Zanobard Reviews

Brad Fiedel’s The Terminator is an absolute masterclass in atmospheric world building through music; its eerily malevolent synthesizer notes prowl iconic and unstoppable all across this hauntingly epic album, ever-hunting the solemnly memorable main theme and all-in establishing a musical world that’s utterly, coldly and indeed perfectly fitting for Skynet’s terrifying machines.

Brad Fiedel’s theme for The Terminator is one of my favourite pieces of film music of all time. The motif brilliantly captures the darkly epic yet also solemnly downtrodden tone of the franchise as a narrative idea, and its two minute suite playthrough through the main title cue for Terminator 2: Judgment Day reigns supreme for me personally as the ultimate rendition of the theme so far. That being said, its lengthy appearances throughout The Terminator are not to be understated either, and so it’s with the first of those that this soundtrack review begins. “The Terminator (Main Title)” opens the album for the 1984 movie, and right off the bat Fiedel sets an eerily unnerving mood as the first of those exquisite synthesizer notes play. A brief excerpt from the coldly eerie motif for the Future War against the machines then sounds tensely through before the iconic “duh-duh dum dum-dum” percussive rhythm the franchise is most musically famous for makes its very first appearance, and from there a dramatic pace kicks moodily into frame as the six-note main theme begins to play. Like I say it’s an equal parts epic as it is solemn composition overall, making it utterly brilliant as a result, and perfect for representing the ultimate killing machine – and it doesn’t stick around for too long here before getting drowned out by the malevolent percussive movement that then thunders the opening cue to a close.

“Terminator Arrival/Reese Chased/Sarah On Motorbike” then delves deeper into sinister territory in its first half, introducing a four note motif for the titular T-800 after a swathe of moody low-pitched synth. This motif has an ever-repeating structure that makes it feel like a predator, utterly unstoppable – which is very apt indeed considering what it represents – and the way it then hunts its prey – the main theme – over the course of the rest of the score is one of its absolute highlights. As the T-800 motif fades into the background lighter and more hopeful electronics then build into centre stage as Kyle Reese enters the story, with a somewhat gentler but also still rather dark and morose tone then occupying the track for the remainder of its runtime. The eerie T-800 motif then reprises on low-pitched synth in “Terminator Gets Guns/Search For Sarah” with the lighter electronics from the prior cue briefly interrupting until it seeds malevolently back into the fray for the cue’s final few seconds. The Future War theme from the main title then reprises fully for “Reese Dreams Of Future War”, a dim and dreary track that evokes great solemnity and misery as a brief window into humanity’s grim Skynet-occupied future unfolds on screen.

The score fades into quiet pensivity for the opening of “Sarah Watches News/Enters Tech Noir”, with the ever foreboding low-pitched synth however still occupying the background. The eight minute “Matt & Ginger Killed/Sarah Calls Detectives” then dives right back into the terrifying soundscape of the T-800, with its four-note hunting motif playing right off the bat alongside eerie horror-like electronic bursts. Sinister atmosphere then occupies much of the track’s remaining minutes with the T-800’s dissonant theme ever in tow, with the pace picking up rather frantically in the second half. This ever-present hunting motif then continues through the first few minutes of “Reese & Sarah In Garage” before frenetic electronic action kicks off once again at near the three minute mark, thundering tensely through until finally crashing into a deafening crescendo. Dark, moody atmosphere occupies the entirety of “Arm And Eye Surgery” with the four note T-800 piece held firmly and malevolently centre stage, which then continues into the subsequent “I’ll Be Back/Police Station & Escape” until the percussion from the main title reprises and tense action then overtakes for the remainder of the track.

Dour, ominous electronic ambience is the stylistic and tonal centrepiece of “Future Flashback”, with repeating moody percussion firmly cementing this dreary atmosphere all across its four minute runtime alongside ghostly vocals. The brilliantly titled “Fuck You Asshole” then doubles down on the moody ambience with the ever-malevolent T-800 motif lurking in the background. The main theme returns in full for the three minute “Love Scene”, reprising on gently romantic piano notes and strings for a beautifully serene setpiece overall. This gentleness doesn’t last for long though as the four-note T-800 theme brings back the dark frenetic action in “Tunnel Chase”, with loud bursts of imposing electronics playing alongside increasingly worrisome percussion. Low-pitched, incredibly ominous synth notes then lead the opening minute of “Death By Fire/Terminator Gets Up” before the music quietens and a gently solemn rendition of the main theme plays. This doesn’t last either though as the frantically deafening electronics then rear their heads once again, crashing the track to its finish.

With the album starting to draw towards its end, “Factory Chase” draws on the frantic and erratic-ness of the action music from earlier with tensions dialed up considerably until the music finally crashes out with a dramatically deafening crescendo at the four minute mark. “End Credits Final Suite” then picks up where this leaves off, opening quietly before practically bursting with a horror-like high-pitched final appearance from the action electronics until the music falls quiet once again. The gentle piano notes from “Love Scene” then reprise with the main theme sorrowfully in tow, with the aforementioned motif then bursting into a dramatically thunderous full rendition much like that of the “Main Title” but longer, to signify the solemn end to the film. The score doesn’t end there though; as a final treat we have “The Terminator Theme (Extended Version)” which is, like it says on the tin, a lengthy and indeed standout playthrough of that iconic main theme on unapologetically dramatic synth to close out the album proper.

Overall, Brad Fiedel’s incredible The Terminator is a film score simply awash in masterfully-crafted dark, foreboding ambience, and that combined with its iconic main theme makes it one of the most fantastically recognisable soundtracks around. Even just the opening notes of the album, the moodily eerie low-pitched synthesizer notes, is enough to immediately envelop you in this dark, dreary post-apocalyptic future where malevolent robots roam the ruined cityscape – the sheer atmosphere that Fiedel creates here is astounding, and instantly recognisable as Terminator even without the main theme playing which is truly a musical feat to behold. And the actual themes then only elevate this stylistic excellence, whether its the coldly predatorial four-note T-800 motif, the scramblingly frenetic percussive recurrence for Kyle Reese, the moodily foreboding motivic repetition for the Future War or indeed the overarching and forever iconic Terminator theme itself – they all weave together into this incredible tapestry that not only tells an amazing musical story, but also stands the test of time: to this day, the Terminator theme still recurs – see the music for Terminator: Zero for example, which came out this year and still reprises the “duh-duh dum dum-dum” percussive rhythm forty years after the original film came out – and much like the titular malevolent machine it represents, it absolutely will not stop.

Score: 9/10

Standout Cue: The Terminator Theme (Extended Version)

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