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Home Page
Armageddon
(1998)
Album Cover Art
1998 Promo
1998 Sony
Album 2 Cover Art
2000 Bootleg
Album 3 Cover Art
Composed, Co-Orchestrated, and Co-Produced by:

Additional Music by:
Harry Gregson-Williams

Orchestrated by:
Bruce Fowler
Gordon Goodwin

Conducted by:
Gordon Goodwin

Co-Produced by:
Paul Linford
Steve Kempster
Labels Icon
LABELS & RELEASE DATES
Promotional
(June, 1998)

Columbia/Sony
(November 10th, 1998)

Bootleg
(2000)
Availability Icon
ALBUM AVAILABILITY
The original Rabin promo remains a rare collectible. The 1998 commercial album was a regular U.S. release, following a song compilation album that contained only one score track. The 2-CD bootleg has been readily altered, expanded, and traded on the secondary market since it debut in 2000. Several variants of that bootleg exist, often with different fan-created artwork.
Awards
AWARDS
None.
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ALSO SEE





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   Availability | Viewer Ratings | Comments | Audio & Track Listings | Notes
Buy it... only if you want the ultimate anthem representing of the Media Ventures glory days, with simplistic pounding and extremely basic harmonic themes in their fullest synthetic and organic blend.

Avoid it... if you've never cared for Hans Zimmer's trademark, synth-dominated action music or any of its variants.
Review Icon
EDITORIAL REVIEW
FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #108
WRITTEN 12/22/98, REVISED 1/6/07
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Sony Album

Rabin
Rabin
Gregson-<br>Williams
Gregson-
Williams
Armageddon: (Trevor Rabin and Harry Gregson-Williams) If there ever was a score that single-handedly defined the simultaneous arrival of (and backlash against) the concept of a "Media Ventures" score, it would be Armageddon. The 1998 Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster was ridiculed at press screenings, blasted by the more intellectual half of society, and eventually fell, several years later, to its more appropriate B-film status. But that didn't stop the poorly conceived and written film from earning far too much money, for the late 1990's were time when CGI effects had made it both possible and popular to show the worst disasters of biblical proportions on screen. So proposterous is the plotline of Armageddon that the special effects were really the only reason to go see the film. Terrible acting by pop-culture stars and an equally weak score from amateur composer Trevor Rabin were also to blame for the film's laughable outcome. While Rabin had been involved for several years with Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures clone factory, Armageddon would represent the former Yes guitarist's fourth score over a span of two years, making him frightfully inexperienced to handle a project of this magnitude. And it shows. The Armageddon score is a haphazard combination of Rabin's own guitar-driven sensibilities and Zimmer's stereotypical keyboarded rhythms and samples faux-orchestral sounds. It's one of those kinds of scores where you can't tell if the music you're hearing is performed by a keyboard or an orchestra, a real choir or a synthetic sampling... and it doesn't really matter. What Rabin accomplishes, ironically, is really all the film needed: a brainless series of testosterone-driven militaristic sounds mingling, occasionally, with basic romantic thematic wanderings meant to represent the ridiculous love story element in the film. In its overall sound, Armageddon is cheaply rendered, with its instrumentation (or better yet, sampling) extremely basic and existing without a hint of the finer points of counterpoint or other compositional complexity. Ironically, that simplistic nature makes parts of Armageddon a rather easily listening experience, and is no doubt why Media Ventures fans dearly love this score.


Ratings Icon
VIEWER RATINGS
5,346 TOTAL VOTES
Average: 2.85 Stars
***** 815 5 Stars
**** 794 4 Stars
*** 1,476 3 Stars
** 1,329 2 Stars
* 932 1 Stars
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Comments Icon
COMMENTS
23 TOTAL COMMENTS
Read All Start New Thread Search Comments
Semi-interesting listening experience   Expand >>
Sheridan - July 3, 2006, at 7:31 a.m.
3 comments  (5186 views)
Newest: July 3, 2006, at 7:34 a.m. by
Sheridan
How do you get the additional music?
Ryan - March 12, 2006, at 12:43 a.m.
1 comment  (3377 views)
Where's the addition music?   Expand >>
Kiddo - November 2, 2004, at 11:09 p.m.
2 comments  (4372 views)
Newest: February 26, 2005, at 10:12 p.m. by
Manuel
Deep Blue Sea(expanded).. I need!   Expand >>
greg - October 2, 2004, at 1:05 p.m.
2 comments  (4054 views)
Newest: February 26, 2005, at 10:11 p.m. by
Manuel
Trevor Rabin to be honored....   Expand >>
Stacey Kumagai - July 21, 2004, at 12:42 p.m.
1 comment  (3945 views)
Gregon-Williamson   Expand >>
Sebastian Ullrich - April 1, 2004, at 12:44 p.m.
2 comments  (4424 views)
Newest: February 26, 2005, at 10:14 p.m. by
Manuel
More...


Track Listings Icon
TRACK LISTINGS AND AUDIO
Audio Samples   ▼
1998 Promo Album Tracks   ▼Total Time: 30:10
• 1. The Launch (7:55)
• 2. The Oil Well (3:01)
• 3. A.J's Return (3:56)
• 4. Underwater Simulation (2:10)
• 5. Short Straw (3:43)
• 6. Demands (1:40)
• 7. Long Distance Goodbye (2:30)
• 8. A Wing and a Prayer (5:15)
1998 Sony Album Tracks   ▼Total Time: 50:13
2000 2-CD Bootleg Set Tracks   ▼Total Time: 132:29

Notes Icon
NOTES AND QUOTES
The insert in Sony's commercial album contain a note about Rabin and extensive credits. (it gives no credit to Harry-Gregson Williams). The other albums contain no consistent artwork or booklet information.
Copyright © 1998-2025, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Armageddon are Copyright © 1998, Promotional, Columbia/Sony, Bootleg and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/22/98 and last updated 1/6/07.
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