Lakeshore Records and Sparks & Shadows release the first soundtrack featuring EMMY award-winning composer Bear McCreary’s original score for AMC’s The Walking Dead. For this long-awaited release, McCreary selected both his personal favourites from the first seven seasons, along with those most frequently requested by fans...

I have issues with this release... and being both a soundtrack and The Walking Dead nerd, it's quite a big axe to grind. Firstly, while other TV shows get a volume of music per season why on earth are fans offered just one album for The Walking Dead's first seven seasons? And to make matters worse (and in my mind, inexcusable) why the hell isn't the music from the closing monologue scene of season seven included? This is easily one of the most impressive segments of music Bear McCreary has composed for the show. In fact I managed to download and convert the music and dialogue from that sequence and tacked it onto the end of the album and it really rounds the score of incredibly well.

The music on The Walking Dead works best when melancholic themes are overlayed against the sadness and the horror of the show. Who can honestly say that they were not moved to tears when they witnessed that moment in season two, when Hershel's barn doors are forced open by Dwayne and the dead started spilling out? Or how about Maggie's voice over, at the end of season seven, as she tells Rick how Glenn's act of kindness, saving Rick's life, brought them all to this point...

Thankfully the music chosen here mainly represents those melancholic moments, with a few suspense and action themes thrown in for good measure. While I enjoyed this album, I didn't find it quite as engaging or moving as his much finer work in a similar vein on both the Defiance TV series and original video game.

Of this album's 23 tracks (1 hr, 14 min, 05 sec), personal highlights include 'Theme from The Walking Dead'; 'Rick's Despair'; 'Message to Morgan'; 'Sophia'; 'Eulogy'; 'Carl'; the second half of 'Farm Invasion'; 'Beside the Dying Fire'; 'A Return to Compassion'; 'Reconciliation'; and 'The Day Will Come'. Oh, and I could probably have done without 'Bye, Baby Bunting'.

The biggest disappointment is that there has not been an album release per season. And while it's an above average collection, I was expecting much more from one of my favourite composers of late.

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Darren Rea