“Metal Lords”
Ozzy Osborne. Mastodon. Judas Priest. Pantera. Metallica, pre- “Load.” Zeal & Ardor. Guns N’ Roses. Motörhead. Iron Maiden. This is no mere name-drop of some of the greatest metal bands of all time; they’re featured participants in the soundtrack for Peter Sollet’s “Metal Lords,” too. That’s about as much of a selling point as the average metalhead needs to scope out the movie, a decent if formulaic high school comedy about losers and freaks bonding over the outlet of heavy metal; it’s a story about the allure of heavy metal to outsiders as a channel for the deep-rooted frustrations they carry with them every single time they walk into class, and not just a story sporting a bare minimum knowledge of the genre’s classics. These tracks thrash. In deference to their place in metal’s history, Scott Ian, Tom Morello, Kirk Hammett, and Rob Halford appear as Jaeden Martell’s conscious, a tattooed fairy godfather quartet urging him to stick to the single life. They’re a weird choice to pass on the message, but what a way to cap off “Metal Lords’” tribute to its music. – AC
Dan Romer, “Station Eleven”
Yes, that’s right, some TV, cause some of it was just as good or better. Look, the second that composer Dan Romer stepped onto the scene with “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (an all-timer score), you knew his marvelous, anthemic, emotional musical talents would be a force to be reckoned with. Created by Patrick Somerville (“Maniac,” “Made for Love”), “Station Eleven” was easily one of the best-limited series of 2022. So rich, overflowing with humanity and empathy, the series, a post-apocalyptic show that, while teetering on the edge of post-apocalyptic horror and madness, actually veered towards hope, tenderness, unity, and something extraordinary (one of the best-unexpected subversions in recent years). And so tapping the multi-faceted musical talents of Romer was so crucial. His moving orchestral strings are always so heartbreaking (“We Travel For A Reason”), he can do unsettling and creepy with the best of them (“Don’t Open It”), and his lugubrious, symphonic horns, trying to find a little light within the darkness, will always make you weep. – RP
Nicolas Britell, “Andor”
Man, showrunner/creator/writer Tony Gilroy really broke “Star Wars” open wide in a way that’s never been done with “Andor.” A searing, emotional show about oppression and the radicalization of a seemingly apathetic, hopeless man (Cassian Andor, Diego Luna) and the community around him (everyone on Ferrix), “Andor” was an incredibly moving call to arms in the galaxy far far away. Much of that heavy lift came from composer Nicolas Brittell (“Moonlight”), who not only crafted a soaring, symphonic score that crescendoed so beautifully on screen, but basically took the brass and strings “Star Wars” musical playbook made by John Williams and threw it out the window (electronic beats, drums, industrial noises, and more), much to our surprise and delight. Desperation and small notes of minute hope pervade “Andor” heartbreakingly. From the rousing central theme that means business to the resort-getaway EDM club beats (“Niamos!”), to the melancholy broken-down New Orleans-style funeral dirge (“Forming Up/Unto Stone We Are”), to Maarva’s rousing cri du coeur to the galaxy (“Eulogy”), Britell smashed the Lucasfilm musical vocabulary open like a Stormtrooper’s cracked helmet. Never has “Star Wars” been this poignant, profound, and blisteringly dramatic. – RP
Cliff Martinez, “Kimi”
Composer Cliff Martinez and director Steven Soderbergh go way back, all the way back to “Sex, Lies, and Videotape.” And for the last decade or so, Martinez’s go-to instrument was the cristal baschet, sonic textures, throbbing electronic pulsations, audio manipulations, particularly for percussive sounds, and the like. But “Kimi” might fall under game-changer for Martinez. Full of woodwinds, strings, and traditional orchestration, the “Kimi” score is so grand, and yet, still full of dark warnings, light-on-its-feet magical flourishes, and essentially so much that we haven’t seen the composer or the director do. It’s essentially their skewed and splintered take on Bernard Herrmann and Hitchcock, fitting for a mostly-contained, single-setting-ish thriller, and man, it is inspiring and inventive stuff. – RP
Christopher Nicholas Bangs, “WeCrashed”
I’m going to hazard a guess of all the film and TV scores and soundtrack pieces of 2022 posted on the internet; none of them will feature the score to “WeCrashed,” but it’s honestly your loss. By relative newcomer Christopher Nicholas Bangs, perhaps in the Daniel Pemberton-inspired traditional of inspirationally bubbling electronics, “WeCrashed” centers the place where dreams and hubris meet—about the WeWork CEO who nearly burned his billion-dollar company to the ground with a mix of toxic ambition, arrogance, manipulation, and poised self-confidence in a singular, unwavering vision. “WeCrashed” is romantic, disarmingly funny, and full of idealistic hope. Bangs nails the nuance and transformation of each one of those steps, of course, knocking it out of the park with the show’s sonorous main theme, the aptly and devilishly titled “Selling An Experience.” – RP
