NOAH - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2014)

People have often mistaken the heart thumping theme used in the trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) as an original composition from the film. Nope, that piece of music (which we have often heard being used in trailers on our national TV) isn’t the “LOTR theme”. Fans of English composer Clint Mansell would tell you, it’s a specially rearranged track from the soundtrack of Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000).

Fourteen years later, Mansell has created another memorable score for Aronofsky’s first blockbuster epic (and for the record, every one of the visionary filmmaker’s works). Like his previous works The Fountain (2006), Moon (2009) and Stoker (2013), the 51 year old composer has again impressed us with another must own score.

The album producers are generous with this CD, including 78 minutes of minutes for film score lovers. Mansell collaborates with American string group The Kronos Quartet to bring listeners on a swirling, brooding epic experience. The album is divided into four sections: Wickedness, Innocence, Judgement and Mercy. Each section is thematic not only by the track titles, but also the mood the talented musician creates to bring us through this tale of darkness, melancholy and hope.

Kicking off the CD is the ominous “In The Beginning, There Was Nothing”, a foreboding tune featuring electronic percussions, keyboards and cellos. Moving on, things get gloomy and forlorn with “The End Of All Flesh Is Before Me”, before “Make Thee An Ark” brings about a rousing tone. Emotions are peaked in “Every Creeping Thing That Creeps”, an almost operatic cue that closes on a stirring finale.   

Things become dark in “By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed”, an action cue that is signature Clint Mansell – full of tension and drama without resorting to repeated electronic beats (a certain Hans Zimmer he is not). Before the somewhat dim “Mercy Is” performed by Patti Smith kicks in, Mansell soothes your senses by calming the storm down with “Day and Night Shall Not Cease”.

By then, you would have been brought on a whirlwind musical journey. While this soundtrack may not go down well after one listen, it is a score album worthy of our highest recommendation because it is rare we get gems like this these days. We’re looking forward to the next Clint Mansell work already. 

ALBUM RATING:

Recommended Track: (8) Every Creeping Thing That Creeps

Review by John Li