A suffocating soundtrack, but one that suits its movie’s air of oppression.
It’s been said elsewhere in the press that the second soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to accompany a David Fincher film is rather less impressive than the pair’s multi-award-winning score for The Social Network. But such critique stemmed not from hearing this three-disc, 173-minute offering exclusive of its parent picture; instead from experiencing it as last year’s American version of the 2009 Swedish hit – itself an adaptation of the late Stieg Larsson’s best-selling novel, published posthumously in 2005 – rolled at the cinema. What these arrangements might subjectively lack when matched to on-screen action is rendered moot as its electronic throbs, washes of eerie noise and ghostly drones take hold. At such a length it’s nearly impossible to remain focused on throughout; instead, it paints whatever else distracts the attentions several shades of grey.
Within a track like An Itch lurks myriad catchy electronic motifs, but each is half-choked by an overpowering atmosphere of dread which well matches the oppression apparent in the movie adaptation(s). These films are uncomfortable watches, the camera lingering on scenes of tremendous physical and psychological terror for those few moments too long. Reznor and Ross complement these visceral scenes with music of disquieting design, many of these 39 compositions (two of which are ‘traditional’ pop arrangements – a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song opening disc one, and How to Destroy Angels’ reworking of Bryan Ferry’s Is Your Love Strong Enough bringing the third disc to a close) creeping about the senses like an evil mist, shrouding hooks that dig deep and linger long.
Lees de rest van deze review op BBC CD recensies (Engels)
Bron: BBC Music