Posted on: January 30, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

OST: Beowulf / 2007 Warner Brothers / 17 Tracks / http://www.beowulfmovie.com / http://www.warnerbros.com /

Beowulf is one of the oldest stories that is still being told; while it is not as old as the myths that am movie like 300 were taken from, the age on this story is considerable. It is thus the duty of Alan Silvestri to make a soundtrack that fits in well with the action. Individuals that focus on scores may remember Silvestri from eir scores for “Night At The Museum”, “The Polar Express”, “Lilo & Stitch”, and “What Woman Want”. With tens of movies under eir belt, Silvestri is the perfect individual to be tagged for this massive duty. The score itself is divided into 17 distinct compositions. While there are a number of tracks on this score that fill up only a scene, Silvestri is given a number of opportunities to create full-length compositions that accurately capture the mood and tone of this Old English story.

Nowhere is this better heard than during “Beowulf Slays The Beast”, a tempestuous, all-encompassing track that stretches out well over six minutes. An early track that captures a very intense set of actions is “What We Need Is A Hero”. During this track, there is a martial set of popercussion that mimics well the matching of soldiers. The inclusion of female vocals during this track shows the desperation of Beowulf’s family and friends, where the next track (“I’m Here To Kill Your Monster”) is a song that has a tremendous amount of hope and builds off a rising action.

Rather than being tracks that merely work with the action that is playing on the big screen, the compositions on “Beowulf” works well as a full album. This means that each track gives a little bit more of a backstory, while the tracks immediately preceding the playing track is vital to understand what exactly is happening in the current track. The three-quarters hour of this soundtrack has high replay value. Individuals that wish to be taken back over one thousand years should pick up this soundtrack and relive an earlier history. Silvestri’s masterful composition makes what was already a solid movie something that will be discussed 5, 10, or even 25 years in the future. The inclusion of vocal and more traditional compositions keeps things modern while still keeping the compositions firmly in the earlier time period; truly a sight to behold.

Top Tracks: Second Grendel Attack, I’m Here To Kill Your Monster

Rating: 6.5/10

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