Ade Fenton and Tim Slade's original score for In the Company of Kings is released via Silva Screen Records. The feature documentary follows a fight fan’s unforgettable journey into the dark heart of American boxing to talk to eight former world champions and those closest to his hero Muhammad Ali. The film was initiated and inspired by a brutal and racially motivated attack, an attack that left the film’s producer Robert Douglas, half-blinded and suffering from PTSD after two racist thugs stabbed him in the eye on the ‘rough assed’ streets of Liverpool, England. In the Company of Kings is a direct response to that attack...

The score for In the Company of Kings contains 19 tracks (52 min, 01 sec). It's an electronic score that houses a lot of engaging themes, but as a whole it's more a soundscape that adds a backdrop to the movie. I found it challenging to listen to on its own merits. Thematically interesting, there was little that hooked me enough to warrant returning after the initial playthrough.

Discussing the project, composers Ade Fenton and Tim Slade said: "We knew of course that the dark electronic style of a lot of our previous work would not suit the tone of some of this film, so Tim played a lot of cello and double bass to give the score an organic texture for the more emotional scenes. I think we were able to combine this naturally with the slightly darker tones of the scenes set in Philadelphia, for example, as well as some of the more harrowing conversations about the Ali v Holmes fight and its subsequent effects. Thankfully, Steve agreed that this approach worked and as he was liking pretty much everything we were sending him, once this theme had been established, the music came naturally."

While technically spot on for the project it was composed for, it doesn't quite work so well as a standalone album. One for fans of the movie and those who love electronic music with a jazz-based feel.

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Darren Rea