MP3: Knights of Badassdom (2013)
MP3Score: Very Good
Label: Sparks and Shadows / La-LaLand Records
Released: February 11, 2014
Tracks / Album Length: 17 tracks / (64:00)
Composer: Bear McCreary
Special Notes: n/a
Review:
The combination of folk instruments, a little classical, and chunks of heavy metal make sense in uplifting a tale where a trio of Dungeons and Dragons players conjure real-life danger, but Knights of Badassdom also feels like a natural development for composer Bear McCreary after his Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome (2013) which featured heavy electric guitar and maximum feedback to give the teleplay a youthful, rebellious edge.
Fans of BG and McCreary’s orchestral work may find the integration of veteran heavy metal musicians a little, er, heavier than the composer’s usual action and dramatic writing, but the album does grow on you (although it helps if one has an appreciation for classic metal, and its dynamic combinations of contemplative guitar sections, sudden vocal declarations, and hard drums).
McCreary’s bridge material – some of which is new to give the album better flow – features orchestral passages with Uilleann and small Scottish pipes, and brooding brass and hard percussion (“Slightly Badass”); the best material resides in longer cues such as “The Game Master,” which repeats sections of the score’s journeymen theme.
The contemporary stylistic injections often feature heavy guitar (metal, and a little bluegrass), plus rock drums and dramatic progressions standard to an action film music cue; there’s also three vocal cuts where theme fragments are included within the classic structures of power ballads, head-banding odes, and bad boy guitar riffs.
McCreary’s writing can be characterized as leadened with attitude, muscle, and a sense of humour (especially his collaborations with lyricist / singer Brendan McCreary), and the album’s final cue is an appropriately epic vocal track (over 7 mins.of badassing) with multiple guitarists performing heavy riffs, a fat grungy bass line, some tongue-in-cheek call-and-answer vocals, and a finale featuring folk pipes.
© 2014 Mark R. Hasan
Additional Links:
Composer on IMDB — Composer Filmography — Soundtrack Album
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