CD REVIEW - RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE


Resident Evil: Afterlife
Music by tomandandy
Milan Records (to be released 28th September)
20 Tracks

Recently, Top Dollar PR kindly sent me an advance CD of tomandandy's score for the latest entry in the Resident Evil franchise, Resident Evil: Afterlife. I understand the score is to be released by Milan Records later this month, with the content being similar, though this advance disc has a suite tagged on at the end.
Writer/director Paul W. Anderson, who helmed the original Resident Evil film, returns for this latest effort, released in cinemas worldwide on Friday, so expect it to be top notch. As for the music, well, various composers have had a go at the Resident Evil movie sound world, and all have produced interesting, if largely unmemorable, music. Now it's the composing duo, tomandandy, who have a go, bringing their unique approach, heard previously in films like The Mothman Prophecies and Killing Zoe, to the film. They explain their approach to the score thusly: "we developed an aggressive palette of heavily distorted sounds and complex metric structures. At times the music is soft, gentle and airy, a fusion of organic sounds and electronics. Bracketing the music world with these two extremes: aggressive and distorted on one end and soft and dreamy on the other, we framed a palette, one with tremendous range." If that's a little over your head, my own take on the music is that it is, as one would expect, more effective in its action moments when driving rhythms provide a good deal of excitement. Mixed together are electronic elements, rock guitars, percussion and sampled voices, and it's often a powerful combination.
As you will know by now, I'm more of an orchestral score kind of guy, but have to admit that when this kind of hybrid music kicks ass as it often does here, I can be easily persuaded, and therefore, though I approached the disc with some trepidation, it didn't turn out to be the unsatisfactory listening experience I expected, and I can well see how this score could prove to be a powerful asset to the film. And the airy moments the composers describe are effective in providing some poignancy along the way.
If you're a Resident Evil fan, you'll no doubt be queueing up for the film on Friday and, if suitably inspired, you should be able to get a hold of the score from the 28th.