“It’s an instant classic and will remain so in the future.”

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a stand-alone expansion of Far Cry 3, developed by Ubisoft Montreal. The game takes place on a retro-futuristic open world island crawling with evil, with players assuming the action role of eye-patched cyborg protagonist Sergeant Rex ‘Power’ Colt. The game was released on May 1, 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network, and Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. The score is composed by Power Glove.

Track List

1. Rex Colt	100
2. Blood Dragon Theme	100
3. Helo-73	100
4. Warzone	100
5. Moment Of Calm	100
6. Dr Elizabeth Darling	100
7. Power Core	100
8. Protektor	80
9. Sloan	100
10. Sloan’s Assault	100
11. Blood Scope	80
12. Combat I	100
13. Combat II	100
14. Combat III	100
15. Katana	100
16. Omega Force	100
17. Nest	80
18. Rex’s Escape	100
19. Love Theme	100
20. Sleeping Dragon	100
21. Warcry	100
22. Cyber Commando	100
23. Death Of A Cyborg	100
24. Resurrection	100
25. Blood Dragon Theme (Reprise)	100

I was born just before the most influential and awesome decade in my life, the 80s. I didn’t know it then, but I was going to become a huge fan of Vangelis, Harold Faltermeyer, Vince DiCola, Jan Hammer, Sylvester Levay, Paul Hertzog and other 80s synth heroes. Not only did I enjoy their music immensely, but the pop/rock music of the 80s was and is simply sensational. There’s something about the sound that I dig, and as I grow older I love it even more. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is like an 80s action film that depicts the future, 2007 to be exact and it does it with style. The whole game and most importantly, the music screams 80s.

Clearly, Power Glove has had massive inspiration from Terminator with cues like ‘Rex Colt’ and specially ‘Warzone’ that even has the metal clanking sound. Of course it helps that the main character Rex Colt is some kind of cyborg and that Michael Biehn who played Kyle Reese in The Terminator is doing the voice. there’s more than Terminator though. Vangelis is also a clear inspiration with cues like ‘Blood Dragon Theme’ that sounds like the famous “End Title” and ‘Love Theme’ that sounds a bit like the love theme from Blade Runner. The score is incredibly well produced and you will get sucked in with nostalgia whenever you listen to it. It could have been released in the 80s and it would have been up there fighting with Blade Runner as the best score of the decade, it’s that good.

My three favorite cues was really hard to pick, except for two cues. ‘Sleeping Dragon’ is a wonderful cue reminiscent of Paul Hertzog’s Kickboxer or Bloodsport, perhaps a training montage. ‘Blood Dragon Theme (Reprise)’ is a fantastic remix of the main theme with some incredible 80s sliding guitars. Those two cues are without a doubt in the battle for the cue of the year. The third one was hard. ‘Rex Colt’ was the first cue I heard on the score and it blew me away with it’s Terminator like feel and sound. ‘Warzone’ was even better, then there’s ‘Power Core’ which was one of the cues Power Glove released before the full score and it has a kind of Daft Punk feel to it. ‘Love Theme’ is fantastic with it’s synthetic saxophone sounds that gave me chills. ‘Dr Elisabeth Darling’ is Vangelicious!. I ended up with ‘Love Theme’ as my third choice, even though ‘Sloan’, ‘Sloan’s Assault’ and ‘Cyber Commando’ came close. ‘Combat II’ is awesome because it reminds me of Terminator chase scenes. I could go on, but please, just listen to the score itself.

As I was playing the game, I was blown away by the corny visuals and the 80s feel of it, like playing a game on VHS tape. I quickly realized that I sucked at it when I got swarmed by Daft Punk lookalikes and shot dead but the music I can enjoy for a very long time.

CONCLUSION

As a child growing up in the 80s, becoming a huge fan of the music in the era, Blood Dragon is simply awesome and clearly one of my favorite scores of all time. It’s an instant classic and will remain so in the future. If you loved the 80s and it’s films, games and music, then you will want this score and get addicted to it. I just can’t get enough of it and I am on my 8th listen already.

GEEK SCORE: 97.6 (SGI: 10)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)

“It sounds so inspirational and yet it doesn’t go over the top.”

As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S. The film is directed by Peter Webber and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Matthew Fox and Eriko Hatsune. The score is composed by Alex Heffes.

