Zanobard Reviews

Bear McCreary delivers another stellar soundtrack season for The Rings Of Power here, upping the drama with his impeccable original themes from season one – particularly Nolwa Mahtar – while also introducing several exquisite new ones, altogether amounting to an incredible new chapter in the composer’s increasingly thunderous orchestral tapestry for Middle Earth.

McCreary’s score for the first season of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power was almighty indeed; featuring a meticulous orchestral style that evoked Howard Shore while also going in its own unique direction and a wide range of genuinely impeccable themes – from the lightly adventurous Nori, the quietly mystical Stranger and the gently aloof Elrond all the way up to the grandly thunderous Numenor, the tensely dramatic Galadriel and the moodily malevolent Sauron (to name but a few of the incredible seventeen McCreary composed) – the composer’s work stood out as many of his new motifs were utterly spellbinding, with each having a unique notational set, style and instrumentation to them that all together made for such an enjoyable and indeed memorable musical tapestry that I crowned it second place on my best scores of the year list for 2022. Now, two years later, we finally have a new installment for the show in McCreary’s soundtrack album for season two, and I for one cannot wait to find out how not only each of the original themes has evolved, but also to discover all the new ones the composer has introduced too.

The album for season two begins with “Old Tom Bombadil”, with gently optimistic strings and percussion opening the cue until it reveals itself as an actual song, sung by Rufus Wainwright. It’s a jolly and hopeful piece overall, rather fitting of the titular enigmatic character. Next track “Rhûn” is then the first piece of actual score, with dramatic chanting vocals being the stylistic centrepiece – a Bulgarian women’s choir, in fact – accompanied by rapid strings and moody brass, evoking a keen sense of power and malevolence for the desert-based eastern region of Middle Earth. “Concerning Stoors” however then turns the tone gentler, with some rather peaceful-sounding strings and woodwinds harkening close to the sound of the Harfoots from the first season – which is rather fitting really, as much like the Harfoots the Stoors are another breed of Hobbit. “Golden Leaves” is then another song, this time a gentler more ethereal piece sung in Quenya – Elvish – by Benjamin Walker, the actor for Elvish High King Gil-galad.

The wondrous chorals for the Elves then return in “Cirdan’s Perfection” as we hear the first of the returning themes – Elrond and Valinor. These wistful motifs peacefully intertwine on strings for the first half of the track until darker, more foreboding vocals and strings then arrive in the back half, and the Valinor theme then thunders to a dramatic crescendo followed by several increasingly sinister reprisals of the “Where The Shadows Lie” motif – a.k.a the theme for the rings of power themselves. The short “Stone Singers” then features some rather funeral-esque vocals building to crescendo alongside serene strings. The theme for the Stranger reprises in the subsequent “Sandstorm At The Well” in its now rather typically mysterious form on slow, ominous strings before the new Rhûn theme suddenly springs into fray on bursts of tense brass and chanting choir. It thunders through until the Stranger motif regains the reins in the back half of the track, building to a loudly dramatic crescendo a minute or so later. “Eregion” then introduces a new motif for the titular Elven kingdom that makes a prominent appearance this season; much like Valinor’s, it’s a rather ethereal piece featuring choral vocals and wondrous strings.

“Emissary At The Forge” opens with a similarly wondrous choir, keenly evoking Howard Shore’s Lord Of The Rings in its style before Sauron’s moody motif then starts to break through from the three minute mark alongside the swirling strings from “True Creation Requires Sacrifice” until the rings theme practically bursts into centre stage on crashingly emphatic brass, and the track fades to its end with quietly sinister reprisals of Sauron’s theme. “Shelob” then introduces another brand new motif, this time a skittering, eerily unnerving and rather frenetic one on tense strings. It’s very spider-like overall in its hair-raising movement, and given who the theme is for – you can see why. Orchestral and vocal sorrow is then the focal point of “The Pyre”, with the theme for Bronwyn & Arondir from the first season leading the solemn musical procession throughout the track’s two and a half minute runtime. It’s a beautifully tragic piece overall, for such a gorgeously romantic theme. Strings evoking the style of the Southlands motif then occupy much of “Estrid”, introducing a similarly styled and rather hopeful new theme for the titular newly introduced character for season two.

