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| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
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1. WALL·E 2. Kung Fu Panda 3. The Happening 4. Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 5. Iron Man | . | . |
1. Moulin Rouge 2. Gladiator 3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Edward Scissorhands |
6. Pearl Harbor 7. Schindler's List 8. Titanic 9. Braveheart 10. Home Alone | . | . |
1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set) |
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you want to hear a hugely orchestral video game score that vaults past most film scores produced today. Avoid it... if you are generally dismayed by the use of tired, old chord progressions, even if they are in enormous sound. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Primal: (Andrew Barnabas and Paul Arnold) Scores for video games have consistently been low-budget midi-technology efforts since their emergence decades ago in mainstream culture. If you stop to consider the sheer volume of video games existing on the market, it is easy to understand how the vast majority of those games use midi electronic scores or license out rock music from stocks created specifically for this purpose. In the past few years, however, a handful of directors of video games have convinced their executives to fund ambitious orchestral scores for the promising flagship gaming products. In the case of Primal, Sony's European Computer Entertainment division was convinced by the midi-score creators that an orchestral score would be viable and extremely effective in the game. Primal is among Sony's top projects at the moment, with the same creators having produced the popular Medievil games in the previous years. The decision to record an orchestra over the existing midi score for Primal was made in part because the game features several hours of storytelling in a cinema format. As the main female character, Jen, battles through several levels of hideous creatures to rescue her boyfriend, Lewis, the game offers these film-like passages in between many steps that Jen takes. Thus, an orchestral score became necessary for almost three hours of these moments, with parts adapted for the 15+ hours of actual gameplay time (do employed adults really have time to play these things with any consistent satisfaction?!). Composers Andrew Barnabas and Paul Arnold, who go by the work/screen/professional names of Bob and Barn, gladly translated their midi score for Primal into a massive orchestral effort using their British classical knowledge. The well-known City of Prague Philharmonic and its 86 players were supplemented by a full chorale and a soprano female voice to create a large, symphonic score of an epic, Hollywood scale similar to that of David Arnold's early scores. The immense size of the Primal score will surprise almost any listener. They recorded over 100 minutes of music over five weeks, working with the 109 total musicians from dawn to dusk on many days. To distinguish each of the five levels of the game, the composers wrote what sounds in many ways like five distinct scores. The Nexus level presents the haunting thematic beauty of the score, while the Solum level is dominated by brass and heavy, driving rhythms. The Aquis level utilizes the chorus at the forefront for its watery environment, and the Aetha level of Chaos is perhaps the weakest of the five, depending on a sparse waltz rhythms and several violin solos for its personality. A slight middle-eastern motif is gained in the final Volca level, which finishes the game with a blaze of unrestrained orchestral bombast. The highlight of the album is clearly the Nexus level, in which Bob and Barn establish the characters of Jen and Arella with their musical counterparts. The female soprano, Michaela Srumora, offers a perfectly haunting and almost seductive atmosphere from the game's outset, luring you into the game. The third, fourth, and fifth tracks on the album offer stunning orchestrally thematic constructs, with the choir provided a depth to the recording that exceeds almost all film scores in majesty. The involvement of Prague veteran Nic Raine in the project was likely a key to the remarkable orchestral sound. It is ironic that in a game of this much fright and action, the best portions of the score are those more resilient, smaller-key thematic passages. The heroic "marching off to war" cue for solo horn presented at the end of the fourth track is a subtle highlight of the album. The weaknesses of the score are few, but trained ears will hear many cliched chord progressions that sound good, but have been identified with countless scores of decades past. Thus, in originality, the score lacks a bit, but it sure does overwhelm you with its brute orchestral mass. Much in the same was Vangelis can blow you away with a wall of sound, Bob and Barn have accomplished the same with Primal. For the video game venue, it is an especially impressive effort. People who play the game should note that the mass of atmospheric battle music in the game is provided by the electronic rock band 16 Volt, and none of that music appears on this album. ****
The insert includes extensive notes about the game, the score, and the recording process, as well as a pictorial from the recording studio. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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