Across The Spider-Verse by Metro Boomin | Album Review

Metro Boomin curates the companion album for Across The Spider-Verse, with a few friends to help along the way.

Listen to Across The Spider-Verse: Apple Music | Spotify

Companion albums to films seem to be all the rage these days, next to a film’s original score moviegoers can also expect a series of “Songs Inspired by X film” to coincide with the film’s release. Looking at hip-hop specifically, I’d argue that this trend became popularized with the TDE/Kendrick Lamar curated Black Panther: The Album. As years have gone by we’ve seen other blockbuster films with original songs such as Shang Chi, The Fast & Furious series, etc.

Unsurprisingly, the first Into The Spider-Verse also had an album full of material made for the movie featuring a variety of artists such as Post Malone, Swae Lee, Jaden Smith, and more. This time with the sequel Across The Spider-Verse, producer Metro Boomin helms this film’s companion album just a few short months after dropping Heroes & Villains. Across The Spider-Verse isn’t going to blow you away by any means, but is a nice addition that fans of the films are going to enjoy.

Having a producer like Metro Boomin curate the whole album was a smart move, as each song blends together naturally and fits one, whole cohesive theme. From start to finish, there’s an overall vibe to the album that feels very sci-fi and at times futuristic. Fitting with the film’s multiversal story. In many ways, the variety of synths and digital sounds on a number of songs pairs nicely with Daniel Pemberton’s original score.

Album opener “Annihilate” sets the tone with its trap-influenced beat, Songs like “Danger (Spider)” and “All The Way Live” offer up some bass-heavy, trunk-rattling bangers. “Silk and Cologne” and “Link Up” provide the album’s more danceable cuts and brings a bit of variety into the mix. Atmospheric songs like “Hummingbird” and “Self Love” are solid, slow-tempo tracks that (within the context of the film) add a ton of emotional brevity.

The guest features here are a plus as well. Metro’s mainstays like Future, Offset, and A$AP Rocky all make an appearance. Wordsmiths like J.I.D., Nas, and Lil Wayne come through on their respective tracks. Meanwhile, hip-hop’s melodic rappers such as Lil Uzi, Don Toliver, and Swae Lee all shine in their appearances.

New talent such as singers Rosiee and EI8HT are a breath of fresh air, particularly the former who sings on the chorus of “Am I Dreaming”, adding to the song’s triumphant quality. Wizkid brings his own Afrobeat tinge to “Link Up”. Whilst James Blake’s own muted style of singing and production elevates tracks like “Hummingbird” or “Nonviolent Communication”.

Stylistically, however, Across The Spider-Verse is not as diverse as Metro’s past offerings as the songs mainly stick to a generic sound, coming off as leftovers from his previous projects. While catchy, they serve their purpose within the context of the film but outside of that there isn’t really all that much going on here. There’s nothing here that’s as outstanding as “Sunflower” from the film’s predecessor, the majority of this album feels like filler.

Lyrically outside of clever references to Spider-Man, substance-wise ATSV is pretty empty. Granted I wasn’t expecting this to be another Heroes and Villains as at the end of the day the album is basically a marketing tool for the film, but with a producer as prolific as Metro Boomin, I had my expectations pretty high that he would deliver something of equal quality as his major works.

Overall, Across The Spider-Verse is decent at best. It’s not necessarily bad nor is it perfect. While it does feature a handful of catchy tunes that again, most of which work best with the context of the movie. The album as a whole isn’t something worth hyping about and to be fair, will probably be a project I’ll forget about when the hype for the film dies down.

I’m feeling a 5–6/10 on the Across The Spider-Verse album. It’s a solid project to help market the film it's inspired by, but it’s riddled with generic sounds and little substance that’s worth mentioning.

Final Rating: 5–6/10.

Favourite Tracks: Annihilate, Danger (Spider), Silk and Cologne, Nonviolent Communication.