PRINTER FRIENDLY VIEW
(inverts site colors)

The electronic layering in Black Panther is among its more disappointing elements, Göransson supplying the raw, synth pulses and bass enhancements mostly as means of forcing a dichotomy between Wakanda and the evil forces around the world attempting to plunder its precious secret. Most of these passages involve the Killmonger character, ranging from sophisticated coolness in "Killmonger" to more varied suspense in "Questioning Klaue," where the electronic beats are totally overshadowed by accompanying flute and vocal wails. At times, as in "Outsider," the electronic and percussive foundation does nothing to extend the narrative. The vocals, on the other hand, are nearly always a delight, from the straight fantasy counterpoint they provide for the mythological elements of Wakanda (they are lovely in "Is This Wakanda?") to the massive chanting and wordless accompaniment to denote triumph in "The Great Mound Battle." That latter cue, in fact, contains the most diverse selection of vocal tones in the entire work. Mournful solo vocals extend from "Wakanda" to "A King's Secret," the inflection of these cues outstanding; the latter cue's opening is as magnificent as any piece of film music in the digital era. The sung pronouncement of Wakanda in "Warrior Falls" and "United Nations" is infectiously celebratory to the extreme as well. The orchestral presence, while lending some lines of action to the specialty instruments, is still highly effective in its applications of strings and brass specifically. After all, Black Panther is a superhero flick with an awesome fantasy tilt, and Göransson doesn't miss the opportunity to let rip with Western-centric guilty pleasures straight from the Silvestri playbook. The composer rarely lets a sequence of straight orchestral performance pass without some layering of African percussion or vocals, however, providing the infusion of Marvel musical expectations without losing sight of the score's true identity. Some listeners may object to the fact that the orchestra is reduced from any lengthy performance by the other elements in the mix, even "The Great Mound Battle" and "Glory to Bast" interrupting the ambitious rhythmic and thematic symphonic passages with frequent interludes of electronics and solo specialty performances. Thankfully, Göransson does manage to avoid the dreaded churning of string ostinatos that dominate the Remote Control Productions-influenced genre so thoroughly elsewhere. The application of brass, particularly French horns and trombones, is solidly muscular at the appropriate times.

Thematically, Black Panther is quite well developed, its various identities often matched with specific instrumental or vocal accents to allow allusions through coloration and tone alone. While the forces of good in this story receive the most appropriately heroic representations, it's actually the material for Killmonger that allows for the most impressive range of emotion in the score. For T'Challa/Black Panther and Wakanda, there are a couple of themes that recur regularly, the foremost being the obvious fanfare of three-note phrases introduced in the latter half of "Wakanda." This clearly ascendant theme often exists over a chopping symphonic rhythm that gives it the sound of a unique meter. This identity is littered throughout the score and is offered in staggeringly heralded announcements for every victory on screen. More interesting are some secondary expressions, perhaps serving as an interlude sequence to the main theme, that are increasingly fluid in their presentation. The first of these interlude passages follows the main fanfare late in "Waterfall Fight" and highlights the equivalent announcement in "Phambili" and "End Titles," where its swashbuckling nature almost usurps the main theme at its outset. Still, the rising three-note phrases of the Black Panther theme are simple enough to prevail in the memory by the end, and Göransson deserves significant credit for conjuring such an easily identifiable theme to combat all the other elements of the score, not to mention the song presence, in context. The music for Killmonger is far more interesting, however, embodied by not only the cool electronic layering but also the score's most heartfelt expressions on solo and ensemble strings. The emotional appeal of the protagonist themes in Black Panther is rooted in the usual ass-kicking fanfares and the predictable fantasy ambience in cues like "A King's Sunset." Meanwhile, though, the Killmonger theme is a bit of a bridge between two secondary ideas, the heritage theme of the Jabari culture (the one tribe not historically forming the Wakanda alliance), the ancestral theme of Wakanda, and the urban, hip hop-oriented tone that doubles for the worldwide villains in the tale. Göransson provides a heartbreaking theme of yearning on classical strings for the character's familial connections, heard late in "Royal Talon Fighter," "Wake Up T'Challa," and, more dramatically, in "Ancestral Plane." He then boils this down to fragments for the current despair and hatred in the character, led repeatedly by a four note phrase mimicking James Horner's famed "danger motif" from Willow and others.

The Killmonger theme's modern incarnation takes hold in "Killmonger," where the traditional African flute and vocal accents give way to a thumping bass, tapping loop, and octave-hopping flute effect resulting from menacing expressions of the four-note variation on the theme. By the performance of the idea at 2:23 in that cue, Göransson offers full brass and choral force to the scene. In "Killmonger's Challenge," "Killmonger's Dream," and especially "Burn It All," the composer really extends the theme into memorable stylistic territory. To haunt the character, there is even an ascending, keyboarded mystery motif and echoing primal scream that accompanies the character's troubles. The theme dissolves into redemptive sadness in "A King's Sunset." Of the secondary themes in Black Panther, the ancestral meanderings for Wakanda on acoustic guitar in "Wakanda Origins" and "Ancestral Plane" are easily missed amongst everything else, but it's impossible not to notice the theme for the Jabari tribe. This idea is more of a percussive rhythm than anything else (though there is a cyclical, descending melody for them), with the slapping percussion, jarring staccato vocal jabs, and growling vuvuzela horn heard whenever that culture makes an appearance. While introduced in "The Jabari," the idea is fully realized early in "Waterfall Fight" and returns later in the story in "Entering Jabariland" and "The Jabari Pt II" as debts are repaid. The horn in particular, blasting itself into the forefront of "Waterfall Fight" and "The Jabari Pt II" while hinted late in "Entering Jabariland" and early in "Wake Up T'Challa," is truly incredible in either a wonderful or terrible way. While commendable in some fashion, the sound is so wretchedly overbearing that one can only think of a malfunctioning wood chipper during its performances, encouraging other listeners to flee the room in pain. For the best dorm room prank material, start "Waterfall Fight" at the 0:26 mark at maximum volume at 4:00 am for your roommates' ultimate pleasure. If you survive the event, use the start of "The Jabari Pt II" the following night. These passages are intellectually interesting but they really are borderline intolerable. In the end, however, the whole of the Black Panther score is defined by the remaining, well-mixed ethnic layers and a solid thematic narrative. The 95-minute digital album definitely needs some trimming, too; parts of it do languish. A score of this sonic diversity is poorly served by lossy presentations; fortunately, high-resolution download purchase options were added a month after initial release. This score joins the previous year's Thor: Ragnarok by Mark Mothersbaugh as another fantastic diversion from the norm in the Marvel Cinematic Universe without sacrificing the genre's core necessities.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 95:09