Track List

1. Opening Title	80
2. Let’s Get It Done	80
3. Aya	80
4. The Investigation	60
5. Tokyo 1940	60
6. Nothing Is Black And White	60
7. Fellers And Aya	80
8. Trapped In A Vice	80
9. Rebellion	80
10. Time Is Running Out	80
11. The Imperial Palace	60
12. Reading The Letters	100
13. We Did Our Duty	80
14. Imperial Convoy	60
15. The Emperors Speech	100
16. End Title	100
17. Aya’s Theme Piano Solo	80

The opening title surprisingly called ‘Opening Title’ is a heroic start to what might be an underrated score because there’s more where the main title came from. It’s an orchestral score that tries to grab your interest by playing on your emotions. It succeeds to a degree. It has some exciting Japanese influence in cues like ‘Let’s Get It Done’ and it also has certain tear jerkers like ‘Aya’ which is a very nice piano and string theme.

There are not so many filler cues here which is a good thing but there are some tension builders like ‘The Investigation’ and ‘The Imperial Palace’ which are easily forgotten and very skippable.

A few cues stand above the rest and that is ‘Rebellion’ with it’s very slow start, but you always feel that it will go to another level with it’s steady buildup, but then it doesn’t. It changes into a really sweet theme that succeeds in getting my attention. ‘Reading The Letters’ is another sweet theme with some strings and a flute. ‘The Emperor’s Speech’ is perfect for that inspirational speech scene in the movie. I like the parts where you hear a small bell sound. It really adds to the cue. ‘End Title’ is another take on one of the themes in the score, it all sounds very beautiful.

CONCLUSION

Emperor is a very good score for a war movie and it has some very nice soft themes which to me is the reward of listening to this score. It sounds so inspirational and yet it doesn’t go over the top. There are parts in this score which is very skippable, but overall I am liking this score quite a lot.

GEEK SCORE: 77.6 (SGI: 678)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)

“With Brian Tyler comes power and passion in spades.”

When Tony Stark’s world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, Stark starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution. This is the third Iron Man film and it’s directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Guy Pearce. The score is composed by Brian Tyler.

Track List

1. Iron Man 3	100
2. War Machine	80
3. Attack On 10880 Malibu Point	100
4. Isolation	80
5. Dive Bombers	100
6. New Beginnings	80
7. Extremis	80
8. Stark	100
9. Leverage	80
10. The Mandarin	80
11. Heat And Iron	80
12. Misfire	80
13. Culmination	80
14. The Mechanic	80
15. Hot Pepper	100
16. Another Lesson From The Mandarin	80
17. Dr. Wu	60
18. Return	100
19. Battle Finale	100
20. Can You Dig It (Iron Man 3 Main Titles)	80

When the first Iron Man score by Ramin Djawadi I wasn’t very impressed, but I admit it has grown on me. Slightly better was John Debney’s effort in Iron Man 2 who decided to use Jerry Goldsmith’s theme from Total Recall as the Iron Man theme. I feel that for the third film they couldn’t have chosen a more perfect composer for the job. Brian Tyler is as we all know a prolific action scoring machine and his guitar work speaks metal at times and Iron Man certainly needs some more power than he has gotten in the past.

With Brian Tyler comes power and passion in spades and the theme ‘Iron Man 3′ is great hummable power theme fitting the Iron Man and although you can hear bits and pieces from Transformers Prime and even Dragonball Evolution this is exactly what I wanted to hear. What is the icing on the cake for me is the use of choir in ‘Iron Man 3′ and great action cues like ‘Attack On 10880 Malibu Point’. It makes the score seems bigger and more epic. I also feel that Tyler has evolved from his earlier action scores quite a bit, but it’s still Tyler and I feel that he is back where he should be. At the end is a cool track called ‘Can You Dig It (Iron Man 3 Main Titles)’ which rolls over the end credits in awesome saturday morning cartoon style. Not my favorite on this score, but it’s pretty damn good.

CONCLUSION

GEEK SCORE: 86 (SGI: 236)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)

Since I can’t decide what composers work best for me, I would let the numbers tell me. Cold hard facts is what I need! So I checked out my Soundtrack Geek Index and made up silly rules like: Only composers that I have listened to at least 6 times with different scores is allowed to enter my precious list. Silly yes, but it made sense at the time. So I present to you… Soundtrack Geek Index: Top Composers!

If I look at this list subjectively I would call bullshit on this list because it’s not right, it can’t be. Let’s take James Horner for example. He has been on of my absolute favorite composers as long as I can remember, yet he is my 46th favorite composer according to this list. How can this be? Well, the math is quite simple. I have listened and rated 95 scores of his so for every Radio, Titanic, Avatar or Braveheart there is Clear And Present Danger, Vibes, I Love You To Death and Jade which are unbelievably shitty scores. Turns out my old hero Horner has made a crazy number of really bad scores and since my final composer score is based on an average of all 95 scores, his bad stuff lets him down.

