Army of Darkness

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Whenever someone combines Sam Raimi and horror together, you get Evil Dead. These are the most insane, wacky, gruesome horror flicks with super fast editing and camera movements you can ever find on the market, which also makes them so popular and fun amongst the fans. Joseph LoDuca is thereby no stranger to the fans equally, since he was on board from the first sign of these cult classics. In 1982, it was the first motion picture he scored and in 1987 he was back to the sequel Evil Dead 2. Perhaps you couldn't notice it when you read the biography of both Raimi and LoDuca, but there was a third Evil Dead horror picture yet carefully receiving a different title to give the audience a not so careful idea of the horror that was Evil Dead, but more the fun that was Army of Darkness. This is the latest in the trilogy and stars again Bruce Campbell as Ash, the man with the not so clever comments and machine or chainsaw as right hand, this time fighting his way against stop motion skeletons of the dead in the past, when Excalibur and Merlin where reality and myth together. This movie was equally scored by LoDuca, yet given a different feel due to Danny Elfman's March of the Dead theme. It might not mean much to you, but I consider LoDuca's own theme to be much better then Elfman's one, since it is that theme that makes it that fun overall.

First of all, Varèse Sarabande was at the time not releasing grand releases, so a 50 minute presentation is most welcome considering the short soundtracks of the time. Probably due to the orchestra and choir, namely The Seattle Symphony, it therefore at times listens a bit like either Warriors of Virtue or Beastmaster 2 (both scored by other orchestras however), but the closest is a mix between Warlock 2, his own Hercules adventures and a dark sense of Elfman in the mix. This choir there links itself with the demonic chants of McKenzie's Warlock score from the first track 'Prologue', a wonderful demonic piece with choral outbursts. Yet it is as said the theme of LoDuca which makes Army of Darkness cool, I simply downloaded the poor quality trailer of Cutthroat Island to hear it, and it made the trailer there great since it captures a bit of the heroism and adventurous spirit of a pirate classic, it is so fun to hear. 'Building the DeathCoaster' could totally benefit from a better orchestral performance and a choir (not containing one here) and easily this sole theme and track would become a classic amongst any film music fan (I'm not kidding). The sole problem I have with it is the occasional lack of power coming of the orchestral performance, yet the orchestra doesn't do a bad job at all making it so fun. It also appears further into the score ('The DeathCoaster' faster here like something out of Cutthroat Island), as in 'Manly Men' and the 'End Titles', being a wonderful combination of tracks.

The theme of Elfman which is a typical dark menacing brass laden march is fine by me and receives air time in its concert suite ('March of the Dead') as additional tracks underscoring LoDuca's effort. The way it underscores the pace in 'The DeathCoaster' is neatly done and appears further near the end of the score equally, when the skeletons also appear on the film, like in 'Skeletor'. There is also a brief sign of love with the expected flute and light theme in 'Give me Some Sugar / Bone'anza' and in 'Manly Men', some further use of the demonic and epic choir ('The Forest of the Dead / Graveyard') even whispering on occasions some scary lyrics and what I expected from the begin, even complete insane music is spotted for when big Ash receives company of several little Ashes, heard during tracks 4, 5 and 6. These are not the finest of the album and actually it lasts until track 10 to 11 when the listen gets back on track, even totally better until Elfman's march appears in 13. This is of course typical, Army of Darkness captures good moments but also these tracks where you lose focus, perhaps to the (Elfman) way of scoring, with bombast and melody so wrapped into each other that it becomes simply too much to handle. Yet the own thematic material of LoDuca isn't bad and the choral use as the thematic ideas are at times riveting. He sets a perfect mood for the era and just as Ash does in the film, he kicks some but with his boomstick. Whether the boomstick of Bruce Campbell in the film as Joseph LoDuca's one are the same is still a mystery.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Prologue (2.58)

2. Building The DeathCoaster (1.56) Excellent Track

3. Give Me Some Sugar / Bone'anza (2.00)

4. Time Traveler (2.42)

5. Ash Splits (2.19)

6. Little Ashes (2.43)

7. Ash In Chains (3.03)

8. Night Court (1.41)

9. The Forest Of The Dead / Graveyard (2.51)

10. The Pit (2.06)

11. God Save Us (1.31)

12. Foul Thing (1.10)

13. March Of The Dead * (3.54)

14. Whites Of Their Skulls (1.37)

15. The DeathCoaster (2.03)

16. On The Parapet (2.44)

17. Ash Bucklers (2.33)

18. Skeletor (1.56)

19. Soul Swallower (0.48)

20. Manly Men (1.52)

21. End Titles (5.27) Excellent Track

* Composed by Danny Elfman

Total Length: 50.37

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