{"id":6050,"date":"2013-01-17T10:46:21","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T15:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6050"},"modified":"2013-01-17T11:07:22","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T16:07:22","slug":"mp3-hansel-and-gretel-witch-hunters-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6050","title":{"rendered":"MP3: Hansel and Gretel – Witch Hunters (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>H<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: Atli \u00d6rvarsson\/ Released: January 22, 2013<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 15 tracks \/ (51:52)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: Digital Album available via online retailers.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Atli \u00d6rvarsson<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

After scoring a set of period films \u2013 Season of the Witch <\/strong>(2011), and The Eagle<\/a> <\/strong>[M<\/a>]<\/strong> <\/strong>(2011) – Atli \u00d6rvarsson\u2019s latest work somewhat revisits the world of grungy village life upset by primal threats, and the titular children in the Brothers Grimm fable Hansel and Gretel are now bounty hunters vengefully pursuing nasty witches.<\/p>\n

Much of the opening cue pays homage to the film\u2019s rustic folk setting, plus a slight nod to Danny Elfman\u2019s own blend of rhythms and churning strings which are innately child-like. It\u2019s a link that\u2019s important to the story\u2019s roots in the Grimm\u2019s creepy kiddie mythology, but to contemporize the film \u00d6rvarsson adds a heavy metal guitar, rock rhythms, and periodic orchestral sweeps with heavy brass and strings.<\/p>\n

Both the main theme\u2019s child-like harmony (at its most ethereal in \u201cAugsburg Burns\u201d) and use of female vocals cover the film\u2019s period setting, whereas the grungy electric chords and distortion allow \u00d6rvarsson to bring in contemporary drums. There are specific moments when action cues are propelled by a rapping Celtic drum, and in \u201cLost Children Crying, Vol. 2\u201d there some nice layering between folk percussion, orchestral and electronic sounds, and bass pulses which saturate and recede in treacly sonic globs.<\/p>\n

The album has a solid progression from theme statements to aggressive, doom-laden cues which shore up the inevitable confrontation between the titular bounty hunters and nefarious witches that are spoiling village peace. The score\u2019s engineering features contemporary sonic gestures \u2013 grungy electric chords, distortion, and warbling tones \u2013 which are seamlessly blended with orchestral elements and increasingly bizarre vocal effects. (\u00d6rvarsson sort of pinches and warps the female voices like an electric guitar string.)<\/p>\n

While ostensibly an action score with light folk and liturgical elements, Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters<\/strong> is a fairly solid, atmospheric work, and perhaps the only flaw is the final track which merely quotes all the main thematic and action components, but doesn\u2019t really provide a wholly definitive musical statement.<\/p>\n

A podcast interview<\/a> with the composer is also available.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0SAE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0H<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ H . Rating: Very Good Label: Atli \u00d6rvarsson\/ Released: January 22, 2013 Tracks & Album Length: 15 tracks \/ (51:52) . Special Notes: Digital Album available via online retailers. . Composer: Atli \u00d6rvarsson . . Review: After scoring a set of period films \u2013 Season of the Witch (2011), and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[453,1805],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1zA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6050"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6059,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050\/revisions\/6059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}