Son of Darkness: To Die For II
Mark McKenzie
" different from all the rest "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Son of Darkness: To Die For II is Mark McKenzie's first score album, first film he composed and first break as composer. Prometheus' release offers you the opportunity to revisit the place where it all began. I don't know what to think of the movie, judging by the cover or music, it looks to be some satanic demon film which in the end offers you exactly that of tone: dark fanfares, menacing choral work and a love theme, but all mixed in a scary environment with some "at the point of saying" ugly moments of score.
Cliff Eidelman scored the first film To Die For and his main theme is not included here, so everything you hear here is Mark McKenzie's music. But that doesn't chance the fact this is not what we're used to of hearing of Mark McKenzie. I've heard a lot of his dramatic scores, and even his satanic Warlock II score, but this is nothing like that (which is good of course). The sound quality is decent but the performance changes between orchestral fury and electronic experimenting.
The begin and end are stunning in bringing that non McKenzie film like music. "Main Title" offers you dreamlike Nightmare on Elm Street mood before Ottman fanfares (ala The Usual Suspects) enter the stage, with astonishing effect by the way. At that moment "Moonlight Ride" jumps at you without notice, delivering you a short but excellent action moment coming of Mark McKenzie. It is spectacular and fully orchestral.
From the love performance in track 4, the mood becomes distinctly darker, scarier and edgier, weaving scary tones from Aliens (I always thought McKenzie had a bit of Horner in his music) and electronics ala Brad Fiedel together. After that the choral sound is briefly spotted in "Passions" and "Nina's Dream", adding a menacing aftertaste to the score. Further along "The Mansion" has a very intriguing sound, scary electronic tones rain down in "See Tom Torture Jane" and there's a summarization of the themes in "Finale".
While the middle part is not entirely enticing like the begin or end, Son of Darkness: To Die For II does deliver a mood unlike anything I heard in previous Mark McKenzie scores. The begin and end are rather enjoyable, and will offer different sounds than what the Mark McKenzie fans are used to, making of course the album rather interesting for you so called McKenzie connaisseurs. The price of the album and the sound quality are all acceptable, making it more difficult than Warlock II, but interestingly fresh in the end.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (2.23)
2. Celia Were Are You? (0.42)
3. Moonlight Ride (1.45)
4. Bittersweet Love * (1.46)
5. Baying at the Moon (2.58)
6. Passions (2.11)
7. Boathouse Chase (2.17)
8. Condo Kill (1.27)
9. Chilling Seduction (2.46)
10. Nina's Dream (1.15)
11. Wolf Attack (1.45)
12. The Mansion (1.42)
13. You Can't Stop Me! (2.21)
14. See Tom Torture Jane (2.34)
15. Martin Searches for Nina (1.04)
16. Tom and Max Fight (3.05)
17. The Burning Light (1.36)
18. Farewell (1.21)
19. Finale (3.18)
* This alternate love theme was not used in the movie
Total Length: 38.39
Cliff Eidelman scored the first film To Die For and his main theme is not included here, so everything you hear here is Mark McKenzie's music. But that doesn't chance the fact this is not what we're used to of hearing of Mark McKenzie. I've heard a lot of his dramatic scores, and even his satanic Warlock II score, but this is nothing like that (which is good of course). The sound quality is decent but the performance changes between orchestral fury and electronic experimenting.
The begin and end are stunning in bringing that non McKenzie film like music. "Main Title" offers you dreamlike Nightmare on Elm Street mood before Ottman fanfares (ala The Usual Suspects) enter the stage, with astonishing effect by the way. At that moment "Moonlight Ride" jumps at you without notice, delivering you a short but excellent action moment coming of Mark McKenzie. It is spectacular and fully orchestral.
From the love performance in track 4, the mood becomes distinctly darker, scarier and edgier, weaving scary tones from Aliens (I always thought McKenzie had a bit of Horner in his music) and electronics ala Brad Fiedel together. After that the choral sound is briefly spotted in "Passions" and "Nina's Dream", adding a menacing aftertaste to the score. Further along "The Mansion" has a very intriguing sound, scary electronic tones rain down in "See Tom Torture Jane" and there's a summarization of the themes in "Finale".
While the middle part is not entirely enticing like the begin or end, Son of Darkness: To Die For II does deliver a mood unlike anything I heard in previous Mark McKenzie scores. The begin and end are rather enjoyable, and will offer different sounds than what the Mark McKenzie fans are used to, making of course the album rather interesting for you so called McKenzie connaisseurs. The price of the album and the sound quality are all acceptable, making it more difficult than Warlock II, but interestingly fresh in the end.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (2.23)
2. Celia Were Are You? (0.42)
3. Moonlight Ride (1.45)
4. Bittersweet Love * (1.46)
5. Baying at the Moon (2.58)
6. Passions (2.11)
7. Boathouse Chase (2.17)
8. Condo Kill (1.27)
9. Chilling Seduction (2.46)
10. Nina's Dream (1.15)
11. Wolf Attack (1.45)
12. The Mansion (1.42)
13. You Can't Stop Me! (2.21)
14. See Tom Torture Jane (2.34)
15. Martin Searches for Nina (1.04)
16. Tom and Max Fight (3.05)
17. The Burning Light (1.36)
18. Farewell (1.21)
19. Finale (3.18)
* This alternate love theme was not used in the movie
Total Length: 38.39