Nightbreed

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

I can't say that my hopes were positively strong when I purchased this score, a dark horror soundtrack of Elfman in a time where nothing else than this apparently was offered to him, and I found it for $5. So Nightbreed became another part of my Elfman collection. Normally these scores are way out of my league, with his dark and wacky orchestrations trying to punctuate the horrific and brutal emotions of the movie, and this is after all Clive Barker's creation of a dark breed underground. And in some way does this score listen like many of his other dark creations, like Sleepy Hollow, Beetlejuice and Men in Black. So it offers everything you expect from it, from the first to the last minute. Well, persons that enjoy a score like Sleepy Hollow might find their luck in this one. Nightbreed offers Elfman's typical choir and dark mood, this resembles the style like you would mix Beetlejuice with the choral moments of Edward Scissorhands. But for some apparent reason do they not sound boring or unattractive.

Nightbreed isn't also plain fun in my eyes but it does however sound as something I might enjoy or even appreciate in a very disturbing way. The difficult moments are 'Dream', 'Meat for the Beast', 'Uh-Oh.... Decker' and 'Mayhem in Midian', all have a pounding drum beat and a wacky Elfman score but they aren't horrible like I witnessed in Men in Black. On the other hand, those choral moments do resemble the same magic as heard in MIB. Don't think that Nightbreed is a sensational score and that I love every minute of it, but it receives credit because I expected a far worse score. I remember the movie vividly and it fits with everything the movie is portraying. The end features the country song, with a very appropriate title by the way. I think it is heard in the begin of the movie but it doesn't fit for one moment with everything I heard during the entire score. Well, this score might push my expectations higher then intentionally expected but as a listening attempt it fails consistently. My first impression was rather positive (put that lightly) but after repeated listens I had to think and observe that it fails as interesting material. It might be better then those other scores, it isn't something that I will hear on and on. Fans of Elfman's typical dark approach might try to pick up the copy, considering it's price and mood. It looks like any fan wants Elfman's wacky feeling back and because it hasn't arrived yet, you might want to pick up Nightbreed as a consolation prize.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Titles (2.40)

2. Dream (1.03)

3. Carnival Underground (3.22)

4. Into Midian (2.31)

5. Meat For The Beast (2.09)

6. Resurrection Suite (3.37)

7. Boone Transforms (0.56)

8. The Initiation (2.50)

9. Scalping Time (1.55)

10. Rachel's Oratory (1.03)

11. Party In The Past (0.51)

12. Poor Babette (1.40)

13. Uh-Oh .... Decker (1.38)

14. "Then Don't Say It!" (1.27)

15. Boone Gets A Taste (2.43)

16. Breed Love (1.02)

17. Mayhem In Midian (1.42)

18. Baphomet's Chamber (2.00)

19. Farewell (0.59)

20. 2nd Chance (1.33)

21. End Credits (4.33)

22. Country Skin * (4.17)

* Bonus Track

Total Length: 46.46

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Danny Elfman ===