2 out of 5

Label: Relativity Music Group

Produced by: Dave Sardy

The 30-plus tracks is a good indication that we’re likely getting a soundtrack of cues and not extended score work, but the first track, “Opening,” is a lesson in that as well: starting off with a warbly National Anthem lick, the song does a hard, transitionless shift into the rock ambience that’s one of the main sounds on this album – that is, even our first tune isn’t even a full song.

Sardy often scores in this fashion, for which I can’t fault him – that’s the job, and he got called back for Zombieland 2, so it worked – but it doesn’t make for the most compelling / immersive listens, and this is one of the most “broken” examples of that, as hardly any tune on here is a complete one, and rather just 30 seconds – 1 minute of heavy rock or Western-tinged boogie.

What’s frustrating is that it’s Sardy, so not only does this stuff sound fantastically meaty and raw, but the licks are damned catchy, and there’s a bag of strings and horns and ambience that add a ton of fantastic mood to it. This thing shuffles – in 30-second increments – like the biggest badass, setting up arena-sized riffs that still play well as a sweaty bar band sound. And select tunes make it past the minute mark to great effect, but those are few and far between; the runtimes don’t really help you out here, because often, longer songs are just collections of cues (like Opening, or the most flagrant example, Pacific Playland (Pt. 1), which doesn’t even put a pause between the cues), and there’s just no opportunity to get into this stuff.

So: the music, in bits and pieces, absolutely rocks. The precision Sardy shows with adding those extra flourishes are due to his years in the industry, and make me wish every Zimmer-influenced, overblown composer would take note and be more scrupulous with their strings and brass blasts. Unfortunately, this is never something I want to sit down and listen to, because no riff lasts long enough to merit it, and I’d argue – via my rating – that this collection of cues is so scattered in that sense as to make a dedicated listen somewhat unpleasant.