About the Soundtrack: "30 Days of Night" is film that offers an interesting premise as far as Vampires go.  The story takes place in Alaska and is set during the month where the sun goes unseen for 30 days, hence the title.  Assuming the composing task for the picture is Brian Reitzell, who embraced the spirit of the movie by calling upon a bevy of unusual and interesting sound concoctions to create an unsettling score.  The soundtrack is comprised of 17 tracks, offers a decent running time in total and concludes with both an 'Overture' and an 'Underture.'

 

What You Need to Know: For the life of me, I find it unbelievable that an audience for horror soundtracks actually exists.  My intention is not to offend, but the type of sound design and underscore that goes into these releases don't really add up to a traditional listening experience.  As it is with this score, the majority of it is comprised of cues that are disturbing and dark, relying on unsettling sounds to create a canvas of evil.  While this is tough to get into from a soundtrack perspective, it's an objective that serves the viewing experience well.

 

Reitzell took a creative approach in how he created the imposing atmosphere of this score. By using non-instrumental tools to enhance the impact of the music (such as a pottery wheel), the resulting sound is very raw with real world textures.  While the outcome was a success, as far as its use in the film, the experience of listening to it, well, leaves one in the dark.  The few moments of excitement that are generated is when the score is at its most raw and primal peaks, using a driving, urgent percussion ('Muffin Muncher') that gets the adrenaline flowing.  It felt as though I, myself, was being pursued by some vamps during moments like these.  There are also moments of what I will call 'outbursts' that prove to be quite startling (in a positive sense) during the soundtrack, which breaks away from the traditional and often overused orchestral crashes that occur in these types scores.

 

Final Grade: Though it is a bit unfair for me to say so, I can't recommend this album.  It's not because the composer wasn't successful in setting out to do his job, because he was effective -- it's just that it's very difficult to gain any satisfaction by listening to this type of music on its own.  I think scores like these are best served for everyone involved by simply enjoying the material in its proper context, which is during the film itself. 

 

Peaking into the future, I look forward to seeing where Reitzell might apply his creative techniques to next because he is clearly talented and seems to have an interest in working 'outside the box.'  Such a combination is bound to lead to success.