Ah, to cash in on near death experiences. Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx has definitely been close to leaving this world on a few occasions and now has taken the time to write a book on it. And this Soundtrack is based on the book, with a song dedicated to each chapter. Sixx gives a spoken word reading during “X-Mas in Hell”, which shows the singer at rock bottom with a needle in his arm. A lot of the material has a certain Meat Loaf, epic feel as is the case with the slow-building “Van Nuys”, the metal-tinted, Queen-cloned “Dead Man’s Ballet” and the equally bombastic “Life is Beautiful”. Surprisingly, the material works quite well for the most part despite some songs such as “Pray For Me” being far too slick, glossy and over-produced. Things slow down with the melancholic ballad “Accidents Can Happen” which is one of the better power “hair metal” ballads of recent memory. The genre is revisited during “Girl With Golden Eyes” with similar results. Perhaps one of the highlights though is the quirky, carnival-laced “Intermission” while “Heart Failure” isn’t too shabby either.