So 9 out of 10 composers in the top 10 I have listened to less than 10 scores of and I usually tend to pick some of the best each composer has to offer. As I listen to more scores from every composer, this list will actually mean something, but for now, it is what it is and it’s fun to check out.

I’ll add the full list below and also on a separate page under Soundtrack Geek Index on my site.

Who do you think your favorite composer is?

“I would say it is quite enjoyable in the end.”

Maniac is a remake of the 1980 classic by the same name. A serial killer enters a relationship with the owner of a mannequin shop. The film is directed by Franck Khalfoun and starring Elijah Wood, America Olivo and Nora Arnezeder. The score is composed by Rob.

Track List

1. Doll	80
2. Haunted	80
3. Double Trouble	80
4. Bells	80
5. Haunted Piano	80
6. Headache	80
7. Floor Light	60
8. Haunted Sequence	100
9. Slow Machine	60
10. Floor	60
11. Maze	60
12. Headache City	80
13. Wedding Maze	80
14. Haunted (Alternate Version)	80
15. Boum	60

Horror is fun and possibly my favorite film genre. Maniac is a remake of the 1980 classic by the same name. Back then it was Jay Chattaway who composed the music for it. The score wasn’t all that great though. Rob has been given the tough task to score this remake. You can hear right away from the opening cue ‘Doll’ that it is a sort of homage to the 80s with some cool synth sounds and throbbing bassline.

This score is entirely electronic in nature and that’s fine. It really fits when you think about the 80s film and score. Most of the cues are very enjoyable to listen to like the repetitive but rewarding ‘Haunted’ that has a catchy theme and the most impressive cue of them all ‘Haunted Sequence’ which sounds like a remix of the ‘Haunted’ theme, but it works a lot better.

CONCLUSION

All in all, there aren’t many cues I would skip on this score and I would say it is quite enjoyable in the end. It will not be a score I will remember, but when watching the film I will definitely smile whenever I hear the score come front and center.

GEEK SCORE: 74.6 (SGI: 813)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)

“Truthfully my high expectations has unfortunately not been met.”

Storage 24 is a sci-fi horror film set in London where a military plane crashes leaving its highly classified contents strewn across the city. Completely unaware that the city is in lockdown, a group of people become trapped inside a storage facility with a highly unwelcome guest. The film is directed by Johannes Roberts and starring Noel Clarke, Colin O’Donoghue, Antonia Campbell-Hughes. The score is composed by Christian Henson.

Track List

1. Opening Credits	80
2. The Dummies	40
3. Mary	60
4. Out of the Basement	60
5. Discoveries	60
6. Newsflash	60
7. Dog Death	80
8. Discovering Body	60
9. Alien Chase	60
10. Love Rats	60
11. Interrogation	60
12. Claw Through Metal	80
13. Our Hero	60
14. Escape to the Refuge	80
15. Toy Gun Ambush	60
16. Face Off	80
17. After the Puppy	80
18. Theme From “Storage 24″	80

Storage 24 marks Screamwork Records first release of 2013. It’s a sci-fi horror score written by Christian Henson. Here’s a seemingly little known fact, but Christian Henson can be an awesome force when it comes to horror score. His score to “Severance” is truly one of the better horror scores I have heard. It is with some anticipation then I unwrap this score and get a first listen. My initial thoughts: Well, I’m undecided.

It starts ok with a fast pace opening theme in ‘Opening Credits’ then continue to ‘The Dummies’ which feels like sound effect added to an ambient track. If it tries to be scary it failed. The rest of the score is kind of uninteresting to me. There were a few times I sat up take notes like in ‘Escape to the Refuge’ which is an interesting theme with a lot of tension and the last few cues which at least give this score a somewhat happy ending.

CONCLUSION

Truthfully I expected more from Mr. Henson and truthfully my high expectations has unfortunately not been met. Mostly the score feels like a bit of a drag to listen to at times. It’s a bit slow and I didn’t find the score scary at all, nor too entertaining. A decent effort by Christian Henson, but far from his best. The Geek Score at the end is however very fitting for a horror score, so maybe it was a success after all.

