Saturday, October 30, 2021

From Hell

 


From Hell (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by Trevor Jones

Just in time to celebrate this year’s Halloween, Renotavio Records brings you the score to the Hughes Brothers 2001 thriller film From Hell, by composer Trevor Jones. Released twenty years ago, the movie is loosely based on the graphic novel of the same title by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell about the Jack the Ripper murders in Victorian London. Johnny Depp stars as detective Frederick Abberline, who leads the investigations of the murders, and Heather Graham as Mary Kelly, one of the prostitutes targeted by the Ripper. Other cast members include the talents of Robbie Coltrane, Jason Flemyng and the always magnificent Ian Holm. The film was praised for its visuals, performances, and especially for its atmosphere, namely thanks to Jones’ moody score. Stepping above the usual slashing horror music usually found in this kind of films, Jones approached the film with versatility, throwing into the mix lots of orchestral layers and many vocal and synthetic passages, creating an atmosphere of constant dread.

Right from the opening cue of the score, “Main Title”, Jones introduces some of his main ideas for the film. A five-note motif in minor key cellos stands out as the primary idea for the menacing figure of Jack the Ripper. This motif is quickly followed by some hints of Jones’ love theme for the film, played by flute, before evolving into a strong yet visceral string and choral crescendo, which Jones employs throughout the film to symbolize the all-seeing Freemason fraternity. To accompany Abberline’s opium addiction, Jones masterfully combines Chinese instrumentation and vocals with a weird mix of synths, a concept explored in the track “Chasing the Dragon” that is almost trance-inducing. The track “The Compass and the Ruler” will quickly catch the attention of the listener, as it starts with an antique wax cylinder style before transforming suddenly into contemporary resonance. Jones uses this remarkable effect to introduce his theme for death and the macabre from the point of view of the infamous killer, regarded in the film as an illustrious and educated man of science. By the time you reach “A Rose by Any Other Name”, you will see that a broody gothic mood is not everything that Jones has to offer in From Hell. In this track, the South African composer shows his ability to write excellent themes, as he lets his powerful love motif take off, before making its full debut in full in “Portrait of a Prince”, a string ensemble performance that is hauntingly beautiful. Jones superbly recapitulates this love theme in “Pennies for the Ferryman”, this time played by the full force of the orchestra (The Academy of St. Martins in the Field). For the third act of the film, Jones also throws in some of his usual action passages very much in the vein of his score for the 1998 film Dark City, with powerful percussion and a sense of modernity. From Hell also has several passages of horror music, but Jones approaches these sequences with an operatic style, which elevates the music to great effect. The score ends with a six-minute suite that navigates through Jones’ main ideas, making it a perfect culmination for one of best horror genre efforts of the twenty first century.

The score was released in 2001 by the label Varèse Sarabande. Though regarded as a very interesting listening experience, the album presented most tracks as isolated suites and failed to present Jones’ thematic ideas efficiently, not allowing the listener to easily recognize them. The album also presented Marylin Manson’ “The Nobodies”, a song that is quite effective in its own style but does not fit with Jones’ music. Renovatio Records has stepped in to produce an album that presents Jone’s score in chronological order, allowing the listener to not only identify its main personalities but also discover how they intertwine with each other as the film’s story progresses. If you are looking for sorcerous gothic sounds, a bit of romance, and a sense of ominous symphonic oppression, then Trevor Jones’ From Hell is the score for you!

Track Listing:
1. Main Title (1:52)
2. Whitechapel District (5:09)
3. Chasing the Dragon (3:27)
4. A Different Breed of Killer (5:19)
5. Absynthium (3:45)
6. The Compass and the Ruler (5:19)
7. Royal Connections (4:06)
8. A Rose by Any Other Name (2:07)
9. Abberline Seeks Council (2:46)
10. Portrait of a Prince (5:40)
11. Death Coach (4:39)
12. Below the Skin of History (4:17)
13. Let the Brother Receive the Light (4:46)
14. Hear Our Judgement (3:32)
15. Pennies for the Ferryman (3:55)
16. In Memoriam ('From Hell' Suite) (6:34)

Total Running Time: 67:13






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