3 out of 5

Label: Atlantic

Recorded by: Greg Hayes

Upon hearing the graceful, rousing theme that opens Bryan Tyler’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack, I was brought to wonder: where the hell was _this_ movie? The bloated, noisy Bay-fest that we got is one of the biggest black marks, for me, in the TMNT’s storied history, but Tyler’s innate skill at coming up with epic, but grounded, themes for his scores pitches the thing back to an 80s kid’s adventure: full of wonder; slow, colorful reveals stepping from the shadows. Though I’d say the main tune that is used (and reused, and reused) throughout this score isn’t the most original – shades of Ramin Djawadi’s action fare or notes from the Marvel projects Tyler’s worked on are very clear – it is enjoyable, and effects heroism, and is, y’know, thematic. The followup track, ‘Adolescent Genetically Altered Terapins,’ as its name suggests, is just a spin on that same thing, perhaps a bit more contemplative, but it’s the next Splinter vs Shredder that gives us our other huge component to this score: big, booming percussion, rapid-fire orchestration underlining what are likely beats to an action scene. It’s grand stuff.

…And with more scope against which to set these templates, I can imagine this soundtrack as truly standing out. But the similarity to the film structure peeks through: once we’re escalated into action mode, Tyler has to stay there (mimicking the movie’s constant barrage), and it’s sorta-kinda-generic theme pops up at every opportunity, giving the disc a very cyclic sound of the same few songs, again and again.

It’s a lush recording, though, and that small selection of variants are well done, making it hummable background. It’s just a shame that the dynamism experienced within the first few tracks didn’t have a richer film to work off of, keeping at us a repeating fever pitch of battle anthems for the rest of the disc’s hour.