Bill Brown, a composer who is best known for his prolific output in video games (Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Undying, Command & Conquer: Generals etc), has written a dark and exciting orchestral score for Jason Connery's action thriller The Devil's Tomb, starring Cuba Gooding Jr, Ray Winstone and Ron Perlman. With the orchestral parts recorded in Prague, the music also also incorporates choral elements, pounding rhythm programming and atmospheric electronics. Providing a rich canvas for the composer, the film called for dark and ambient orchestral textures, driving action and mysterious, quasi-religious material...

Bill Brown's music for The Devil's Tomb is part impressive orchestral score and part background cues, the sort you'd expect to have playing in the background while you play an RPG/strategy game.

The opening track, "The Devil's Tomb Overture" gets off on the right foot. It's one of those tracks that you shouldn't listen to in the car as it makes you want to press the accelerator to the floor.

Highlights for me included:

The aforementioned "The Devil's Tomb Overture", mainly because it's bursting with energy and really gets the heart racing.

"Sandstorm" has a kind of rocking guitar segment that sounds like the sort of music that would have played well in The Matrix. This then goes on to turn into the kind of track that will sound familiar to gamers who play army based games (Call of Duty 4 / Command and Conquer) where there's a feeling of urgency and suspense to the music.

"Afterbirth" builds well to an exciting climax that has elements of Gustav Holst's The Planets suite thrown into the mix.

"The Temple" which has an incredibly slow build to an orchestral climax that leaves you wanting more.

"Resolution" which contains the only really beautiful piece of music in the entire score. Sadly it doesn't go anywhere that exciting.

While this is a good soundtrack to play in the background while you're playing a game, there aren't enough standout tracks to make this an essential purchase.

6

Darren Rea