Grandiose vocals explode into the fray at the start of “The Great Eagle”, with the incredible Númenor theme striding proudly into centre stage a few seconds later. Alongside Galadriel’s it was my favourite motif from season one so I’m very glad to hear its return here, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint with a happily lengthy and thunderously orchestral playthrough in this cue. “The River-daughter” is then a short and rather optimistic song sung by Raya Yarborough, with counterpointedly creepy whispering vocals then opening the subsequent “Barrow-wights”; these set a particularly eerie tone right off the bat, with low-pitched brass and horror-like strings building the cue rapidly up into action territory as Elrond’s theme mightily muscles into frame. This fades as quickly as it arrives however, with the malevolently whispering vocals for the Barrow-wights then fading the track creepily out. The Estrid and Bronwyn & Arondir themes then reprise in “Forgiveness Takes An Age”, with the latter playing in particularly sorrowful form on strings in the cue’s back half. Valinor then ethereally reprises at the start of “Candles On The Tide”, with the motif for Elendil & Isildur from season one also returning on tense vocals towards the end of the track.

“Nampat” a.k.a the theme for the Orcs returns in “Army Of Orcs”, with its chanting vocal and aggressive brassy burst-based style also tensely reprising alongside dramatic drums. As the four minute track continues, Sauron’s malevolent motif also joins the fray with thunderous action following until Galadriels’ now loudly heroic theme crashes in to close out the cue. Heavy metal is then the focal point of “The Last Ballad Of Damrod”, with aggressively in-your-face vocals and bursts of deafening brass hammering the new theme for the titular troll home. Personally, I’m not entirely convinced heavy metal belongs in a Lord Of The Rings setting so I’m so-so on this particular new motif, but in fairness it is rather effective in conveying the menacing nature of Damrod. An almighty action cue is up next in “Battle For Eregion”, an eleven minute standout setpiece. Quiet brass opens the track, but this doesn’t stick around for long as the emphatically vocal “Nolwa Mahtar” from season one suddenly crashes into centre stage opposite the thundering footsteps of “Nampat”. The former motif in particular really shines throughout this setpiece, sounding richer, tenser and with much more orchestrally at stake as it takes on a new role as the main battle theme alongside similarly militaristic interspersions of both Elrond and Galadriel’s themes, and the occasional ethereal reprisal of Eregion.

Prince Durin’s noble Dwarven theme from the first season returns at the beginning of “Durin’s Bane”, with Elrond’s gentler motif then playing quietly alongside Galadriel’s before a darker tone seeps in for the back half of the eight minute track, starting with low-pitched vocals, brass and strings playing the Khazad-dûm theme until then building up to frantic orchestral action. “Last Temptation” continues where it leaves off in tone, with the moody rings of power motif playing sinisterly to start alongside Sauron’s ever malevolent theme. A minute in, frenetically chanting vocals then burst into fray to kick off another action segment opposite Galadriel’s ever dramatic theme. Just before the three minute mark the proud Southlands theme then makes a short appearance on strings before Galadriel, Sauron and Nolwa Mahtar’s then all return to orchestrally battle it out, with Elrond’s tensely crescendoing the track out. The Stranger mysteriously and indeed grandly returns in the subsequent “The Staff” after some rather ethereal vocals, with Nori’s theme also reprising on peaceful woodwinds.

With the album overall now starting to near its end, “Old Tom Bombadil Reprise” does exactly what it says on the tin really, this time with Rory Kinnear – the actor playing Tom in season two – and Daniel Weyman performing the vocals. Final and standout track “The Sun Yet Shines” then brings back the Galadriel and Nolwa Mahtar themes one last time for an unapologetically heroic and grandiose finishing flourish, bringing the full orchestra back together for a thunderously epic end to the soundtrack.

Overall, Bear McCreary’s score for season two of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is a frankly fantastic continuation of the first, in that it impeccably builds and expands upon the original themes from it while also introducing several new ones, and leaves you breathlessly excited for the next season by the end to boot. On the first point, of course all the themes you know and love from season one return – Elrond’s in particular is in ‘fighting mode’ now to some excellent orchestral results – but rather surprisingly and intriguingly it’s Nolwa Mahtar that’s the standout continuation here; it’s use across “Battle For Eregion”, “Last Temptation” and particularly “The Sun Yet Shines” as a new thunderous battle theme is simply brilliant. It always was an amazing theme, but now it’s been elevated to a new level entirely. Of the new motifs I have to say I found them overall perhaps a little… weaker than season one’s in terms of memorability, but this doesn’t stop the album overall from being amazing, and I do quite like the gently hopeful “Estrid”, and the freaky whispering vocals in “Barrow-wights” in fairness. All-in then, McCreary’s orchestration and handling of the sheer epic-ness and scale of Lord Of The Rings here is impeccable just as it was in the first season, so if you loved that score as I did, you’ll love this one too.

Season three please.

Score: 8.5/10

Standout Cues: Battle For Eregion/The Sun Yet Shines

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