From Hell

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Trevor Jones as a composer has proven the last few years a thing or two. Not only did he score movies with a big orchestral tone, but he also scored movies that contained a human aspect, no matter if they were dark or positive. From Hell is his latest creation and things couldn't prove this more than good. If you want dark scores, then From Hell is your ticket. Of course, dark in a way is all fine if you see it in the movie, but on disc, this effort must also compel for a satisfying if intriguing listening experience. Not a hair on my head proves me otherwise that the score is a masterpiece in expression and mood, but this also makes that the score needs its time to make the effort also in a way enjoyable. From Hell has all the makings of a score doing so but this running length isn't doing the score any good. I'm becoming a person against long soundtracks, not any score has problems with this but a score like From Hell, in any possibility needs then variety (which is missing the more the score progresses) and stimulating music (isn't here because the music needs to set the mood). I was afraid of this and I was right, Trevor Jones as a composer can bring underscore that compels and sooths but too much and the trick of magic is gone, From Hell does just that.

If you skip the familiar shit song of the year of Marilyn Manson, you will at least start the score with a good and strong feeling. 'In Memoriam' is one of the best tracks on the score. It not only captures the mood in an instant but it also brings the best out of the tension / mood music. It combines together with the occasional choir a feeling of dark building danger, especially the more menacing choir reminds the listener easily of Bram Stoker's Dracula and it becomes at the end quite interesting when the choir starts to pick up steam, dark steam that is. Also during this track, the sole theme is heard. This theme (which is the love theme) is quite beautiful in its dark way and picks up several ideas and notions of the theme of Thirteen Days, but on the other hand it barely receives the majesty it received in that release. This love theme is best heard during two tracks, 'Portrait of a Princess' were it concludes the score with a nice version and 'Pennies for the Ferryman' which is a summarization of the ideas of the score. But what I was expecting, being one of Trevor Jones' trademarks is sadly missing. He has a fierce style when it comes down to powerful tension moments (Thirteen Days, Dark City, The Mighty, Merlin and others) can prove this ample and the closest we are getting this is with 'Death Coach' but it doesn't reach by far this standard of exhilarating punch. This is sad because this also means that the score hardly shifts tone, making the underscore after a time a bit exhausting to notice.

More, From Hell on those occasions needs the themes to make the score again interesting and that single theme is only noted very briefly, so the most part you are either losing your interest or at other times feeling a heavy burden. Of course, don't tell me that the burden you are feeling is unwelcome because this is exactly what this score needed to do. But it also makes sure that the listening experience is a heavy one to begin with. Finally, what to remember yet is the occasional vintage thought behind the recording, like the old gramophone music that starts 'The Compass and the Ruler' but suddenly mixes itself flawlessly into stereo sound, capturing the flow of the time really well and the last track is the exact same old gramophone tone, but this time it stays like this for three minutes, which makes it forgettable. From Hell as a score written for a movie is a near perfect match, a score that needs the movie to give it the satisfaction and the movie can't breath without it because it needs the mood, tension and burden it carries with it. In this case, Trevor Jones more than easily wrote a masterpiece, because not a lot of soundtracks can carry you so deeply into the mind of the character itself. But as a listen, an experience to capture on disc, From Hell is exhausting and at times forgettable, just because the time makes the underscore tiring and more boring after a while. In that point, I enjoyed equal long efforts like Thirteen Days and Merlin much, much more. This is a perfectly written score for a movie, but it makes one hell of a difficult listen on CD.

\ตต1/2/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. The Nobodies: Marilyn Manson (4.58)

2. In Memoriam (7.03)

3. Royal Connections (5.08)

4. A Spring Of Red Grapes (5.12)

5. Whitechapel Murders (7.23)

6. Chasing The Dragon (7.39)

7. Portrait Of A Princess (6.45)

8. The Compass And The Ruler (6.06)

9. Marylebone Workhouse (3.51)

10. Investigation (4.13)

11. Death Coach (3.56)

12. Pennies For The Ferryman (6.22)

13. Bow Belle (Absinthium) (3.08)

Total Length: 72.24

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=== Link to Composer Site: Trevor Jones ===