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Mad Max: Fury Road
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Composed and Produced by:
Orchestrated by:
Emad Borjian Jessica Wells
Additional Music by:
Christian Vorlander
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LABEL & RELEASE DATE
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WaterTower Music
(May 12th, 2015)
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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Both the regular and deluxe albums are commercially available, but the regular edition
was the only one initially available on CD.
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AWARDS
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None.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... if you positively recall the often intense and brutal
score from its placement in the film, its structures appropriately
simplistic and its tone alternating between generic character warmth and
grinding, over-processed rhythmic thrashing.
Avoid it... on the regular, shorter album if you desire some of the
score's best sequences across all of its various emotional appeals, only
the laborious expanded presentation featuring some key cues of
interest.
BUY IT
 | Holkenborg |
Mad Max: Fury Road: (Tom Holkenborg) Enthusiasts of
George Miller's famed post-apocalyptic Mad Max concept endured
decades of teasing about the timing of the fourth installment of the
franchise, the original trilogy from 1979 to 1985 maintaining affection
for its brutal commentary on the capacity for human survival in
Australia's wastelands after a global nuclear war. These Miller films
made a name for themselves with outlandish violence often centered
around awesome vehicular chase sequences and maniacal villains. The
final of the original three films made the concept of "Thunderdome" so
common that it is forever a part of pop culture lexicon. It was Miller's
intent to produce the fourth "Mad Max" film in the 1990's, and although
he came very close to actually accomplishing that, a series of events in
the early 2000's, from terrorism to economic conditions, conspired to
perpetually delay his progress. Also a complicating factor by that point
was lead actor Mel Gibson, who was always set to return but became
ostracized from the industry (and unmarketable) because of his
distasteful personal conduct. When production on Mad Max: Fury
Road finally got off the ground in the early 2010's, Miller had
replaced Gibson with Tom Hardy and the chase was once again on. The plot
of the 2015 picture is somewhat redundant with the previous films,
gasoline and human capital the most coveted items in the bleak future
world and former police office Max Rockatansky, notoriously a man of few
words, finding himself caught in the middle of society's worst
infighting. Critical reception to Mad Max: Fury Road was
remarkably positive, and buoyed by significant box office returns,
Miller was compelled to immediately launch work on a fifth franchise
entry. The music for these pictures has typically been more classically
oriented than one might expect, Brian May's contributions to the first
two films leading to a surprisingly romantic follow-up by Maurice Jarre
for the landscape and sense of hope in Mad Max Beyond
Thunderdome. The assignment for Mad Max: Fury Road has
twisted in the wind just as much as the production as a whole, both John
Powell and Marco Beltrami at some point during its evolution attached to
write the music. (Beltrami in particular was a choice that really piqued
the interest of the film score world.) After hearing Tom Holkenborg's
score for 300: Rise of an Empire, though, Miller oddly selected
the Dutch musician for Mad Max: Fury Road.
Known by his stage name of "Junkie XL," Holkenborg was
introduced to film music by Hans Zimmer, who has used his influence to
guide him to several solo projects in the 2010's. It's never a surprise
when you encounter a Zimmer collaborator who branches off and, to some
degree, emulates the original Zimmer "sound" in his own works. Such was
the origin of the term "Zimmer clone." In Holkenborg's case, you can
hear the Remote Control production element and personal Zimmer musical
methodology all over his recordings, and it's rather shamelessly done.
No matter the emotional response an artist like Holkenborg is attempting
to create, you hear some vestige of Zimmer (or those who inspired
Zimmer, such as Ennio Morricone) in the end result. Holkenborg's music
for Mad Max: Fury Road is a prototypical Remote Control/Hans
Zimmer score, with very simplistic thematic development, an emphasis on
pounding rhythmic force, extreme favoring of a bass-heavy, sometimes
distorted mix, occasional choral majesty with or without a brass power
anthem, repetitive droning and pounding on key, and token melodic
interludes without much attempt at sincere gravity beyond pleasant
string meanderings. As has been written before and will be written
again, any number of Zimmer clones could arrange this music adequately;
it's almost relegated the musical presence to a mathematical equation or
formula that simply needs the proper variable adjustments to be made in
order to earn the paycheck and claim to someone in the media that the
resulting music is "revolutionary." Of course, it isn't revolutionary.
But it is, in some instances, quite effective, and that's the case with
Mad Max: Fury Road. In many ways, this primordial, basic approach
to this franchise is the more natural fit for it, the musical element on
screen often as brutal as that heard in this score. With depictions of
flaming guitars and percussion in an oddly nightmarish environment on
screen, one cannot blame Miller for taking the Remote Control route. An
emphasis on basic repetitive structures and driving percussion is
precisely the order of the day here, so one cannot fault Holkenborg for
generating music that speaks to the worst of audience blockbuster
expectations. The obliging of those norms is so shameless, however, that
you really do have to separate the music's purpose from a pair of album
presentations that very clearly expose the lack of significant
intelligence behind it, regardless of the layers of instrumental fury
that Holkenborg has attempted to generate during the action
sequences.
