The sleeve notes tell me that this is the first time a woman has scored a Godzilla movie, but judging by this music gender is irrelevant. What we get is what we might expect. Brawny brass and string militaristic scoring. In other words, battle music.
Right from the opening ‘Fateful Confrontation’, insistent percussion with forbidding, majestic brass takes centre stage and this stalwart piece plays a major role in the overall score, while ironically the brief ‘Main Title’ is nothing more than a snatch of a introductory fanfare. Apart from the ‘Fateful Confrontation’ motif (heard on ‘G-Proximity’, ‘The Street Becomes a Lake’, ‘Godzilla Vs. Griffon’ and ‘Ending Theme’) there are two other main pieces that carry the score along at breakneck speed. The first is introduced in sedate, almost regal manner on ‘Operation Area’ and this becomes the adventurous ‘Griffon Sallies Forth’, a big, war-like interpretation and later ‘Kiriko’s Decision’, where it’s unequivocally heroic and high-spirited, before calming and growing almost serene on ‘It’s All Over’. Finally there are four consecutive tracks that feature the same frantic action music with a new string theme (it might have been wiser to break them up a little); ‘The Ultimate Battle Appearance’, ‘Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus’, ‘Suicidal Counterattack’ and ‘Earth’s Greatest Deathmatch’. In fact this piece has a distinct Thunderbirds rhythm about it! And anyone who is familiar with Gerry Anderson’s puppet classic will appreciation this and other cues which call to mind Barry Gray’s distinctive musical style (‘The Ominous Gigantic Egg’ is another good example).
There’s also some bonus material: original Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube’s ‘The Fury of Godzilla’ (brief, but with a strong melody) and ‘The Decision of Godzilla’(laboured brass), apparently used as alternative end themes for the film. Plus six Godzilla sound effects ranging from roars to a high frequency wave!!
If I said this sounded like a 1970s sci-fi TV score that may seem derogatory, but this would be fun, quality television music with plenty of charm. And while it’s never going to be top of anyone’s film score list, it unquestionably does its job competently, is rarely dull (allowing for some repetition) and occasionally gets the pulse racing a little faster.
Mark Hockley
OST
