Zanobard Reviews

Brian Tyler’s Transformers One is thunderously enjoyable from start to finish, featuring a killer main theme that harkens back to the grand old heroism of the composer’s Transformers: Prime work in style and leads a fist-pumpingly epic charge all across this action-heavy album.

It was intriguing indeed when Brian Tyler was announced as composer for Transformers One, for all the way back in 2010 he’d actually already composed for the titular robots in disguise franchise with music for the similarly-animated television series Transformers: Prime, and let me just say on the subject – his main theme for that show is truly a thing to behold. Grand and powerful and majestic, it was a theme that truly captured the power of the Primes in musical form, and if I’m honest it was that above all else that had me properly excited to hear what the composer would bring to Transformers One. Would he reprise the Prime theme, or maybe the original iconic animated series theme, or would he simply craft yet another new and incredible main theme for the iconic Autobots? Now with the album and indeed the film finally upon us, we can finally answer that intriguing question.

The soundtrack for Transformers One begins with “Transformers One Theme”, a seven minute extended suite for the film, and the fact that it’s the Standout Cue of the album should tell you much about how genuinely fantastic this track is. In terms of the above mentioned choices, Tyler has gone for the third in not reprising (mostly, anyway) but creating, with a brand new motif that debuts after some quiet orchestral and electronic opening build-up. At the forty second mark dramatic percussion starts to rise, and at sixty the new main theme boldly appears on grandly heroic brass; overall I’d liken it to a mixture of the music for Transformers: Prime and the War For Cybertron Trilogy in terms of style, being a tonal blend of grandly and indeed orchestrally majestic together with an action-centric electronically thunderous backbone. The dramatic new theme is genuinely excellent too, being memorable right off the bat, and it plays loudly and proudly through the first three and a half minutes of the opening cue here before fading out as slower, more pensive and thoughtful orchestra takes over, that then rises in intensity and grandiosity for the next minute and sounds intensely like part of the theme for Transformers: Prime in doing so (coincidence… I think not!). A brief stint of tense action then overtakes as the track starts to approach its end, before a dramatically deafening crescendo is then reached to close out the wonderful seven minute setpiece.

With the impeccable starting suite fading away the subsequent “Birth Of The Primes” then continues in a similar vein, opening quietly and moodily before then building up into a powerfully grand rendition of the new main theme. “Orion Pax” then focuses on a young and pre-upgrade Optimus Prime, weaving equal parts hope and majesty in wondrous vocals, electronics and noble brass in the first half – and reprising some of the material from the back half of the theme cue – before the main theme then dramatically thunders into frame for the final minute. “Destiny Of The Primes” then focuses on the pensiveness and mystery of the opening minute of the aforementioned theme track with quietly hopeful renditions of the main theme playing alongside in its first half, before the tense action from the last two minutes of the suite then bursts back into centre stage for the back half opposite strained, battle-ready main theme playthroughs. Some very Transformers-esque electronics then feature throughout “Transform The Dark” in a dubstep-esque fashion, before action thunders back into view with the three minute “Metal To The Pedal” as frenetic strings and bursts of worrisome brass take centre stage with the main theme stumbling fragmented close behind.

Solemn strings and piano notes play a dramatically downtrodden variation of the main theme through “Memory of The Forgotten”, with the subsequent “The Contenders” continuing this tone initially before then picking up the pace with tense electronics, vocals and brass followed by a brief hopeful burst of the Orion Pax/Primes material from earlier. The main theme then moodily reprises in “Trespaxxing” alongside some rather mysterious and ethereal vocals, before “More Than Meets The Eye” dials up the heroic action adventure with thunderous brass and frantic strings as the stylistic focus, interspersed with those very Transformers-esque electronics from earlier, and the occasional fragmented appearance of the main theme dotted throughout. “Escape To The Surface” then feels like the back half of the aforementioned action setpiece with tensions dialed up to eleven for the first two minutes, before thunder then gives way to wonder as the grandiose main theme fades the track to a gentle close. “Resting Place Of The Primes” then continues where the prior cue leaves off, reprising further hopeful material from the back half of the opening suite (which for ease I’ll now call the Primes motif) in slow and pensive form.

“Sentinel’s Betrayal” plays a moodily malevolent rendition of the Primes motif before moving onto a dramatically tense reprisal of the aggressive action from the back half of the theme suite opposite worrisome playthroughs of the main theme. “Echelon Now” then leans into pensive electronic atmosphere with sporadic notes from the main theme interspersed, with “New Cog Potential” continuing this in its first minute until the main theme then bursts heroically into centre stage, surging hope and majesty back into the music until tense action then suddenly crashes back into the fray to close out the cue. “Alpha’s Orders” and “Hidden Truth” then thunder the prior-mentioned action fully into centre stage, with the main theme playing across bursts of tense brass in the former and more ominous, moody and dark material starting to seep into the freneticness in the latter. This more malevolent side to the score then culminates in the subsequent “Starscream” alongside bursts of those Transformers-esque electronics, with the main theme playing pensively every so often to further seed the much more moody turn the music has taken. “Sealed Fate” also continues in this style, evoking downtrodden and murky atmosphere through much of its three and a half minute runtime.

Slow, ethereal brass and piano notes open “Together As One” evoking an intensely pensive atmosphere with serene vocals and synth also joining the fray, until the ever-heroic main theme then steps triumphantly into centre stage to close out the two minute track. Frantic orchestral action with fragmented main theme interspersions then occupy much of “Coming Of The Guard”, with “The Battle For Cybertron” and “Prime Reason” then continuing in much a similar vein as deafening brassy bursts accompany tense strings and percussion throughout their runtimes. “The Fall” then opens with an emphatic choral outburst before worrisome orchestra then takes centre stage, with a final frantic charge occupying the third minute. With the album starting to approach its end, “Battle Of The Titans” closes out the action with one last thunderous charge as the main theme finally retakes the reins. “I Am Optimus Prime” then reprises the Primes motif alongside a loudly victorious rendition of the main theme, before “Transformers One End Title” then closes out the story with one last grand thematic performance.

Overall Brian Tyler’s score for Transformers One is a fun, vibrant effort that while perhaps not being the most ground-breaking or standout of the saga, doesn’t stop it from being pretty damned entertaining throughout. The new main theme and resulting suite is of course the star of the show, being a classic Tyler composition as its equal parts memorable and thunderous (and happily pays a loving tribute to Transformers: Prime in its second half, which I’m sure will please many). The theme is used to excellent effect throughout the album here particularly in the more heroic aspects of the action music, and speaking of – the action here is pretty standard Tyler-esque fare, but the main theme does elevate it to fist-pumping heights at times with highlights being the loudly grandiose playthrough in “New Cog Potential” and the final fight setpiece “Battle Of The Titans”. The slower, more thoughtful side of the score is also quite interesting, with “Resting Place Of The Primes” for example shining brightly with wistful vocals and electronics. Altogether then, the exquisite orchestra here combined with ethereal vocals and those classic Transformers-sounding electronics holding the new main theme to thunderous heights makes this well worth checking out, even more so if you’re a Transformers: Prime fan.

Just hit play on the “Transformers One Theme” below.

Score: 7.5/10

Standout Cue: 1. Transformers One Theme

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