In Brief

* * Various artists, “The Crow II: City of Angels” soundtrack, Hollywood/Miramax. Joy Division and Iggy Pop inspired the urban-gothic comic that spawned the film, so this should be a chilling, volatile, post-punk soundtrack. The beginning bodes well: Filter barrels through a menacing “Jurassitol,” Bush gets a very interesting trip-hop tweak from Tricky and PJ Harvey provides her best blues-banshee howl. But Part 2 is sunk by Korn, the Deftones and the Toadies. The only real hero is Frost, whose “City of Angels” is a final, sad reminder of how atmospheric and disturbing this soundtrack might have been.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).