Terry's Reviews
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Music Reviews: |
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The Ring / The Ring Two Music by Hans Zimmer, Henning Lohner and Martin Tillman Decca Records – 2005 |
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| Like an old fairy tale "The Well"
begins with innocent little bells and gentle orchestration that make you feel safe. Then
an undercurrent of strings brings terror up from the bottom (like Samara coming up out of
the well) and the state of safety is snatched away. "The Well" is over eleven
minutes long and the musical movement within this first track swell from beauty to terror
like waves of doom. Hans Zimmer eases into "Before You Die You See The Ring" with soft choral bells and the orchestra playing like the breeze on a fall day. But as you listen to this gentle swaying cinema music you can sense something dark and frightening is lurking around the corner. The real slow soft piano adds true eeriness. Zimmer gives the string section a real workout with "This is Going to Hurt." The little clacking sound in this track almost sounds like a skeleton dancing. "Burning Tree" crosses many audio dimensions with the orchestra used to pound dread into the air. At times the orchestra is used to practically whisper something is coming before the soundscape is amped up with criss-crossing strings, percussion and piano. The cellists Martin Tillman and Anthony Pleeth really stand out and bring melancholy to the score. When the strings and percussion hit the first time in "Not Your Mommy" it nearly took me out of my seat. It’s especially effective since the moments before the strike are really quiet, which forced me to listen more carefully and suddenly WHAM! Zimmer got me! We can seek refuge on "Shelter Mountain" as the violins play softly before the get sinister. Taking "The Ferry" is a terrifying ride with crashing orchestral elements and crying strings. Zimmer gathers all the softer elements of the score and arranges them into a beautiful track called "I’ll Follow Your Voice." The starting and stopping of the orchestra building up tension towards the end of this track is really spooky. Electronic ambience is mixed with tidbits of orchestral and unnerving percussion to produce "She Never Sleeps." Cool electronic beat grooves to "Let The Dead Get In." Terror returns to the score with the bells and aggressive strings of "Seven Days." But the eleventh track has a real percussive groove to it. The bells by the way remind me of a similar sound I’ve heard in the films of Dario Argento. Hans Zimmer wraps the score up with "Television" a track that pulsates with orchestral and electronic ambience. The tune gets really cool when a heavy distorted guitar and heavy rock drums are integrated with rest of the soundscape. |
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