There is very little gothic romanticism whatsoever to float the troubled emotional heart of the characters in the composer's approach to Blade. Nor, interestingly, is there much in the way of rhythmically satisfying action. Instead, you hear a highly textured, mood-driven score, treating the film much like the story treats its location; you can never really get a grasp on either. The vagueness of the music, therefore, does little more than establish the basic mood for the concept and then continue with that gloomy affair for the entirety of the film's length. The most interesting moments of the score are provided by an interpretation of "Rainbow Voice" from "Hearing Solar Winds," written and performed by David Hykes, a piece that produces the only distinctively emotional, constructive cue with the help of a moderately sized orchestral string section. Thematically, Isham fails to impress in his original material, a motif for the protagonists in "Daywalker" and "History" not striving for any real warmth whatsoever though developing some empathy in "Death of Whistler." (The sampled whistling in "History" for Kristofferson's character is a bit of a joke involving that character's name.) The most cohesive idea running throughout the second half of the work is a "Blood God" theme for the shenanigans of the villains that is previewed in "Glyphs" but reveals itself fully in "The Translation Completed" and "The Book of Erebus." This moderately interesting idea gains some strength throughout "Temple of Light" but dissolves in "Blood Relations," leaving only glimpses of orchestral force in the powerful "The Wraiths Emerge," "Defrosted," and disjointed "The Blood God" as a highlight. Don't expect any of this music to rival Christopher Young's prowess in the genre, however. Any vaguely melodic, tonal highlights are fleeting at best, often exiting the stage just as quickly as they enter. The remainder of the score, consisting of Isham's rather glum atmospherics, is presented through electronic soundscapes, with vast, wandering phrases of disharmony taking seemingly aimless steps in any convenient direction. Isham fails to really address any of the pop genre sensibilities that Snipes' persona or the topic could have brought to the score. Despite providing the perfect basic coloration for Blade conceptually, Isham can't seem to use those elements tell a narrative of his own, even if all the building blocks of a successful score are evident here.

The score's very basic electronic bass droning occasionally shifts at accelerated speeds, but these lengthy cues fail to stir up adequate emotion to represent the story's action. The composer does offer some varied accompanying instrumentation that uses sonic colors to save a few cues in Blade. A rare acoustic rhythm, ranging from the barely noticeable to the more forceful metal variety, arises in two or three cues, but never does it last long enough to fully situate the score in an urban setting. Possibly synthesized representations of metallic clanging sometimes battle with each other, echoing the sounds of a sword or knife fight on screen, the latter half of "Intruder" showing promise. The tones themselves aren't highly original, but their use in a film heavy on the emphasis on metallic props and gray scenery is a welcome diversion from the gloom of the low-intensity electronic droning. The eerie inclusion of a choir is not in typical fashion; the group often performs with the same striking disregard for harmony and direction as the electronics of the underscore, with several branches of the choir conflicting with each other at high pitches. This effect is original in its texture, especially in the lengthy "Bleeding Stone" cue, but it's extremely difficult to tolerate on album. In that cue, as well as "The Wraiths Emerge" and "Blood God," Isham utilizes the repressed presence of a fuller orchestra (with a pipe organ for much needed depth) to offer much-overdue excitement in between his continued electronic meanderings. Those cues for the villains' material do finally allow some emotional reach into the troubled story, cranking up the presence of the music and establishing badly missing momentum for Blade, and the use of the Daywalker and villain themes in "It's Not Over" is commendable to set up the sequel film. But the mood of these cues dissipates too quickly to sustain any final, fleeting interest, leaving the overall listening experience as one of little notice or importance. On both the 34-minute 1998 album from Varèse Sarabande and the label's 72-minute expansion in 2024, the score tends to fill space more than anything else, the longer presentation simply extending the challenging experience without adding significant accessible music. The climax continues to impress at brief moments, but the shorter album suffices for these cues. While the score was a worthy genre to test for Isham, it wasn't one that allowed him to capture the spirit of either the vampires or wicked combat, and rising horror master Marco Beltrami would supply a more popular score for Blade II several years later.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download