A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Despite having made quite a name for himself in the film score community with a string of excellent scores so early in his career, Brian Tyler is yet to score much of a hit.  He writes the sort of scores which support their films, make great albums, but don't quite grab the attention of his more fashionable peers which leads inevitably to comparisons with Jerry Goldsmith, considered one of the greatest of all film composers yet never having scored many box office or even critical hits.  Godsend seems unlikely to break Tyler's run, being a supernatural thriller starring Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as grieving parents who decide to have their dead child cloned by Robert de Niro in his Wag the Dog hat.  However good or bad it may be, it's not the type of movie likely to do much business.

It's also not the type of movie that typically inspires particularly interesting music.  Notable so far for Tyler is that he's ended up scoring, either through choice or by coincidence, films that offer great musical opportunities, whether the period setting of Timeline or the mysterious world of Children of Dune, but this time he has to craft something that perhaps isn't quite so obvious, scoring from within rather than without.  What results is quite a compelling work, but not without flaws as an album.  This is psychological music which gently envelops the listener and drags him under an ever more intensive swirl of music.  It is densely textured, complete with an effective electronic pulse, and is extremely effective - but not all that interesting.  Most interesting is the piano theme (heard first in "Adam") which sounds uncannily like something Elmer Bernstein might write (though not for a film like this) and the occasional blasts of action music, though they really are only occasional.  A lovely romantic theme, "New Home", appears out of nowhere in the middle of the album, though sadly it leaves just as suddenly.

This is the sort of creepy music that, ironically, the listener probably notices far more when doing something else, like reading a book, while listening than he does while listening more directly.  The album's far, far too long but that arguably only adds to its intensity, which is perhaps the effect that was desired, and on that level it must be considered a success.  Purely on a musical level, however, it's certainly the least interesting of the five Tyler scores that have now been put out by Varese, despite featuring enough little touches that continue to suggest that Tyler is one of the most promising composers to have come along in years, and certainly creating a brilliant musical atmosphere.

Tracks

1. Main Titles (3:33)
2. Adam (1:14)
3. Zachary (3:46)
4. Birth (1:46)
5. Regression (1:53)
6. Face Down (1:33)
7. Contemplation (2:52)
8. Near Miss (2:17)
9. Not to Me (1:43)
10. Damp Woods (3:59)
11. To Godsend (2:26)
12. Did I Die? (1:04)
13. New Home (2:21)
14. Transfigurations (2:56)
15. Second Opinion (1:34)
16. Epiphany (:54)
17. Shack in the Woods (2:22)
18. Photo Discovery (2:21)
19. First Disturbance (2:10)
20. Loathing (1:42)
21. Funeral (1:34)
22. Crash (2:17)
23. Draw the Burning Building (3:56)
24. Curtains (2:07)
25. Illusion Confusion (2:04)
26. Comatose (1:30)
27. Darkroom (1:31)
28. No Return (1:42)
29. Completion (1:02)
30. End Titles (4:20)