H. Scott Salinas and Jackson Greenberg's score for Cartel Land is released through Lakeshore Records. The movie is a harrowing look at the journeys of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy – the murderous Mexican drug cartels. In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley – a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley – Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border...

H. Scott Salinas and Jackson Greenberg deliver a rather impressive score for Cartel Land. The majority of the music represents a quiet and reflective affair, which given the film's subject matter, only helps to boost the movie's focus.

Listened to outside of the film, the score is still a powerful collection of music in its own right. There's no main, or recurring theme to speak of, but 'La Esposa' houses the most memorable segment of music.

The score is made up of 22 tracks (48 min, 26 sec) and ends with the rather catchy Mexican hip-hop track 'En Las Calles'.

While this soundtrack won't be everyone's cup of tea, there are enough interesting ambient pieces of music to ensure that there's something of interest here for most.

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Darren Rea