Alien 3

Music by Elliot Goldenthal

 

 

 

 

 

Impressive in its downright alien posture, Alien 3 music oriented to a less melodic musical approach and more atmospheric approach, as usual in modern film music.

Sneaky and dark the soundtrack is one of the greatest examples of how music is one of the key elements to set the ambience of a film.

Oriented on by Jerry Goldsmith had done in Alien (1979), Goldenthal created a soundscape of such strangeness that disorients constantly the listening.

The lyrical chants of opening track, Agnus Dei, define the sound environment with its macabre liturgy tone. And the music follows alternating recluse silences and sound assaults. The modeling of orchestral language is impressive, as the fluent movements of string in Explosion Aftermath, and The Entrapment, in which the strings draw descending lines in baroque fugues. The performances and sound emissions border on the grotesque (brilliantly grotesque) in several places. Among guttural blows, screams and grunts, the composer did not avoid subtlety (Lullaby Elegy) or sound aggression (Death Dance) in a musical result worth as a nightmare. Considering that the film follows narrative patterns of suspense, the soundtrack is much more frightening when separated from the film.