Doomsday (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Album Review

In a semi-literate sleeve note, Doomsday director Neil Marshall writes, "I wanted a score that was both electronic (in the tradition of the great post apocalyptic movies of the early '80s that inspired it) but [sic] I also wanted heavy duty orchestral mayhem for the action cues." Marshall does not say what specific movies he was inspired by, but one can surmise that The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2) and Escape from New York were among them, as well, perhaps, as Blade Runner and The Terminator. That gives score composer Tyler Bates the challenge of matching the electronic acumen of the likes of Brian May, John Carpenter, Vangelis, and Brad Fiedel, just to start with, before the "heavy duty orchestral mayhem" comes in. Yet Marshall has reason to feel that the commission has been accomplished. Of his predecessors, Bates seems most mindful of Carpenter, who, if anything, has turned out to be more influential as a composer than as a director. But in combining the thunderous programming with dramatic strings on such cues as "Hospital Battle," Bates also appears to have been taking lessons at the informal composers' school run by Hans Zimmer. The result is efficient in matching the contours of this particular post-apocalyptic movie. Marshall underlines his affection for the early '80s by throwing in two British hits of the era, Adam & the Ants' "Dog Eat Dog" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Two Tribes."