Zanobard Reviews

Gordy Haab’s Indiana Jones And The Great Circle channels John Williams to spellbinding stylistic effect, making you feel as if you were in a whole new Indy score just in the adventurous feeling it evokes without a single note of a theme playing. That though is where the album stumbles slightly, as while Haab has some great new motifs of his own and the Raiders March does appear, the latter never quite plays in that lengthy fist-pumpingly heroic rendition you want it to.

The Raiders March does indeed appear on the soundtrack album for Indiana Jones And The Great Circle – but not just yet. Instead, Gordy Haab’s score for the 2024 videogame opens with “The Great Circle”, the first of the composer’s brand new themes to add to the iconic franchise. The five minute track opens almost serenely before then practically bursting as loudly intense brass and roaring vocals cement the dramatically mysterious new motif for the titular Great Circle, the subject of Indy’s investigations in the game. With orchestral grandiosity firmly established, the music then simmers for a short while with sinister brass undertones and wary strings before starting to build again at the three minute mark. From here the orchestra and vocals rise in both volume and intensity with the mystery and grandness of earlier building and swirling until finally a thunderous crescendo is unleashed, and the track overall fades back into an eerie silence. An imposing start to this Indy score for sure, but one thing that I do have to praise here – as I always do with Haab now honestly – is the composer’s phenomenal orchestrations. The music just sounds so much like John Williams even when not a note of his iconic themes are playing, and that’s a phenomenal skill to have. With the mystery of the Great Circle fading, playful bursts of brass and frenetic strings then practically leap into centre stage for “Gina’s Theme”, a motif for Indy’s companion for the game and overall a keenly adventurous piece of music that feels right at home alongside the likes of Helena’s theme from Dial Of Destiny, just in its pure exuberant style.

High-pitched, worrisome strings open “One Stormy Night” before the moment we’ve been waiting for finally happens; the Raiders March plays. It’s a brief blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in rather anxious form, but it’s there nonetheless! There was a lot of wariness before this album dropped that due to rights etc. the March wouldn’t be allowed on the soundtrack, so it’s great to hear it even briefly here. Twinkling notes from the Great Circle motif then open “The Intruder” before building into a tense brassy flourish, with the ever-mysterious theme also continuing on ominous strings into the subsequent “Story Time” before a brief flash of hope arrives as the Raiders March gently closes the cue. None other than the ever-romantic Marion’s theme then plays as gracefully as ever in “A New Adventure Awaits” followed closely by a more playful and upbeat Raiders March before the orchestra then leaps into pure flying grandeur. Gina’s playful motif then opens “Birdwatching” with a couple brief reprisals of the Raiders March following in a rather stealthy, investigatory manner, a tone which then continues through the subsequent “Follow That Nun” and becomes murkier and moodier through ambience in five minute “The Catacomb” until the Raiders March explodes briefly but heroically towards the end of the track. And speaking of, one thing I have to say actually about the Williams quotes so far; amazing as it is to hear them, they are all a bit short and “cameo-esque”, never really playing in the full way you want them to. I’m not sure whether that’s a rights thing or a creative choice or what, but it is a little unsatisfying, that’s for sure.

Wary orchestral tension is the focus of “Secret Stones” with brief interspersals of the Great Circle motif, before the pace then starts to quicken and tensions begin to rise in “Where Are We” with the first proper signs of action making themselves known. This dies down for “Signs Of The Stones” with twinkling, mysterious notes from the Great Circle theme reprising before action then thunders fully into fray for “A Short Exit” and the subsequent “Gizeh”, with rapid bursts of brass and crashes of percussion leading a particularly Williams-esque orchestral charge across both cues. Dramatic strings-based terror then occupies the start of “Being Buried” before the tone then simmers into quiet malevolence, though a surge of pure heroism then practically erupts at the start of “Nepal Air” with a gentler Raiders March following shortly after to really start to get things back into the adventurous gear. Gentle strings romance is then the focal point of “An Unexpected Reunion”, with the warmth of the orchestrations being an absolute highlight before action fully returns to the fold for four minute setpiece “The Battleship”. Eerie strings open the track with frenetic bursts of brass then setting a dramatic pace alongside panicked strings. Things then start to slow at around the two minute mark with darkly worrisome orchestrations rolling in, though its not long before tensions then kick back up into fever pitch as the subsequent “The Stone Activates” thunders emphatically along for two further minutes of imposing action orchestra with a few increasingly in-your-face renditions of the Great Circle theme.

“To Sukhothai” feels like one of those epic travel cues that always brings a smile on John Williams’ Indy scores, and this particular entry is no different as the Raiders March gets an enjoyably heroic – though again sadly short – flourish atop spectacularly soaring orchestra. Six minute “The Path Is Revealed” then dials up the mystery initially before bursting into deafening drama once again with the Great Circle motif held tensely high, and frantic action following in the track’s anxiously intense second half until a final heroic crescendo crashes it out. The Great Circle theme then crashes emphatically through minute-long “The Flood” on deafening brass, percussion and vocals before the music simmers somewhat with moody string malevolence through “Voss’ Plans”. With the album overall starting to reach its end, “It’s A Circle” gives the Great Circle motif several grandly mysterious statements with reprisals of Gina’s theme interspersed lightly inbetween, before seven minute action setpiece “The Heavens Open Up” gives action a lengthy uninterrupted focus with Williams-esque string flourishes, bursting statements of feverishly tense brass, dramatic vocals and frenetic reprisals of the Raiders March and Great Circle motifs. “Until The Next Adventure” then closes the story with a gently playful – though still short – final rendition of the Raiders March to start before a grandly adventurous flourish fades Gina’s theme – and the album – to a close.

Overall, Gordy Haab’s score for Indiana Jones And The Great Circle manages to capture that John Williams-esque orchestral spirit to excellent effect, much like with the composer’s Star Wars Battlefront, Squadrons and Fallen Order (alongside Stephen Barton) scores. He really does have a knack for it, that’s for sure. The music here just sounds like Indy through its grandly adventurous brass flourishes, playful strings and tense crashes of drums when called upon, and that combined with several enjoyable and genuinely quite memorable new motifs in the composer’s upbeat Gina and mysterious Great Circle themes makes this album pretty solidly entertaining throughout. That being said though, we do have to talk about the Raiders March. It’s just… not used enough, I’m sorry. I really wanted to be okay with that as there is a lot to enjoy here as mentioned above, but this is an Indy score and I wish there was more of the Raiders March. It does appear in fairness – there was a worry it wasn’t going to due to rights etc. – but sadly just never as the focus or in any particularly impressive way. It’s role is reduced to fleeting heroic flourishes and brief cameos, and you never quite get that full rendition of the iconic theme that you want here which is a massive shame as Haab’s orchestrations & Williams emulation is genuinely fantastic, so I think he could’ve used it really well. I’m not sure whether the lack of the March was a creative choice or a rights problem but either way, given that this is an Indy score I can’t say I don’t really feel its lack of proper presence here.

Oh well. The end of the world it isn’t, as there’s still a lot to like here with the Gina and Great Circle motifs, as well as of course Haab’s impeccably Williams-esque style.

Score: 7/10

Standout Cues: To Sukhothai/The Heavens Open Up

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