Buy it... if you typically enjoy all of Alan Silvestri's action material, even those scores that stir up significant noise without really grabbing your attention.

Avoid it... if you are tired of formulaic and predictable action scores that essentially don't offer anything you haven't heard before (in greater length, too).

Silvestri

Volcano: (Alan Silvestri) According to the movie Volcano, an eruption of lava was set to destroy Los Angeles in 1997, killing untold thousands of humans, diminishing property values, and annihilating the very industry that brought this laughably improbable film to life. The late 90's were the renaissance for the natural disaster flick, though, and throwing in some moderately popular actors at the time with the newly available CGI technology to show the mayhem and just about any plot with decent destruction was shot. Among this burst of disaster films, Volcano was a merely average entry, making a moderate splash at the summer box office. It's rendering of lava flows in urban streets was thrilling in parts, but everything about the production seemed formulaic, not excluding composer Alan Silvestri's score. Through that era, Silvestri had provided decent action material for films of suspect quality, ranging from above average (Judge Dredd) to rather forgettable (Eraser), never really touching upon some of the great material he had written for more successful adventure films in the 1980's. The same mediocrity applies to Volcano, for which Silvestri composed perhaps the most predictable and typical disaster score of them all. You sometimes have to wonder if a composer sees a finished product and isn't as enthused about it as he or she was when reading the script, because Volcano was a film that could really have used a standout score to elevate it beyond the norm. Instead, there are some basically interesting ideas that Silvestri explores, mostly embedded in mundane orchestral action rhythms. The studio ensemble for Volcano produces adequate noise, but does so without much spark or other invigorating energy, and Silvestri includes the faint mixing of a synthetic choir to provide the mandatory sense of fantasy awe for the subject matter.

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Two primary themes exist in Volcano: one to represent the lava and one for the humans battling to stop and/or channel it. Neither is heard at the outset of the film. Silvestri uses a slight tingling motif from synthesizers to introduce the city landscape, using hopelessly optimistic string alternations in the major key. He throws in a few dissonant chords in conjunction with this dancing rhythm to make sure the audience knows that now is the right time to get the heck out of the city. As signs of an impending eruption appear in "Miracle Mile," the lava's theme is hinted at as the dissonance grows more prevalent. A short burst of sustained action at the end of the cue offers an independent theme. In "Tarnation," the lava's full representation in the score is felt, including its deliberate low brass theme that sounds like leftovers from Predator. Also of intriguing use is trilling horns, a technique not normally employed by Silvestri; his use of the wavering brass here is far lower in the instruments' ranges than Elliot Goldenthal's concurrent use in scores of the time, and is therefore more listenable. The percussion section is put to the test in this cue as well, adding both broad thumps and militaristic snare rips at regular intervals. A sense of cohesion, however, doesn't arrive until "Teamwork," in which the synth choir is added to higher ranges of brass and the full bed of percussion to introduce the humans' theme at the end of the cue. An extension of this sound continues in the following two cues, arguably the best on the album. The lava and humans' themes do battle in heroic statements as a nearly constant rhythm propels them both forward. The concert suite from Volcano, of sorts, is "March of the Lava," the only truly engaging piece on album. Aside from a victorious crescendo with synth choir in "Roark's Missing," the score loses its steam and resolves with a light woodwind finale in "Cleansing Rain" that takes a page or two from Jerry Goldsmith's sensitivity. Never does the Volcano score really involve the listener on album; even at its height, it's a score that can pass by with little notice despite the significant noise that it produces. A very short running time on album also makes the score a difficult prospect to recommend, despite the fact that Silvestri accomplishes everything he basically needed to do for the assignment. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.34 (in 32 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.27 (in 30,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.