About the Soundtrack: "Doomsday" comes to us from Tyler Bates, a controversial composer who actually turned out to be a good choice for this feature. The album was released with 3 non-score tracks attached, none of which hinder the experience. In fact, the 2 song tracks that open the album immediately establish a British punk rock feel to it, adding value to the soundtrack with fitting music. There's a good amount of running time to this disc (over 60 minutes) and the bevy of instruments that are used during the score components are quite interesting to listen to.
What You Need to Know: After I had found out the specific lengths in which Tyler Bates copied music from Elliot Goldenthal's "Titus," I immediately had a knee-jerk reaction to his work. I didn't think I would be able to get into his music again after such a dishonorable, non-creative bit of copycat writing. After all, precise melodies and exact notes were lifted from "Titus" and used in "300" to be passed on as Bates' own. Shame on him and shame on the director too (his movie, his responsibility).
So along comes "Doomsday" and what do ya know...I really dug it.
This soundtrack plays like a blast from the post-apocalyptic past, offering retro sci-fi electronica that seemed to warm my heart for some sick reason. While the action cues, as requested by the director, are mostly orchestral, the surrounding areas of music harkens back to the genre films from the 80s with its musical style. Before all that, however, Bates redeems himself with one, swift stroke and that is by his work on Track 4, "Exodus." Combining melodic, choral moments with a strong dramatic background music, this cue really surprised me by how engaging it was. While the idea that he might have copied it from some obscure source did run through my head for a moment, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and opted just to dive into the music. "Exodus" gets this album going.
"Doomsday" wasn't as bleak as I thought it would be, either. The use of the 80s electronics helped out with that. While there is a considerable amount of tense action music on this album, the music remains accessible unlike most gloom and doom scores, and actually delivers many rousing moments. The only complaint that seeps in is that the flow of music becomes a bit too one dimensional near the latter phase of the album. Had there been more of the flavor that the ""Exodus" track provided, than this really would have been one stellar score.
Final Score: Tyler Bates comes out strong with "Doomsday," merging several musical techniques to produce a score that is original in its own right. Coming after the "300" fiasco and a "Halloween" remake, this type of project is just what he needed to get things moving in another direction. While there will be some who are critical of the churning action cues that make up the tail end of the score, I feel there is enough variations and originality to make this worthy of an investment.
