3 out of 5

Label: Lakeshore Records

Produced by: Brian Reitzell, Michael Perfitt (recorded by)

Brian Reitzell got a few writeups for his work on the Hannibal score, centering around the wild amount of instrumentation he used to achieve the generally “off” sound of some of the music. And certainly any viewer of the series can attest to how well the moody score synced with the overblown visuals, giving the series the prestige, eventful feel it needed to not tipple over into camp.

The physical release of the music got a similar amount of respect: not only were these albums some of the last of the era in which we did physical releases of soundtracks, but Reitzell’s work got pretty primary deference, with what I assume to be full scores of each episode released, splitting each season up into a required two volumes of discs / LPs. This means this isn’t your standard set of a theme and choice selections, but rather a track-per-episode breakdown of all the ambience and creepy quirkiness, with volume 1 taking us up through episode 7 of the first season.

Now: knowing what you’re in for, here, helps, as Hannibal volume 1, part 1 – as per the above – is not structured to be listened to as an album. Each 7 – 12 minute cut is, again, presumably the entirety of work from that corresponding episode, and as such, you get disparate moods not only from song to song, but within those songs as well, as each section of the show has its score, and then moves on to the next section. While, holistically, this stuff is all in the same vein – creaky atmospherics; some punishing percussion and feedback and blasts of those weird instruments – it’s just not a seamless listen, and isn’t sequenced to lead a listener across a journey: it just follows the show. As appreciative as I am of Reitzell’s work in general, and however interesting the eclecticism of sounds mushed in here, it’s hard to get over that – that this might be an excellent soundtrack to your viewing experience, but simply doesn’t have the hooks or consistency for a standalone listen.

Less directly, I’d say all the extra effort of instrument sourcing Reitzell went through loses some weight in the kind of crisp, digital production employed, alongside how we only experience it in brief moments; things just don’t come across as necessarily layered enough to revel in what’s going on. Within those moments, it can be thrilling stuff – odd percussion; not-quite guitars – but it’s over before you can appreciate it.

Some of the longer sections make this worth exploring, and the overall mood comes across. But it’s otherwise a balance: if you’ve enjoyed the music on the show, this is that music, but it’s more clearly a perfect score and an imperfect album. The soundtrack does give one the time to dig into things, of course, it’s just a bit of effort required to do that, with the results short-lived in comparison to the whole runtime.