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All of the first four Resident Evil films have received music from a different composer, and Nine Inch Nails keyboardist and producer Charlie Clouser had the honor of bestowing his own brand of sorry noise upon the concept. He replaced Jeff Danna, who to date has offered probably the most sophisticated music (for Resident Evil: Apocalypse) and was himself replaced in 2010 by "Tomandandy." For Clouser, Resident Evil: Extinction represented his most high profile cinematic assignment outside of his work on the Saw franchise, for which he received the recognition necessary to propel him on to a career consisting of mostly low budget television series music. Like his other scores, Resident Evil: Extinction is an exhibit of Clouser attempting to merge his rock sensibilities with established industrial metal techniques in the film score world, borrowing most heavily from Paul Haslinger. The ensemble consists of himself and two guests on electric guitars, so expect the usual, generic kind of synthetically rendered filler material. In context, everything about this bass-dwelling series of pounding loops and grinding sound effects is of sufficient brain power. There's very little, outside of a vague keyboarded theme of relief here and there, to inspire feelings of hope. Harmony is definitely not on the menu, not even the gloriously wicked, minor-key variety. Clouser does reference Marilyn Manson's theme from the original film, a skittish, descending figure heard mostly at the start of several early cues and appropriately mechanical in its movement. No clear beginning, middle, or end exist in this music; there is absolutely no narrative to be gleaned from it. Clouser's ability to produce irritatingly retro synthetic tones on his keyboards, along with the necessary manipulation of samples, reminds of Brad Fiedel's less inspired music. The backwards edits, pitch slurring, and outright dissonant metallic effects are tired, pointless echoes of the techniques of yesteryear, and it's amazing that people like Clouser are actually retained by studios to continue pumping out this trash for decent paychecks. The only hint of creative programming comes during the bird attack sequence, during which the expected sound of flapping of wings is turned into an instrument of horror. On album, the score is divided into a whopping 34 short cues, and this 64 minutes of material drags on and on without respite. Several times during that hour, you'll find yourself jiggling the connection between your headphones and your music player to make sure there isn't some loose metal causing the awful sound emitted into your ears.  *   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 64:00