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The absence of some measure of motif or full theme meant to add coherence to the film and score makes the work a "thrill of the moment" wall of sound in its heavier cues and borderline dull in its few sensitive or quietly suspenseful moments. The score's only identity is a basic, slightly dramatic theme of rising figures that likely represents the dead in the story, hinted at in "The Discovery" and unleashed in "The Souls Ascend." The action music is highly engaging in a fashion similar to Joel McNeely's Virus, especially in the cue that introduces the salvage ship, "The Arctic Warrior." The synthetic and vocal additions are often used to create sufficient ambience, but they are mixed into a slushy orchestral base that never establishes its own thread of personality. The waterlogged and metallic style of manipulation in the edit gives the work an appropriate sense of atmosphere, though these elements are generally used in such a dissonant fashion as to detract from the listening experience. Frizzell even presents the cue "The Ballroom Reverts" seemingly backwards, though if you reverse it yourself with editing software, it sounds just as obnoxious. Such is the frustration with Ghost Ship, a score that perpetually exists on the verge of some whopping, fantastic statement but always falters and redirects in the next cue. This trend is painfully obvious on album, with no less than 39 score cues provided, totaling 74 minutes. The rich, prominent finale cue, when combined with a couple of other singular moments of note in the work, will yield five to ten minutes of interesting material. Having so much of the remaining anonymous music present, the most vibrant sequences of Frizzell's work are lost. Viewers of the film will likely dismiss the orchestral score and migrate towards discussion about the three song uses in the film. One of these is actually partly a Frizzell composition; "My Little Box" is performed by Gabriel Mann during a flashback scene and features an abrasive and disruptive electric guitar and vocal style that doesn't match the rest of the score. Missing from the album is the opening vintage Italian jazz song "Senza Fine", sung by Monica Mancini (who did not make an appearance in the film), but the piece can be found on her "Cinema Paradiso" album. Additionally, the Mudvayne song "Not Falling" (heard at the end of the film) is also absent. Most who initially purchased this album expressed their displeasure over the absence of those latter two songs, though Frizzel's contribution to Ghost Ship likely won't please many film score collectors either. This album is living proof that too much score can indeed detract from the potential of a soundtrack product.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 73:55