MovieScore Media release Shaun Drew's score for The Vault. The movie is a heist thriller which follows an assisting bank manager who manages to get caught up helping two estranged sisters pull off the perfect heist in order to save their brother. It's soon revealed that there are otherworldly forces involved, as the siblings battle forces way beyond their imagination...

I wasn't overly looking forward to reviewing this score after I read the press information that claimed that it mixed the "minimalist synth sounds of John Carpenter with the orchestral mayhem of The Shining". To me, that sounds like sheer hell. Thankfully it's not quite as described, but it is certainly a minimalist synth score.

You can't fault composer Shaun Drew for what he delivers here. You can hear the tension and he creates an incredible atmosphere ('Make it Stop' is particularly haunting and summons up all kinds of creepy imagery). But, while I have no doubt that it is essential as a backdrop for the movie, it just feels a little soulless when listened to in isolation.

For some strange reason the opening track was missing from our review version. It may have contained a fantastic, rousing score... who knows?

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Darren Rea