Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... only if you are an enthusiast of the concept and are familiar with the distinct differences between the original songs heard on screen and the gloomy, partially orchestral underscore for the film. Avoid it... if you expect anything remarkable to emerge from this score, for its is largely an unmemorable collection of orchestral dissonance and electronic textures. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Queen of the Damned: (Richard Gibbs/Jonathan Davis) When Warner Brothers acquired the rights to Anne Rice's popular series of novels regarding vampire culture, the studio did quite well with 1994's Interview with a Vampire. Problems arose, however, when that film's director, Neil Jordan, stepped aside from his work on the next entry in "The Vampire Chronicles," and in 2000, rights for the concept reverted back to Rice. The author was at first convinced that a tackling of the third story, "Queen of the Damned," without addressing the development of Tom Cruise's character of Lestat in the second entry in the series, "The Vampire Lestat," would prove fatal to the development of the third story's plot. Inevitably, a screenplay that merged parts of both of the two stories into one film was conjured, and while Rice was initially hopeful about Warner's dedication to the perfection of the 2002 release of Queen of the Damned, she eventually deduced that a television series would have suited her stories better. No cast or crew members carried over to the sequel, and the less expensive talent behind its creation led directly to extremely poor critical response. The death of lead actress Aaliyah several months prior to the release date did help, along with the hoards of Goths targeted by these productions, send the film to the top of the box office charts for a few weeks, justifying the $30 million budget. Those familiar with this trilogy of stories from Rice will know that music ends up playing a tremendous role in the immortal life of Lestat. He is not only a virtuoso violinist, but also challenges the hierarchy of the vampire subculture by becoming a rock star with his own band. It is his endeavors here that not only awaken the feared Queen, but also threaten to expose the entire population of vampires to mass media. As such, the production of Queen of the Damned needed musical services far beyond those that turned out to be a controversy with Interview with a Vampire. Hired to split duties on the music were Richard Gibbs and Jonathan Davis, the former an Oingo Boingo band member turned composer (with some guidance from Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek) and the latter the frontman for the band Korn. While there was initially come confusion about whether or not Korn as a whole would be involved in the project, Davis made it clear that this was his solo endeavor, not only co-writing the songs but performing as the singing voice of Lestat on screen. Two other Korn members did contribute guitar performances, however. Because of Davis' contract with Sony, his screen performances were not contractually allowed to appear on the rock song soundtrack album for the film. Outside of the many source songs written for Queen of the Damned, Gibbs was largely responsible for providing the predictably brooding, mostly atmospheric score. He recorded with a 100-member orchestra and incorporated pseudo-Egyptian sounds to reflect the film's plot. These accents included the vocal and violin performances of Shankar, whose sound in America was mostly associated with the group Shakti and collaborations with Peter Gabriel. It is Shankar's classical violin that speaks for Lestat's in the picture. Additionally, highly manipulated choral effects were mixed into the orchestral recordings, as well as electronic dissonance that defines this work as one of texture rather than melody. Gibbs described the tone of the score as "deeply twisted, anguished, and tormented" at the time of its creation, and, in his efforts toward this goal, he succeeds. There isn't much substance in the work that he and Davis provide for Queen of the Damned, the only cohesive element being the generally dark and menacing, bass-dominated environment produced by the string brooding and electronic enhancements that dominate the work. There are thematic structures at play in this score, some of which marginally compelling in their harmonic grace, but never do any of these ideas congeal into a lasting identity for the score. The duo of "Maharet" and "Prodigal Sun," literally one solid piece of music on the score-only album for the film, contains the majority of the melodramatic, choral-aided harmonic material. The vocal effects are obviously artificial in their rendering, giving the soundscape something of a cheapened character. Instrumentally, international accents in "On the Beach" and "Secret Passage" range from obnoxious to effective, including the manipulated sound of an oud, an ancient Egyptian oboe and the most interesting sound here. Less successful is the xylophone effect in "Jesse's Dream" and truly out of place Indian tone in "On the Beach." The fully orchestral cues, culminating in the brutal "The Queen is Dead," are generally quite dissonant and noisy, containing none of the structural complexity or classical connections that lifted Elliot Goldenthal's memorable and acclaimed score for the previous film. Overall, the score material by Gibbs and Davis for Queen of the Damned is generic and lacking in convincing power. It also fails to make an adequate connection to the rock songs and virtuoso performances on screen, a detriment for those primarily looking for continuity. Joining the song-only album (with cover versions of those heard on screen), a score-only product limited to under thirty minutes in length was provided by Warner. Outside of the loyal fanbase of the concept, and for film score collectors in particular, this music will have little appeal. ** Track Listings:
Total Time: 29:52
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