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Kong's pair of themes in these scores includes a fanfare and a more sensitive alternative, the two ideas mingling extensively in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The main returning fanfare is heard briefly at 0:08 into "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Main Title Theme)" before growing big on brass at 1:25 for multiple heroic renditions and a dramatic climax. It stomps with menace at 1:04 into "Threatening Survival," is rhythmically accelerated at 0:20 into "He's Arriving - Devastation" (and then full at 0:58), and occupies the start of "New Entrances and Encounters" with ominous strings, building to forceful brass. The main Kong identity is presented harshly at 1:22 into "Approaching the Lake," cyclically to open "Myth and Ritual," with increasing struggles at the beginning of "Desperate Escape," and as a momentum-builder after the rock exposition in "Tech Project Upgrade." It counters the Godzilla theme at the start of "Egypt Fight" and asserts itself in the middle of "Frozen Rio" with giant choir and brass, its major solo performance at 2:28 on the latter leading to the secondary theme in stride. That other theme for Kong often finds itself used as a B phrase or interlude to the main fanfare, its longer lines serving that purpose adequately. It recurs several times in full at 0:18 into "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Main Title Theme)," becomes embedded in the tribal action early in "Threatening Survival," and extends out of the primary fanfare right away at 1:03 into "He's Arriving - Devastation." Lighter choral shades await at 1:00 into "New Entrances and Encounters," leading to a noble moment, and that stance continues faintly at 0:42 into "Approaching the Lake" and in whimsical form early in "Hollow Earth's Nature," shifting to synth keyboarding. It barely informs the optimistic tone in the first half of "IWI Findings," turns to the distant voices again in the middle of "Myth and Ritual," cascades out of the cyclical primary Kong theme in "Desperate Escape," and accompanies the rhythmic ambience at the outset of "Divine and Glorious." This secondary Kong identity gains heroic stature for a moment in the middle of "Egypt Fight," impressively joins the Godzilla theme for tonal heroics at 1:14 into "Frozen Rio," and gains sensitivity in "You Are My Home." While the album track title of "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Main Title Theme)" suggests that this score has a new main theme, that cue actually consists mostly of returning Kong material, with a couple of other themes in tow near its end.

The other major returning theme belongs most obviously to Godzilla, representing Holkenborg's adequate but somewhat clunky attempt to generate a true kaiju identity. Once again, nothing from any of the classic Godzilla scores survives thematically in Holkenborg's take on the character, leaving this portion of the MonsterVerse as a musical outlier. A partial but large performance occurs after 2:17 into "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Main Title Theme)," and the idea is suggested at the start of "He's Arriving - Devastation." But it opens "Leaving Colosseum - New Dossier" in pure, complete, stomping form, mingling with other material thereafter. It thrashes on brass with synthetic vocal breathiness at 1:22 into "French Army," idiotically overemphasized by choir afterwards. At 2:11 into "Myth and Ritual," Godzilla's theme is pitted against Kong's secondary material, and it is further hinted against other themes in "New Kingdom" over animal calls and chants. It returns in irritating, overblown tones against synth rambles in "Egypt Fight," receives an atrocious performance at 3:32 into "Collapsing Gravity," and accompanies the secondary Kong theme for tonal heroics at 1:14 into "Frozen Rio," ultimately blending really well with both Kong themes at the culmination of the cue. As mentioned before, the Godzilla theme starts off in its traditional low brass incarnations of focus and takes on a more obvious synthetic tone as the score wears on, and even the theme's progressions become more fragmented in later cues. The evolution of the theme is somewhat noteworthy but not necessarily enjoyable, and the composers don't get the opportunity to provide a refreshing return to the idea's original form as a sendoff for the monster. Other identities in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire aren't as well defined, including the new ones. A new theme encompasses everything from the Hollow Earth threat generally to the Skar King villain and, in its rising trios of notes, even Mothra. This idea is previewed in massive form at 2:09 into "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Main Title Theme)," is reduced to a more fluidly tonal form at 0:34 into "Monarch Base - Red Dream," and espouses sinister drama to close out "He's Arriving - Devastation." Advancing brashly at 1:10 into "Leaving Colosseum - New Dossier" against the descending Godzilla lines, this theme consolidates for a distorted, almost buzzing performance later in the cue. Just as challenging is the theme's obnoxious blasts after a minute into "Ancient Creatures."

The villain material in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is decently explored in the latter half of the score, tormenting early in "Myth and Ritual" and growling at the start of "New Kingdom," influencing much of the latter cue. It then counters the Kong themes in "Desperate Escape," threatens in the crescendos of "Broken" and "Egypt Fight," and thrashes around in "Collapsing Gravity" and "Frozen Rio" with grating electronic effects. Since this theme represents adversity generally in the score, you find its variants applied to a plethora of characters and situations as needed. On the opposite side is an equally broad family theme that applies to both the humans and Kong's own relationships in the film. This idea debuts nebulously on keyboard and strings in middle of "Friendship" but is better defined clearly at 2:10 into "New Entrances and Encounters." It opens "Approaching the Lake" solemnly on brass, shifting to action briefly at the cue's end, and splashes at the end of "IWI Findings." The family theme achieves massive fantasy mode at 0:14 into "Memories Resurface" before turning eerie in the final moments, and it is deconstructed in "Broken." It becomes a fragmentary fanfare in "Divine and Glorious" before regaining form on choir and synths, later bursting through the action repeatedly at the height of "Collapsing Gravity." As the story wraps, this material attempts the same heroics in "Frozen Rio" and is turned by the composers into a more bombastic anthem at the start of "You Are My Home" with a few Godzilla allusions along the way. None of these new ideas is anywhere near as memorable as the returning identities for Kong and Godzilla, and the challenging instrumental processing of their performances doesn't help. In the end, the manipulation of the recording to make everything sound synthetic does little more than cause the music sound dumb regardless of who wrote what. While these monster movies don't require the most intelligent of music, they can often benefit greatly from a little more dynamic compassion built into the soundscape. This music, by comparison, devolves into bonehead pounding far too often for comfort. Enthusiasts of these scores may confess that Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a marginally better experience overall because of the keen thematic integration at its end, but you have to be ready to forgive the inauthentic soundscape to reach that point of appreciation. On album, the 64 minutes of music presented is about all that can be tolerated, and unless you found something appealing about the prior entry, you'll discover nothing of interest here.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Tom Holkenborg reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.16 (in 19 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.48 (in 5,292 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 64:30