysystem's 2008 self-titled debut was a powerful exercise in rock-dance mastery in its own right - but with American Trash, the band align themselves well and truly with the club, the dancefloors of a nation hanging in suspense, as this track hovers above, ready to beat them into submission. Immensely powerful stuff.

American Trash and Never Be Content are available on iTunes now.

Take That - Kidz

Ever since Take That 'returned', I've been longing for them to return to the sound of their dance-pop roots; the music that made them such a big success in the early 90s. And with Kidz, the second single from their Progress album, they finally do.

Except, now they're even better than before. Gone are the acid-house piano riffs and drum machine, replaced by a hard industrial beat, crunching guitar power chords and buzz-saw synths. It's almost Nine Inch Nails.

It's also a brilliant chance for Mark Owen to shine. I've always been a fan of Mark's vocals and their David Bowie-esque lilt (his solo track Four Minute Warning is a much over-looked pop gem of a song). Kidz, with its minimal, stark verses and crystaline, epic choruses really is a 'progress' for the band - their big, Barlow-penned soft-rock ballads are all very well and good, in many cases even amazing - but this is a new side of Take That. It's fun, risque, daring and above all, very exciting.

Kidz is released 21st February.

Love Amongst Ruin - Love Amongst Ruin

Love Amongst Ruin, AKA Steve Hewitt from Placebo’s new band.  We all remember Placebo; those dark, angsty rockers that delighted us in the late 90s with gems like Nancy Boy and Pure Morning.  Amongst their tracks there was always a slick, modern gloss of cool lacquered over a beating heart that hinted at something much more grim and mysterious.  And so it’s only natural that Hewitt’s new efforts channel many of the same feelings and sounds.

The band’s self-titled debut album has a gritty dirtiness to it, the foreboding wash of a grey rainy day, perhaps showcased best on the sprawling seven minute long Come On Say It.  Fans of bands like The XX and The Cure will find plenty to love in the expansive and, at times, frightening soundscapes on offer here.  Whispered vocals and delicate, trembling guitar work echoes into the listener’s ears, beckoning you in - a crooked finger of promise that hints at the pleasure repeat listens will reward you with.  It’s a call you are powerless to resist.

Love Amongst Ruin are more than just another rock band, they represent a vision; a portrait of raw feeling captured in a collection of songs that as you explore further into the album manifests itself as a dramatic mix of textures and flavours.  The aforementioned down-tempo tracks stand side by side with frantic, energetic numbers.  There’s a keen sense of melody too, really shining across on the single Home in particular as a throbbing bassline builds into a snarled, anthemic chorus.  Album opener So Sad(Fade) is another definite highlight.  It’s moments like these where the band really hit their stride; coming across like a smart, polished, yet utterly sinister cousin of Nine Inch Nails or 30 Seconds to Mars.

This is not a happy album; it is one of desolation, passion and anger. But through all these emotions there always comes the consistency of excellent production values and the sound of a band that is utterly sure in themselves about what they want to create.  The result is highly refreshing in that nothing feels rushed – there are no songs here that feel like they’ve been shoved on the LP just to make up the running time.  There is none of that stagnant quality that can plague so many rock albums. Instead we have pure quality, a band with a vision and the skills to achieve it.

Out now