Instrumentally, the diversity of Mad Max: Fury
Road is deceptive because the various elements at work in the score,
from the electric guitar rips and synthetic manipulation to the brass
and choral power anthems and soft string character interludes, never
satisfyingly mingle. The score almost sounds as though several different
composers wrote it without consulting with each other. The primordial
chase sequences are the effective but most obnoxious portions, at times
grinding with such sonic assault that they are totally insufferable on
album. More palatable to the ears will be times when Holkenborg actually
elaborates on one of the several themes and motifs he conjures for the
score, mainly those for the brass to unleash in more harmonically
satisfying performances. Look for the best of these to inhabit cues like
"Storm is Coming," "Brothers in Arms," and "Chapter Doof" (though each
of these cues has some atrocious portions that can be challenging to sit
through as well). Finally, the soft string portions for the female
characters (and Max) occupy a major portion of the work, and while they
are comparatively easy listing, it's truly disappointing that none of
the styles of dystopia managed to impress upon those sequences. Outside
of those strings, all the other portions of this score are very heavily
manhandled in the post-production process, the mixing process definitely
not kind to the original recordings. The harshness of atmosphere, along
with the sound effects, is not necessary in the dose applied here. If
anything, a balance of brute survival and romantic appeal was merited.
Instead, the score simply degenerates into pure noise at times, the
repeating notes blasting away on key likely to induce eye rolls from
Zimmer-weary listeners. Still, this music is certainly sufficient for
the film's purposes and one has to acknowledge that Holkenborg didn't
need to re-invent the wheel for this assignment. The album situation is
unforgivable, however, not just because of the ridiculously overt
dichotomy between the action and character sequences, but because of the
Watertower Music releases of the soundtrack. As expected, there is a
regular and an expanded edition of the score, but rather than placing
all the score's highlights on the regular edition, a number of pertinent
cues of value are placed only on the expanded product. No listener
should be subjected to over two hours of music from Mad Max: Fury
Road just to collect these highlights, especially with the
redundancy factor figured into the product. In the end, Holkenborg has
succeeded at the task but has produced a score that fails to transcend
past expectations for any Remote Control-influenced project, and the
album situation remains as disgusting here as it is with equivalents
from Zimmer himself. Approach with caution and seek the power anthem
highlights.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Film: ***
- Music as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: **
Bias Check: |
For Tom Holkenborg reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.16
(in 19 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.49
(in 6,119 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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Regular Edition Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 71:00 |
1. Survive (1:30)
2. Escape (2:14)
3. Immortan's Citadel (8:41)
4. Blood Bag (2:30)
5. Spikey Cars (3:11)
6. Storm is Coming (5:36)
7. We Are Not Things (1:37)
8. Water (3:15)
9. The Rig (4:13)
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10. Brothers in Arms (4:22)
11. The Bog (6:58)
12. Redemption (1:45)
13. Many Mothers (5:15)
14. Claw Trucks (5:31)
15. Chapter Doof (7:04)
16. My Name is Max (4:43)
17. Let Them Up (2:36)
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Deluxe Edition Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 126:16 |
1. Survive (Extended) (1:40)
2. Escape (Extended) (3:28)
3. Immortan's Citadel (Extended) (8:58)
4. Blood Bag (Extended) (3:39)
5. Buzzards Arrive (Bonus) (1:26)
6. Spikey Cars (Extended) (4:08)
7. Storm is Coming (Extended) (6:16)
8. We Are Not Things (Extended) (1:42)
9. Water (Extended) (6:25)
10. The Rig (Extended) (6:31)
11. Into the Canyon (Bonus) (2:49)
12. Brothers in Arms (Extended) (5:52)
13. The Chase (Bonus) (3:16)
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14. Moving On (Bonus) (1:56)
15. The Bog (Extended) (12:32)
16. Redemption (1:45)
17. Many Mothers (Extended) (8:58)
18. The Return to Nowhere (Bonus) (5:17)
19. Claw Trucks (Extended) (5:43)
20. Immortan (Bonus) (11:10)
21. Chapter Doof (Edit) (6:49)
22. Walhalla Awaits (Bonus) (2:40)
23. My Name is Max (Edit) (2:23)
24. Let Them Up (2:36)
25. Mary Jo Bassa (Bonus) (2:26)
26. Coda (Bonus) (4:43)
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The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about the score or film.
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