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Most importantly, Neely made the decision to emulate Dunkirk's disregard for the period of the film and apply liberal doses of brazen sound design along with an orchestral ensemble for Greyhound. Extremely harsh rhythmic tearing, scratching, and screeching accompanies dissonant design in between brief symphonic respites from the carnage. Undoubtedly, Greyhound is a score that lost its battle in the early spotting and conceptual stages, the final product ridiculously distracting in the film and cheapening the product in the same way as the inconsistent visual effects. Rarely does action and thriller music become so wincing in context, this movie's battle sequences suffering badly from inappropriately grinding, contemporary horror music that sought creativity in its metallic inclinations but instead loses the humanity involved. The mix of the score so heavily weighs the synthetic and percussive tracks that there really is no purpose to the orchestra for much of the running time. This loss of organic touch detracts from the fear conveyed by sailors on screen, Neely forgetting to view the subject through their lenses. The manipulated electronics and looped effects here are appropriate for a futuristic science fiction thriller, perhaps, but when aggravated by forceful percussive banging in this context, one can't help but wonder what Neely was thinking. He sought to represent the U-boat wolfpack with a synthetically generated wolf cry that sounds like a wailing electric guitar attempting to generate a chilly howl; the same idea was used less obtrusively in Catwoman (a score to which he contributed) to represent felines. Neely combines it with pitch-defying wailing background tones in suspense applications to offer a musical calling card for the U-boats in the film. Sadly, the usage is so flamboyant and frequent that it becomes something of a running joke in the movie. Certainly, none of the warcraft involved could naturally make that noise itself, so the musical motif is simply an over-the-top embellishment. The composer explores a possible traditional, descending theme on brass for the wolfpack at 0:36 into "Here They Come," but he abandons the idea until the climax in "Bring Hell Down From on High." The lack of motif coordination occurs several times, stomping brass motifs like the one in the middle of "Bring Hell Down From on High" not really connected to anything else in the score. By the end of that cue, however, Neely does at least allow the orchestra some breathing space over the electronics even if the droning and thumping baseline persists.

The flip-side of the score is the dramatic portion that Neely reveals fully in "But at What Cost?," and it is here where he really excels. The main theme of the film is teased in the title of "First Crossing," the commander's rejection during "I'll Always Be Looking For You," and his fear later in "It's Not Enough." In "But at What Cost?," however, as the surviving convoy ships are handed over to the British, Neely supplies genuinely moving, string-dominated reverence, highlighted by the cheering of the commander's vessel as it passes the convoy on its departure. There was room for similar renditions of this theme in full during "First Crossing" at the outset, but Neely unfortunately went the route of dissonant suspense despite the hope and temporary aerial protection that the convoy enjoyed at the moment. The percussive rendition of this theme later in "But at What Cost?" remains palatable and is quite a lovely, tonal piece. A separate theme, for some reason, is provided in the funeral scene earlier in the picture, "Lost Souls," an oboe carrying a unique melody for the slain men aboard the lead destroyer. This cue quickly turns grim as the attacks on the convey continue. The mass of the score for Greyhound, when not obliging the Americana elements for brief stints or engaged in outright sonic battle, is occupied by unpleasant suspense ambience dominated by droning electronic textures and fragmented orchestral phrasing. The duo of "Huff Duff" and "From Beneath," for instance, subjects you in 16 minutes of pointless muck (complete with mutated whale calls) meant to reinforce, in quite an unsophisticated manner, that the men on these ships are scared. A cue like "Nightfall Dangers" is almost comical in its Remote Control playbook plundering. As mentioned before, the tension would have been better served with silence. After all, the stealthy silence of submarines was their terrifying trait. The same could be said of the battle sequence, which would have prevailed just as well without any music at all so that realistic sound effects could supply all the exhilaration necessary. The wailing howl for the U-boats may be considered cool by some listeners, as it is certainly unique as a motif, but it becomes this score's main identity as a result and is at times humorously cartoonish. Overall, the digital-only album for Greyhound is horribly long and will test your patience repeatedly. The work isn't as dreadfully inappropriate as Dunkirk in its totally, but much of it suffers from the same inappropriateness. Seek this score for the redemptive "But at What Cost?" closure, an appreciably welcome 10-minute relief after an unnecessary barrage of overabundant, distracting, and poorly conceived noise.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 76:48