4 out of 5

Label: WaterTower Music

Producer: Ramin Djawadi

Hans Zimmer protege or not, I’d say most film scores for blockbusters are going to have similar tropes – the hero’s theme, the drum-based action sequence theme, the contemplative theme, and etc.  What I liked about Djawadi – his score to ‘Clash’ was the first that I noticed despite myself, really digging the groove and appreciating how the score elevated many sequences – is that he applies a modern sense of composition to those tropes, so that you can listen to his scores like actual albums instead of sound bytes which are just variations on a theme.

‘Clash’ has an epic sense of build to it, and though everything is united by several themes, the score ebbs and flows with elements – a beat, a horn line, a particular strum – such that a new feeling will get dropped into the mix just as you’ve warmed to what’s developed up ’til then.  Neil Davidge of Massive Attack contributes to two tracks and breathy vocalist Tina Dico opens the album with ‘The Storm That Brought Me to You,’ and, surprisingly, both of these pieces are sequenced rather perfectly.  By starting ‘Clash’ with a vocal track fronting the album’s musical themes, you’re not waiting for a pay-off – you get a chorus, you get some swelling emotions, but without having to drop us into heavy music stings right away (and thus ruining later momentum).  On the flip-side, Davidge’s ‘Be My Weapon,’ toward the album’s conclusion, rips through some of the wandering of the previous tracks and adds an electronic edge to what’d come before, spinning through almost every theme on the album over its ten thrilling minutes.  This brings our attentions back in line for the climactic ‘Release the Kraken,’ by Djawadi, which is oddly more rewarding in its subtleties than its big conclusion, the track stopping and starting a few times with different approaches before going for gold.  Its one of the few tracks here that actually works better when viewed alongside the movie scene, whereas most of this stuff can stand alone.

Satisfyingly, the ‘name’ tracks – Medusa, Scorpiox, Argos, etc. – are the standouts, with ‘Scorpiox’ in particular an unbelievable mash-up of sword and sandals and distortion and stop/start techniques.

The middle section of the disc, mostly 1-2 minute tracks which are more supportive of the themes as opposed to evolving them, tend to blend together, but are by no means boring.  For a 70-minute soundtrack to what most would dismiss as a B movie, I really feel that Djawadi did his all here to take some generic concepts and spin them into something fresh, all without breaking the organic sensibilities of the sonic textures.