Sno Babies – Official Soundtrack (Album Review)

How good are movies? It sure has been a while for some of us (thanks COVID) and we’re missing the usual rush of great films coming out lately, but here’s a little something different for you – a soundtrack review!

For some people, the soundtrack is the first thing they notice about a movie. And others sometimes don’t even realise how it manipulates their emotions and heightens scenes. I’m going to say it straight up, there’s no way you can’t not notice the soundtrack for Sno Babies.

A little bit of background on this independent film, it’s the first feature from Better Noise Films which is a new venture from someone you might know, Allen Kovac. He managed artists such as Bee Gee’s, Blondie, Meatloaf, Mötley Crüe and The Cranberries, any sound familiar? He also co-produced the Netflix sensation The Dirt which, as many of you know, was based on the life of Mötley Crüe, and now he’s giving us Sno Babies.

This movie follows two young girls and depicts the grim realities of addiction and its effects on a middle-class suburban town. Kristen and Hannah are best friends – smart, likable and college-bound – and also addicted to heroin. The pair of seemingly unlikely addicts spiral down a path of destruction, hiding their secret from well-meaning but busy parents behind pink bedrooms and school uniforms. Sno Babies shows how easy it can be to both miss and hide the signs of addiction behind the façade of ‘good’ neighbourhoods and pleasantly busy communities.

It’s scarily real.

Kovac says, “Studio heads, agents and managers know there is nothing sadder than when an artist or actor you’ve worked with passes away through misadventure. This movie is a wakeup call to the entertainment industry that we can’t lose more Academy Award winners like Prince, Philip Seymour Hoffman, or River Phoenix.

With over 70,000 people dying of drug overdoses in 2019 in the USA, this film is a way parents can open up the conversation of drugs with their kids before they go to college, an older brother can share a link to Sno Babies to his younger brother to watch and say that he’s there to answer any questions afterwards, or for a rehab group to watch together. This is a conversation we need to have in the USA to destigmatize addiction.

I have worked with Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe and SIXX:AM for 13 years to make this a global conversation to save lives, please join us!“

The journey the soundtrack takes alone is something powerful, and starts off with ‘I Came To Party’ by Deuce which immediately introduces a heavy rock theme. There’s something about the rock scene that lends a gritty, unpolished feel and the fact that this movie has gone down this road, instead of something more pop based, I think makes it feel a bit heavier and real. And then hell yes we’d love some HELLYEAH, thanks. ‘Moth’, in this movie, draws a lot of parallels between its lyrics and the themes of Sno Babies. If we’re thinking of drug addiction alongside the lyrics ‘Like a moth to a flame, my wings burn away… So I’ll sell my soul to blaze’, it fits oh so well.

We’re given a little country feel with ‘Outlaws & Outsiders’ by Cory Marks, and yeah, I’m not such a country fan at all, but it works. I’m not mad with this addition. A picture of the movie is starting to form as we travel further through the soundtrack, and hello! From Ashes To New have a killer track called ‘Broken’ in here and the rap verses are just mwah (their new album is fire too, our review here). Again we can relate the lyrics to the movie theme and it’s not cheesy in any way, it’s strong. There’s no way you can trivialise the themes here, they all hit home.

And excuse me, we need to talk about SIXX:A.M.. I may have been living under a rock because I haven’t heard of these guys, but I have now and my life has changed. SIXX:A.M. is Mötley Crüe founder Nikki Sixx’s band and they have three tracks featured on this soundtrack, ‘Belly Of The Beast’, ‘Skin’ and ‘Maybe It’s Time’. We’ll talk about the latter towards the end, but the other two tracks really add another layer of emotion.

And Bang Bang Romeo? Well, the band name says it all, but they bring the sexy and it’s all in Anastasia Walker’s incredible voice. If you like pop rock with a sultry, sassy tone, oh gosh listen to this track ‘Shame On You’. And Eva Under Fire also brings the girl power with ‘Heroine’. The female representation in this soundtrack is well deserved; these bands bring fire and strength. I love it.

I’m reminded of how much I like this band every time I come across them. It’s Bad Wolves. Everything they stand for and have created with their Wolfpack, and supporting people in need – it’s ridiculously admirable. ‘Better Off This Way’ and ‘Sober’ both feature on the Sno Babies soundtrack, and both have carved their place in the essence of this movie. ‘Sober’ is a powerful song, written not only from the perspective of the addict, but also from the perspective of their loved ones.

If you haven’t figured it out, Sno Babies is about bringing the conversation about addiction to the forefront, opening up that communication channel and allowing people to feel comfortable reaching out for help. Because there’s always someone on the other side, just waiting to lend a hand.

And after two years of no new music, we have a new one from Escape The Fate! Vocalist Craig Mabbitt says of ‘Walk On’, “Lyrically the new single is a message of positivity…‘Walk On’ is a song about recovery, about not giving up when things seem impossible to overcome, it’s always darkest before the dawn and you just need to hold on until the sun rises.”

It’s perfect for this movie, the theme and the conversation Sno Babies is creating. Lastly, we come to ‘Maybe It’s Time’ by SIXX:A.M. and it’s incredibly emotional and a little heart-wrenching. It also features a star-studded guest list with Corey Taylor, Joe Elliott, Brantley Gilbert, Ivan Moody, Slash, AWOLNATION and Tommy Vext all appearing on this track. Artist royalties from the song are being donated to The Global Recovery Initiatives Foundation (GRI) as well (more details on that here). What a song to end on.

I almost feel like I don’t need to see the movie, the soundtrack creates an amazing soundscape for the drug and addiction themes prevalent in Sno Babies, and you feel very caught up in the journey. If they’ve put this much effort into curating such a soundtrack, imagine how good the movie is going to be.

It’s rough, rocky and wild. If this soundtrack is anything to go off, it’s going to be a raw movie in more ways than one.

Sno Babies will be available on On-Demand and digital platforms on Tuesday, 29th September 2020

Review by Ebony Story

Sno Babies Soundtrack tracklisting

1. I Came To Party – Deuce
2. Moth – HELLYEAH
3. Outlaws & Outsiders – Cory Marks
4. Broken – From Ashes To New
5. Belly Of The Beast – SIXX:A.M.
6. Shame On You – Bang Bang Romeo
7. Heroine – Eva Under Fire
8. Better Off This Way – Bad Wolves
9. Walk On – Escape The Fate
10. Skin – SIXX:A.M.
11. Sober – Bad Wolves
12. Maybe It’s Time – SIXX:A.M.