GEEK SCORE: 66.6 (SGI: 1017)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)

All the scores on the list are obviously based on my personal opinion and no one else has had a say in the list or even seen it. The complete Soundtrack Geek Index currently has 1626 scores which include TV, Video Game, Compilations and Trailer albums. I plan to add a Video Game and TV index very shortly, however those lists will probably only be a Top 100 because I simply haven’t rated that many TV and Video Game scores yet.

I am very proud of my current top 300 and you’ll find that there are a lot of mainstream hits missing from the list. This list has been built over a few years and I stand by it. The list is always changing and I hope to update it every 3 months or so.

I think this is the start of something great and I hope it inspires all of you to make your own personal index with scores and rating and hopefully you’ll share your findings with us. If you can’t find a score on the list, please ask about it and I’ll tell you where it is in the full index and if it’s not there yet, it means I haven’t rated it yet. I do take requests .

The list is very easy to use and you can sort it by rank, soundtrack, composer, year and Geek Score. There’s also a little filter box on top of it, slightly to the right where you can filter scores by anything. For example if you are interested to see if I have any John Williams scores there, just type in John Williams and they will all appear.

Well, here goes… I am proud to present Soundtrack Geek Index for film scores and you can find it here: Soundtrack Geek Index Top 300 Film Scores.

“This wasn’t the right score for Steve Jablonsky that much is clear.”

Gangster Squad is an action film directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Los Angeles, 1949: A secret crew of police officers led by two determined sergeants work together in an effort to take down the ruthless mob king Mickey Cohen who runs the city. The score is composed by Steve Jablonsky.

Track List

1. His Name Is Mickey Cohen	60
2. Welcome to Los Angeles	60
3. He Can’t Have You	80
4. War for the Soul of LA	60
5. There Goes Our Ride	80
6. You Can’t Shoot Me	80
7. Always Knew I’d Die in Burbank	80
8. You’re Talking to God	80
9. The Bug	60
10. Hot Potato With a Grenade	80
11. You Know the Drill	60
12. I Was Just Hopin’ to Take You to Bed	60
13. Kill ‘Em All	60
14. Chinatown	80
15. Keeler	80
16. Connie Lives	60
17. Let’s Finish It	80
18. Union Station	60
19. Light ‘Em Up	100
20. The City of Angels	100
21. Gangster Squad	80

Choosing Steve Jablonsky for this project by director Ruben Fleischer was an interesting choice. This is an action film set in the 1949, but it is an action first and foremost. As it is Jablonsky, don’t expect to be dazzled with the roaring sound of the era and neither did i. In my opinion, Jablonsky isn’t the best choice for this kind of film. He excels at sci-fi, preferable with big robots, but this film is very far from that.

Recently we have heard new sides of Tyler Bates for example so change is certainly possible, but Jablonsky doesn’t try to change much. It is apparent that he is caught in thriller territory with the opening cues ‘His Name is Mickey Cohen’ and ‘Welcome to Los Angeles’. Pretty standard tense building cues. Rather meh… There are some soft cues, romantic cues like ‘He Can’t Have You’ which is a minimalistic piano cue which is rather good.

‘Light ‘Em Up’ is a cue Steve Jablonsky was made to write and it’s companion ‘The City Of Angels’. Massive action cues, both with horns, one with an interesting buildup. You guessed it, it’s Zimmer-ism, but he’s damn good at it.

CONCLUSION

This wasn’t the right score for Steve Jablonsky that much is clear, but if you don’t listen to it you might lose out on some good action cues particularly the over 7 minutes long ‘Light ‘Em Up’ which is Jablonsky at his best. Still, even with some good action, this score doesn’t particularly impress me.

GEEK SCORE: 73.3 (SGI: 827*)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)

“It feels like Tron, but it feels better than that, better than Legacy.”

Tron: Uprising is an American animated science fiction television series, part of the Tron franchise, that aired on June 7, 2012 for the television channel Disney XD in the United States. The series is directed by Charlie Bean, who also acts as executive producer. Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, and Justin Springer serve as consulting producers. The series is set between Tron and Tron: Legacy. The score is composed by Joseph Trapanese.

