Doom (Score) Reviews

As inauspicious as it may seem for the beginning of a review, I'm probably the last person who should be commenting on a film score. Crazy as it seems, out of all the movies I've seen in my life the only soundtrack I have really identified with (and have purchased despite it's hefty price tag) is Mark Mancina's work on Twister. It's true that Twister is the kind of movie that's so bad it's good but I tend to be more drawn towards things (music) that use film scores as an influence - a great example being the work of outfits like Nightwish whose latest projects contain pieces that are aligned with the scope and scale of you'd expect to hear from a motion picture soundtrack than a band. I can't say those albums were immediately accessible to me as a listener because of that (in fact it took a while for 2011's Imaginaerum to rub off on me) but they were truly rewarding once the connection was made.

Given that, it probably shouldn't come as a shocker to those reading that the score to another movie most consider another Hollywood "crapfest" would eventually grab my attention. Still, in all seriousness, I don't think Doom is that bad of a movie. Okay, so in being the adaptation of a video game people's expectations going in where probably already pretty low, but even as far a video game movies go it seemed to be one of the better efforts out there to me - this despite being the huge fan of the games that I am. I understand wanting to keep as much of the game in there as possible but a lot of the fans out there didn't seem willing to give director Andrzej Bartkowiak an inch of leeway when it came to the story which was fine enough for the kind of film Doom ended up being.

Those who enjoy Doom for what it is - an innocent little "guilty pleasure" that's far from being a true piece of "art" - may have taken notice of the soundtrack composed by Clint Mansell. The reason that Mansell's music ended up appealing to me is two-fold: the first being that it's moments of hard rock more or less pay tribute to the music of Bobby Prince who composed the music for the two original PC games. As an avid fan of video game music I can't even begin to describe how influential Prince's tunes were in relation to my past and current interest in the genre/hobby and I've gone as far as to track down the rare and obscure release of Doom Music, the only official record of his contribution to the PC phenomenon. As I listen to this score there's little doubt in my mind that Mansell had to have knowledge of Prince's work even though there's definitely a bit more of a Hollywood vibe to his work.

The second reason I became attracted to Mansell's work on Doom is the "C24" theme which is ironically the first track of album. Yeah, it's borderline crazy how a forty-three second piece of music got it's hooks in me (and I'll be honest it's really not the greatest thing since sliced bread) but it's how it coincides with a handful of scenes in the movie that blows me away. Equally as impressive are "Semper Fi" and "Go To Hell" which play during the movie's climatic battle scene. I can easily envision the battle playing out in head listening to these and unlike some of the earlier tracks they are not stuck in neutral when separated from their given context. This is pretty much the only reason the score and film scores in general don't score higher with me.

The soundtrack ends with "You Know What You Are?" by the Nine Inch Nails. Anyone that has ever played through the first level of the fourth episode of The Ultimate Doom should get why this is such a big deal. The track definitely fits the credits sequence as seen in the movie but it kind of ironic that this track is the only reason the album is stuck with parental advisory. Really, there are more f-bombs in some of Green Day's earlier CDs and they don't pack one. Then again, I don't think kids are clamoring to add foul-mouthed film scores to their collections, are they?

Anyway, while I can't really recommend Doom's score to film score buffs because I imagine they're looking for something a little more high-brow, I do recommend this one to people that aren't typically fans of the genre. I can't say Mansell's music really avoids all the issues I have with film scores - there are still moments where I'm not totally engaged in what I'm listing to - but it has managed to bridge the gap a lot more than most scores out there. It's hardly the start of a new interest but it certainly something different than the norm as far as my music collection goes.