Soul of the Ultimate Nation (2006)
Soul of the Ultimate Nation (2006) marks Howard Shore's first venture into the burgeoning world of game scoring. The release of the CD in 2006 gave fans a chance to hear him expand on the epic flavour of his scores for the The Lord of the Rings (LotR) trilogy and experiment with some unusual instrumentation and rhythms.
Contents
The game Soul of the Ulimate Nation (SUN) is officially described as a massive multiplayer online role-playing game
(MMORPG) and has a mythical setting in the same vein as 's Middle Earth. The CD release for the score features twenty tracks with a small number of principal themes developed throughout. Most of the tracks feature heavy percussion, brass, and mixed-choir and are reminiscent of the composers approach to scoring the more heroic and climactic sequences in Peter Jackson's films.
Track Descriptions
The liner notes for the release are in Korean so I am unable to give the tracks any real context in terms of the story but I have tried to give a broad description of the instrumentation and genral style of each track.
Track 1: Sanctuary of Ether
The opening track features a rendition of one of the main themes by a female choir with light strings in the background. The mood that is created is similar to that in the elven compositions in Shore's Rings scores although it does not share the eastern flavour.
Track 2: A Prelude to Revolt
Track two introduces the stirring brass that dominates many of the compositions in the score. Drums are followed by a rendition of another main theme by a female choir. The drums return with a male choir to increase the tension.
Track 3: Tides of Hope
There are only a few distinct themes in SUN but this track presents the most uplifting and hopeful of all of them. Rendered first by brass, then repeated by light strings, and again by more muted brass, the theme is deceptively simple but evocative of hope and a courageous spirit.
Track 4: Helron's Castle
The exciting and menacing fourth track opens with soaring strings which are soon dominated by piercing brass.
Track 5: The Triumph
This track is one of the most rousing in the score. It starts with a swinging choir and brass rendition of one of the main themes and as this fades (ca. 1m 27s), a beautiful choral passage begins with brass accompaniment. This track also features one sequence in which the brass section plays a line that you half-expect will develop into the Fellowship Theme from LotR.
Track 6: Valley of the Dragons
The sixth track starts with a fantastic ascension of brass and strings which almost sounds like it will break apart from the force that is being generated. The theramin is introduced in this track as a remarkable contrast to the thumping rhythms of the percussion that surrounds it. This is one of the most exciting tracks in the score.
Track 7: Forest of the Beasts
This track features some material which Film Score Monthly noted was similar in style to the material cut from The Two Towers (2002) [1, 2]. The track contains some great moments of contrast as the brass rings out and the drums and strings die away (ca. 2m 32s).
Track 8: Empire Geist
This track features a very low male choir giving a sense of impending doom and destruction.
Track 9: The Epitaph
Light returns in the ninth track with the female choir accompanied intermittently by light strings to give a beautiful rendition of one of the main themes of the score.
Track 10: Night of the Crescent Moon
The theramin leads the way before the drums and the marching brass return to increase the tension once again.
Track 11: Hymns of Battlefields
Track eleven also makes extensive use of the theramin, which is indistinguishable from a female vocalist in certain parts of this composition.
Track 12: Immortal Emperor
A brass fanfare opens the twelfth track. This is followed by an organ and some low-key atmospheric scoring that slowly fades to the end of the track.
Track 13: March to Victory
Track thirteen opens with a stirring rendition of the main theme of the SUN score. Female and male choir are mixed with soaring brass and rumbling percussion in what is one of the highlights of the score.
Track 14: A Poem for Nemesis
The fourteenth track starts with a great low-key choir passage and a transition is then made to a full male choir passage with a tender wind instrumental.
Track 15: Soul of the Ultimate Nation
Track fifteen, the title track, starts slowly with a low-key rendition of one of the main themes by a single wind instrument.
Track 16: Requiem for the Dead
Track sixteen is reminiscent of the material heard before the main battle sequences in The Return of the King (2003). Drums rumble under light string passages as cutting brass is slowly introduced to give the sense of an army slowly getting into line, ready to attack.
Track 17: Ethereal Life
Track seventeen slowly builds with low strings into a very subtle hopeful mood.
Track 18: A Pernicious Plot
Stomping brass opens the eighteenth track and is then followed with another passage with the theramin.
Track 19: Graveyard of Aiort
The penultimate track is another mood piece which often reduces to very low-level atmoshperic sounds.
Track 20: Menace of the Army Wings
The final track joins one of the main themes with a steadily building rhythm. The brass, drums, and mixed choir all return for a rousing climax.
Conclusions
It took me a while to really appreciate this score as I was initially slightly disappointed that the scale of the sound didn't match that of LotR. After listening to it a few times however I found that a number of tracks feature very interesting and exciting material. The track entitled Valley of the Dragons is probably the most exciting composition on the release due to its interesting orchestration and rhythms.
As I mentioned above, the majority of the liner notes are in Korean and since I do not know anything about the game, it is difficult to deterine the particular motivation behind each composition or to give the changes in mood and style any real context.
Ultimately (pun intended!), anyone who enjoyed Shore's style of composition for The Lord of the Rings will find something to like in this release.
The References and Links sections below include links to other reviews of the score and the podcasts published by Film Score Monthly. I have also included a link to the product page on the YesAsia online shop as this was the only site I could find which had the CD in stock at the time of writing.
References
- Film Score Monthly (2006), FSM Podcast Episode 8 [online], available: http://fsmpodcast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=60819 [accessed: 18/06/2009]
- Film Score Monthly (2006), FSM Podcast Episode 9 [online], available: http://fsmpodcast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=63594 [accessed: 18/06/2009]
Links
- An interview about the soundtrack with Howard Shore on IGN.com
- The Soundtrack.Net review
- The TrackSounds.com review
- The MusicWeb-International review
- Release information for this CD release on MusicBrainz.org
- Howard Shore's official website
- Film Score Monthly's website
- The product page for the CD on YesAsia.com
Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.
Discograpy links and data courtesy of MusicBrainz.org.