Track List

1. Beck’s Theme – Lightbike Battle	100
2. Tesler Throwdown	100
3. Paige’s Past	100
4. Lux’s Sacrifice	100
5. Price of Power	100
6. Rescuing the Rebellion	100
7. Dyson Drops in (Scars Suite)	100
8. Tron’s Promise (Scars Suite)	100
9. Tron’s Turn (Scars Suite)	100
10. Beck Betrayed (Scars Suite)	100
11. Torture (Scars Suite)	80
12. Revenge (Scars Suite)	100
13. Redemption (Scars Suite)	100
14. Goodbye Renegade	100
15. Compressed Space	100
16. Renegades Pledge – End Credits	100
17. Lightbike Battle (3OH!3 Remix)	100
18. Inferno (Opiuo Remix)	80
19. Dyson (David Hiller Remix)	80
20. Cole Plante – Rezolution (Inspired By)	100

I’ve been watching Tron: Uprising since the first episode and like Green Lantern: The Animated Series I was very impressed with the music. I immediately thought it was Daft Punk who created the excellent score for Tron: Legacy that was composing for the series, but it is Joseph Trapanese who worked on The Raid: Redemption with Mike Shinoda last year. I later learned that the Tron: Uprising score contains the original synthesizer patches and sound palette created by Daft Punk for Tron: Legacy so I’m not surprised that it feels and sound like that score.

The themes are similar to Tron: Legacy as well, but Uprising feels more confident and consistent than it’s brother score Legacy. With Legacy the variation was much higher, so it all depends on what you like, but if you loved Legacy, then you will no doubt love Uprising as well. I did. It truly feels like a modern Tron score, but pretty much every cue has been beautifully crafted in such a way that you can listen to this score indefinitely and never feel bored. It just sounds so damn good. Even if it feels less varied than Legacy, it continues to deliver greatness by using the Tron palette of sound throughout from cue to cue.

From the opening cue ‘Beck’s Theme – Lightbike Battle’ I am completely hooked. From the sample at the beginning to the powerful Tron theme and the awesome use of horns and samples from Legacy, it feels like a continuation of Daft Punk’s great work. The thing is, that it is also a marked improvement in my eyes. Small touches like the beautiful vocal chords of Lisbeth Scott in the cue ‘Lux’s Sacrifice’ makes a big impact. On the score, there are 7 suites from the excellent two parter, “Scars” and the music in it is beautiful and big.

At the end there are a 4 remixes, 2 which are fantastic and 2 which are good. Remixes are cool, but I wish that they put it in a remix album like with Tron: Legacy. I want more music from the series because an hour is simply not enough.

Conclusion

Tron: Uprising is an excellent score and so early in the year I can already say that this will be one of my favorites this year. It feels like Tron, but it feels better than that, better than Legacy. It is simply fantastic from start to finish and if you are a Tron fan, you will surely enjoy this score.

GEEK SCORE: 97 (SGI: 12*)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)

“Sadly, Cleanskin the score disappoints deeply.”

Cleanskin is an action film directed and written by Hadi Hajaig about a British secret service agent is faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a British-born suicide bomber and his terrorist cell. The film stars Sean Bean, Charlotte Rampling and Abhin Galeya. The score is composed by Simon Lambros.

Track List

1. Prelude	60
2. The Heist	60
3. Ash	60
4. Awaiting Orders	40
5. The Tip Off	60
6. Given a Mission	60
7. The Second Side Suicide Bomber	60
8. Any Leads?	40
9. The Hunt for Paul	60
10. End of a Relationship	60
11. Out of Time	60
12. The Kidnap	40
13. A New Beginning	60
14. No Turning Back	40
15. Aftermath	80
16. The Double Cross	60
17. Retribution	80

Simon Lambros has written film scores for more than a decade, but this is his first major feature film. The score is very tense as I expect it to be, but there’s something fundamentally lacking from this score that really annoys me. Whenever I am starting to hear something good, like the first part of ‘The Heist’, it just ends very abruptly and goes on without purpose. It feels a bit like an unfinished product to me, but perhaps it is the exact purpose of the score? I find that hard to believe, but there you go.

There’s much potential here to let the cues grow and become great, but only at the end with ‘Aftermath’ and the last cue ‘Retribution’, there’s something really good brewing. The opening to ‘Aftermath’ is tragic and powerful, it has a sense of emotion most of this score can only dream of. ‘Retribution’ is the final act of the score and it’s the best cue on the album. It has a nice theme going while not giving away the tense action aspect of the film and score. If only more cues were like this.

Conclusion

Sadly, Cleanskin the score disappoints deeply. There’s so much to be done here that the score feels half-finished. It’s not polished enough in my opinion and maybe that’s not the composer’s fault, but the producer. I’m sure if they made a suite of the best parts, it might be great, but as it stands it’s not even near where it should be.

GEEK SCORE: 57.6 (SGI: 1455*)

*SGI is the current placement in the overall Soundtrack Geek Index (Lower number is better…)