Battlefield Earth (Soundtrack)

Description

Product description CD: Elia Cmiral,Battlefield Earth (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) .co.uk The bad guys in L. Ron Hubbard's sci-fi opera are deemed to be a pretty dim, unsavoury bunch--certainly by composer Elia Cmiral, as evidenced by his depiction of their preferred listening in "Psychlos Top 40". This electronic insanity leads nowhere, yet should at least intrigue the ear by the extent to which Cmiral has personally taken on board the chore of programming. Throughout the score there are a number of finely integrated samples and effects, which together with some ethnic instrumentation in the orchestra is emblematic of the human survivors fighting the Psychlos. It's a big, loud movie, and the score delivers in kind. What's pleasingly absent is any form of patriotic anthem, since one would have been misplaced. The album's last third is a never-ending series of crescendos that breach one acoustic plateau after another (eg the breakneck "Dome Explodes" with tongue-in-cheek brass de-crescendos). Subtle it ain't--just like them pesky Psychlos.--Paul Tonks