James L. VENABLE
Iron Monkey
OST
A solid enough job of work with much familiar sounding far eastern instrumentation (via synthesizers) and an abundance of low-key atmospherics, as heard on the opening track 'Main Title/Iron Monkey on the Roof'. And from here on it continues in much the same vein coupled with plenty of percussive action/suspense music; 'Dead Bird/Iron Monkey Fight', 'Wong Fights Iron Monkey', 'Fei-Hong's Fight/Fei-Hong Fights Again' etc. etc., while the melancholy 'Sad Wong' and 'Who's That Knocking/Tearful Goodbye' add some much needed diversity.
A reasonably effective score with an attractive Asian edge that only occasionally becomes predictable or tiresome and has just enough charm and energy to keep the listener relatively entertained. However, it would have greatly benefited from some kind of central theme, something a little more heroic perhaps and a good deal of the music is really no more than an exercise in sequenced rhythmics, which at times is rather repetitive.
Not great by any means but probably just about worth investigating, particularly if you're a fan of this genre (which I certainly am!).
Mark Hockley
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