Mortal Engines (soundtrack)

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Mortal Engines (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Mortal Engines (soundtrack).jpg
Film score by
Tom Holkenborg
ReleasedDecember 14, 2018
RecordedOctober 2017–July 2018
Studio Michael Fowler Centre (Wellington, New Zealand)
Genre Film score
Length70:08
Label Back Lot Music
Producer Tom Holkenborg
Tom Holkenborg chronology
Tomb Raider
(2018)		Mortal Engines
(2018)		 Alita: Battle Angel
(2019)

Mortal Engines (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2018 film of the same name featuring musical score by Tom Holkenborg. [1] [2] The score was recorded during October 2017 to July 2018 at the Michael Fowler Centre concert hall with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performing the score and mixed at Park Road Post in New Zealand. The score blends and overlays modern electronic and synth-based score with orchestra. The album was released by Back Lot Music on December 14, 2018. [3]

Contents

Development

Tom Holkenborg received the first script of Mortal Engines from the producers in early 2017, and after reading it, he immediately called the producer regarding his involvement in the film. [4] After completing the score for Tomb Raider (2018) in London, he went to New Zealand and met Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and the director Christian Rivers, to discuss about the film and its music. Thereafter, his involvement was confirmed by the team, a week later. [5] [6]

The score was recorded at New Zealand from October 2017 to July 2018, with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performing the score. The goal was intended to create a score that blends "modern film music" with the likes of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Deadpool (2016) and at the same "honoring the traditions of using thematic material with recognizable melodies played over soaring strings and brass" and to acknowledge the music of "classic Hollywood". [7] He mixed the synth and electronic music with the orchestral portions, thereby considering it as his evolved score till date. [6]

For London, he researched on classical compositions such as Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" and Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique where brass is heavily featured in the film's music. [7] In an interaction with Clint Worthington of Consequence, he recalled an incident on a garbage truck driving away when he was at the dentist's office, and told his assistants that was the sound he wanted to look for. They collected some of the garbage sounds recorded on YouTube, which made the exact sound he heard. Later, with the help of cross-convolution technique, he assembled the garbage track sounds and blend with the brass music, that became the theme for Shrike (Stephen Lang). [7]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."London Suite In C Major"8:54
2."No-One You Know"2:51
3."The Chase"1:08
4."Welcome To London"2:39
5."Miss Valentine"4:19
6."This Is For My Mother"1:36
7."The Outlands"4:52
8."A Resurrected Man"4:44
9."Ms. Fang"2:05
10."In a Sea of Clouds"1:28
11."The Weapon of the Ancients"2:08
12."Shan Guo"3:21
13."I Am the Meteor"2:15
14."First Strike"2:09
15."Night Sundered"4:10
16."In the Shadow of a Shrine"3:29
17."No Going Back"5:58
18."Windflower"2:28
19."The 13th Floor Elevator"4:40
20."Alive and Together"4:52
Total length:70:06

Reception

Zanobard Reviews gave 6/10 to the album and wrote "Mortal Engines is a decent score. The London Suite at the start of the album is absolutely fantastic, and honestly worth the price of admission just on its own. The main themes that Holkenborg has composed are also excellent, though unfortunately they are used so sparingly it feels like a bit of a waste. Much of the album also succumbs to the standard generic action music trap, which is such a shame as the suite promised so much and the remaining tracks just don’t deliver. There’s a lot of wasted potential here, but on the upside there are also some truly amazing compositions, and a whole new world has been opened up with Tom Holkenborg." [8]

Luke Bunting of Set the Tape rated 4 (out of 5) to the album and said: "Mortal Engines provides plenty of rollicking action tracks and thrills to standout amidst all of the season’s blockbuster scores. It represents both a step forward for Holkenborg’s career and somewhat of a missed opportunity for the film itself." [9] Greg Wheeler of The Review Geek gave 7.5 out of 10 to the album, commenting: "If you’re looking for a suitably epic soundtrack full of loud, brass segments, rolling drums and a grand sense of adventure, you can’t really go wrong with this soundtrack. At times it’s almost exhausting, chock full of adrenaline-fuelled chases and action but managing to capture the scale of the film perfectly. It’s a bittersweet reminder of what could have been with this fantasy epic but although the film may have been disappointing, its soundtrack is anything but." [10]

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. [11]

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References

  1. ↑ Paz, Maggie Dela (December 7, 2018). "Listen to First Piece of Mortal Engines Score From Composer Junkie XL". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  2. ↑ Chitwood, Adam (December 6, 2018). "Listen to Tom Holkenborg's Major Theme from Mortal Engines". Collider. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Tom Holkenborg's journey from dance floors to Hollywood royalty". Los Angeles Times. January 3, 2019. Archived from the original on January 12, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  4. ↑ Burlingame, Jon (September 6, 2018). "Tom Holkenborg, AKA Junkie XL, Scoring Peter Jackson's 'Mortal Engines'". Variety. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  5. ↑ Wojnar, Zak (December 13, 2018). "Mortal Engines: Junkie XL Interview & New Music Track Revealed". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Burton, Byron (December 10, 2018). "'Mortal Engines' Composer Tom Holkenborg on Working in the "Alternate Universe" of New Zealand". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 Worthington, Clint (December 13, 2018). "Tom Holkenborg digs up the Origins of "The Weapon of the Ancients" from Mortal Engines: Stream". Consequence. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  8. ↑ Zanobard (December 16, 2018). "Mortal Engines – Soundtrack Review". Zanobard Reviews. Archived from the original on January 16, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  9. ↑ Bunting, Luke (January 2, 2019). "Mortal Engines (Tom Holkenborg) – Film Score Review". Set The Tape. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  10. ↑ Wheeler, Greg (December 18, 2018). "Mortal Engines Soundtrack – Junkie XL – Album Review". The Review Geek. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Mortal Engines (Original Soundtrack)". The Sound of Vinyl. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
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