Heart of Darkness (Video Game Score)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

According to sources, this was the first time a video game received an orchestral form of musical guidance. And this of course makes it interesting to digest the original score by choice at hand Bruce Broughton. He isn't exactly my pick directly for a video game but neither were composers Lennie Moore and Michael Giacchino, and you know how they turned out. Heart of Darkness isn't however another Medal of Honor or Outcast because Bruce Broughton's scoring is seriously different. Even though John Williams' sounding like, it is more the Williams of playful pieces or of the furious rather up tempo sounding parts. And this is exactly what this score sounds like. Unlike Medal of Honor, Heart of Darkness is a serious listen and at times the furious brass playing is immense to simply cope. This altogether makes the listen not that rewarding as it first may seem but at least moments make it worth digesting instead. There is a theme that sounds pretty good and the secondary theme is a direct descendant of the sand people music of Star Wars, and this is where the more playful John Williams comes to the foreground. And all between that is Lost in Space like fury in orchestral riveting form at times.

The score released by Intrada and consisting of 35 minutes of music doesn't wait long in giving the orchestra a work out. The first track is already bingo even though it might be one of the few melodic pieces to listen to. 'Main Title' brings horns to the start and a fanfare of extreme proportions but the main theme is saved for the second track. In 'Andy's Mission' it first appears very light through flutes but after minutes of furious brass playing it receives a serious flying sensation through strings and here you start to love the rather playful and great main theme of the score. And this main theme is repeated much, though in variations. There is another theme to be found on the score and this one is a serious distant away from the orchestral heroic playfulness of the central theme. First appearing in track 3 but under a different form, it is the tuba and wood blocks (I think they are wood blocks) that it appears in 'Andy's Friend'. As I read somewhere, it supposed to be a theme for the Friends characters and just as it supposed to sound like, they bounce from left to right as the Sand people sometimes did on tuba in Star Wars. As other listens confirmed, Broughton has a bit of Williams inside of him and 'Back to the Lair' is more proof of that, when the first seconds state almost a replica of the Sand planet's music of Star Wars, before furious brass create an ending for the main theme version.

One of the more riveting tracks of the disc is 'Meteor Destroyed' because the begin thunders on tempo when stating the main theme and 'Andy's Victory' is no different in creating pure orchestral carnage at times, yet it makes an impression all right. And 'End Credits' is a welcome suite with all the themes, starting with the furious tempo of track 8, the main theme and the friends theme (which reminds me of Treebeard's theme of The Two Towers now and forever will) and even other tiny motifs return to form a cohesive whole. When Heart of Darkness is good in things, it is also bad in others. The at times furious and not cohesive sounding package can work to create an impression yet at the same time form not exactly melodic music. The score is in this stadium also close to Williams since lately that is more the case with Williams as it was before (still quite different from Broughton's music). For the time, Heart of Darkness was a massive achievement and a booming score such as this must have sounded differently as it would sound today, with so much great sounding game scores being released right now. Broughton's effort is commendable and listens unlike Medal of Honor more like a film score, in that it feels like supporting a direct line in the story. That the music at times takes animated pace and playful standards works to the advantage of its intriguing different game sound.

\ЕЕЕ/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (1.48)

2. Andy's Mission (4.45)

3. Big Mistake (2.29)

4. Andy's Friend (1.43)

5. Space Island (5.43)

6. Vicious Servant (0.38)

7. Back To The Lair (1.46)

8. Meteor Destroyed (1.53)

9. The Plot (0.54)

10. Andy's Victory (4.51)

11. End Credits (8.19)

Total Length: 35.18

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Bruce Broughton ===