Hack!
Scott Glasgow
" Hack! is a different kind of score and that will become clear after a while when it indulges you into its listening experience "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Composer Scott Glasgow made a small introduction in 2006 with Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. I believe to many this was the first time we noticed his name. Now it seems the composer is starting to become a household name in the film music community. Hack and Bone Dry were released close after one another and only time will tell if the future promises more for this American composer. Truth is that a composer who favours an orchestral approach is always a step in the right direction. After the somewhat normal Robotech, it seems that Hack! isn't going to change that assessment.
However Hack! is a different kind of score and that will become clear after a while when it indulges you into its listening experience. "Main Title and Escape" starts the way I expected it. Piano, mysterious vocal use and Darkness Falls strings give you a typical opening for a horror picture. This soon moves into creepy territory with shrieking strings and an often returning use of atonal piano tinkling. Though, in the beginning and at the end, the score does have its lighter moments. The airy flutes in "Beach Day" and the strings in "Filming of the Kids Arrival" create that lighter feel to the still unknowing threat that awaits the visitors. In "Vince and Mary Shelly" and "Arrival at the Island" we have a lullaby theme that occasionally returns in various guises in the score.
But if Glasgow does one thing well with Hack! it's using everything and more. The return of the atonal piano motif gives "The Lodge" a creepy and sinister feel while a short but brilliant "Chain Saw Love" is nothing but staggering, a Brian Tyler delight in all its strong points. Racing suspense and whirling strings really thrive this piece to the end. However not everything needs to be said in the beginning or middle and Glasgow keeps the guessing here more important than the scare. A waltz on violin flourishes in "Waltz with the Dead" while this returns a little bit mysterious in "Suspicions". The fright of "Emily Turns" keeps us on edge, until some darn clever and a little bit understandable carnivalesque material pops up in "The Clown". But the clever thing is, put an orchestra alongside it and the result becomes immediately much more intriguing.
However as the album progresses, so does the music. The atonal piano in "Rack of Love" is just a side note besides the brief but nice emotional finale. Equally mysterious but already containing a little bit more weight is "The Butcher Shop" and from this point on the score does start to hack deeper and stronger. "Shining Axe" is creepy and atonal, "Watching the Dailies" more resolving considering the brass finally reveals the truth and "Willie to the Rescue" is covering basically the weird but effective use of vocals and a bagpipe. The begin is the end and the main Darkness Falls (or even The Ring) theme goes for a full run during "The Well".
That Scott Glasgow isn't afraid to insert musical styles to a different genre is clear and intended after all this time. A bagpipe was heard before and now a baroque harpsichord approach is discovered during "Samurai Run", but it all somehow seems to fit the profile. By then "The Lair" goes out for a full assault of brass and whirling strings in the best possible Tyler sense. And "Escape from the Cave" shares that opinion by going for an immediate full avant garde piece. It's fast, ferocious and spot on, with all the thriving techniques that we were waiting and hoping to discover.
In the end the resolution with the lullaby theme signals the hack is over. In "Epilogue" a final moment of horror suspense awaits you. Luckily it is something new and not just a rehash of familiar material.
That Hack! tries and succeeds, is because it has various things working for it. I expected the score to be more brassy, stingy and pompous but I was wrong. It's more subdued and mysterious. Yet this makes the hacking moments more than worth it. Scott Glasgow also goes for an expected experience, yet containing little twists. For instance who would have thought a baroque opera or a bagpipe would emerge in a piece like this? It is not brilliant but it works. Despite it doesn't have the bravura of a Darkness Falls piece or the intelligence of The Ring, Hack! goes for the same result; make it pleasant and stingy while not hacking down every cliché in the book.
However Hack! is a different kind of score and that will become clear after a while when it indulges you into its listening experience. "Main Title and Escape" starts the way I expected it. Piano, mysterious vocal use and Darkness Falls strings give you a typical opening for a horror picture. This soon moves into creepy territory with shrieking strings and an often returning use of atonal piano tinkling. Though, in the beginning and at the end, the score does have its lighter moments. The airy flutes in "Beach Day" and the strings in "Filming of the Kids Arrival" create that lighter feel to the still unknowing threat that awaits the visitors. In "Vince and Mary Shelly" and "Arrival at the Island" we have a lullaby theme that occasionally returns in various guises in the score.
But if Glasgow does one thing well with Hack! it's using everything and more. The return of the atonal piano motif gives "The Lodge" a creepy and sinister feel while a short but brilliant "Chain Saw Love" is nothing but staggering, a Brian Tyler delight in all its strong points. Racing suspense and whirling strings really thrive this piece to the end. However not everything needs to be said in the beginning or middle and Glasgow keeps the guessing here more important than the scare. A waltz on violin flourishes in "Waltz with the Dead" while this returns a little bit mysterious in "Suspicions". The fright of "Emily Turns" keeps us on edge, until some darn clever and a little bit understandable carnivalesque material pops up in "The Clown". But the clever thing is, put an orchestra alongside it and the result becomes immediately much more intriguing.
However as the album progresses, so does the music. The atonal piano in "Rack of Love" is just a side note besides the brief but nice emotional finale. Equally mysterious but already containing a little bit more weight is "The Butcher Shop" and from this point on the score does start to hack deeper and stronger. "Shining Axe" is creepy and atonal, "Watching the Dailies" more resolving considering the brass finally reveals the truth and "Willie to the Rescue" is covering basically the weird but effective use of vocals and a bagpipe. The begin is the end and the main Darkness Falls (or even The Ring) theme goes for a full run during "The Well".
That Scott Glasgow isn't afraid to insert musical styles to a different genre is clear and intended after all this time. A bagpipe was heard before and now a baroque harpsichord approach is discovered during "Samurai Run", but it all somehow seems to fit the profile. By then "The Lair" goes out for a full assault of brass and whirling strings in the best possible Tyler sense. And "Escape from the Cave" shares that opinion by going for an immediate full avant garde piece. It's fast, ferocious and spot on, with all the thriving techniques that we were waiting and hoping to discover.
In the end the resolution with the lullaby theme signals the hack is over. In "Epilogue" a final moment of horror suspense awaits you. Luckily it is something new and not just a rehash of familiar material.
That Hack! tries and succeeds, is because it has various things working for it. I expected the score to be more brassy, stingy and pompous but I was wrong. It's more subdued and mysterious. Yet this makes the hacking moments more than worth it. Scott Glasgow also goes for an expected experience, yet containing little twists. For instance who would have thought a baroque opera or a bagpipe would emerge in a piece like this? It is not brilliant but it works. Despite it doesn't have the bravura of a Darkness Falls piece or the intelligence of The Ring, Hack! goes for the same result; make it pleasant and stingy while not hacking down every cliché in the book.
Tracklist
No tracklist has been added.