Special Notes:

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Whereas the feature film spinoffs are pretty much marketing tactics designed to maintain an active consciousness among consumers of the Resident Evil franchise, the video games seem to have better luck in both expanding the dramatic concepts and offering more developed musical visions.

Lead composers Thomas Parisch and Laurent Zilani recorded their score contributions with a 90-piece orchestra, and with cues largely linked to their chugging main theme, there are sufficient variations covering foreboding danger, pensive moments, and direct combat.

With sharp orchestrations (and the addition of occasional chorals), RE6 is a pretty robust score of which Disc 1 offers the most satisfying and cohesive listening experience. The blending of orchestral and electronic elements is fairly fluid, and the pair wrote some great pieces filled with heavy brass (“No Way Out”) that draw a little from the thick writing of Marco Beltrami, and maybe a slight dose of Christopher Young’s trick of using light & dark sounds for eerie counterpoint while the entire sonic scope surges up with chilling chorals (as in Urban Legends).

Most of the cues run between 3-2 minutes, and the intro and conclusions aren’t abrupt, making for a fairly balanced listening experience. Where things get a little disjointed are on Disc 2 which features a mélange of cues by additional composers.

Some extra material sounds like source cues, alternate versions, and synth variations of the score’s main themes (of which not every rendition is wholly convincing, such as the dated brass emulations in “The Tank,” which recall the cheesy sounds of Thomas Dolby’s Gothic). The overt rock and heavy synth emulations in “Speeding Bike 1 – Run Away!” is also ddly comedic, especially with its jazzy brass. (A more successful effort is “The Last Escape,” which benefits from thicker instrumentation and rather bawdy brass renditions.)

Standout tracks include “Ugly Customers 1” with its Morricone-styled ostinato and brass (evoking more than a little of The Untouchables), and “We’re Finally Here,” a solid doom & gloom theme variation with a slow build.

Sumthing Else’s mastering is nice & clean, and the 2-disc set offers a wealth of music which should please fans wanting all the meat in the score, plus peripheral cues.

© 2013 Mark R. Hasan