• Composed by John Murphy
• La-La Land Records LLLCD 1122 / 2009 / 40:59

An action movie about a heist-gone-wrong, Armoured hasn’t met with a terribly enthusiastic response, but has done reasonably steady business.  It’s scored by British composer John Murphy.  Murphy’s probably best-known for his earlier collaborations with Danny Boyle and Guy Ritchie; while he hasn’t scored their most recent films, he has been working steadily elsewhere.  His eclectic output has been pretty impressive so far – ranging from electronic soundscapes through to fully-orchestral scores.

Armoured is in the former category.  Lots of synths here, guitars, percussion – it’s a dark, dank score.  He propels the film forwards with rhythm, not melody – the music is multi-layered at times, plenty of ideas going on, but fundamentally is not going to appeal to those who just don’t like this style.  I must admit, it’s not really something for me – it sounds like it would be excellent in the film, but as an album it doesn’t quite cut it.  I much prefer hearing expert electronic composers (like Murphy) writing this stuff than more orchestral-minded ones trying their hand at it and ending up writing techno – grandad style, but it’s not the sort of thing I would choose to hear on an album, however skilfully-prepared it is (and there’s no doubt – it is – Murphy’s done it very well) and effective it is in the film.  **

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