Zanobard Reviews

Happy Holidays everyone! With 2024 now fast fading into the distance, it is indeed that special time of year once again – time for another dramatically anticipated film music best of list, where we discuss each of the very best film scores of the year!

With the list right below, let’s not waste too much time – I will just say though as per usual with these lists that it is just a bit of fun really, and just my humble opinion versus the world’s! If you disagree or indeed have your own best of lists for the year please do share them below, I’d love to compare and contrast. But anyway, without further ado – let’s begin my Best Of 2024 list with this year’s Honourable Mention:

Halo – Season 1
By Sean Callery

One genuinely underappreciated aspect of the Paramount-produced Halo series was Sean Callery’s score for season one. It took two years to get a soundtrack album for it but one was finally dropped just out of the blue this November, and it’s absolutely deserving of this year’s Honourable Mention because of just how utterly epic it is. Its best track “Opening Salvo” does a wonderful job of not only firmly re-establishing Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori’s iconic theme from the games in this continuity but also then marrying it to Callery’s own and genuinely excellent new theme, which stands tall alongisde the original in its sheer nobility and heroism. The way these two themes then charge thunderously together all the way through this fantastic album is simply sublime, with dramatic action setpiece “Strategic Retreat”, the grandly building “Duty Bound” and the fist-pumpingly epic “Brute Force Entry” (where the brilliant action motif from the games also reprises) to name but a few being utterly standout. All-in; great themes, a sublime atmospherically electronic & triumphantly orchestral style and an unequivocally Halo thematic feel to it all make this score well worthy of this list, and definitely worth a listen.

10. Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
By John Paesano

The first film score on this year’s top ten is Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, a dramatically orchestral work by John Paesano that manages to bridge not one or two, but three iterations of an iconic franchise together as Jerry Goldsmith’s iconically eerie and Michael Giacchino’s wondrously serene respective contributions (thematic in Goldsmith’s case, stylistic in Giacchino’s) to the decades-long franchise return alongside some pretty spellbinding new themes of Paesano’s own for this new age of Apes. Speaking of Paesano’s, the heartfelt, noble Discovery theme debuts across dramatic Standout Cue “Discovery”, the wondrous motif for the Eagle Clan is at its grandest in tense action piece “Ape Aquatics” and the hopeful Noa’s theme stands heroically tall at the end of “Noa’s Purpose”, and together with some exquisite Goldsmith reprisals as mentioned above (the best being through “Human Hunt”) all-in makes this expertly-woven thematic and indeed dramatic tapestry more than worthy of this year’s list.

9. Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire
By Tom Holkenborg

Next up; Tom Holkenborg and Antonio Di Iorio’s explosive sequel soundtrack for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire! It plays very much like a louder and bolder older brother to its already thunderous predecessor Godzilla V.s. Kong from 2021, and is well worthy of this year’s top ten list as a result; the grand, unapologetically heroic main themes of Holkenborg are more fleshed out and play in more spectacular fashion here, with Kong’s motif in particular taking several dramatically heroic stands across the album and really coming into its own. This naturally makes for some excellent standout setpieces such as the thunderous “Main Title Theme” and the triumphant action duo “Collapsing Gravity” and “Frozen Rio”, and all-in combined with Holkenborg’s continually bombastic compositional style it makes for a pretty amazing and indeed enjoyable monster-battling album.

8. Wicked
By John Powell and Stephen Schwartz

In eighth place this year is John Powell and Stephen Schwartz’s wondrously fantastical score for the new Wicked movie; I’d never actually even heard the musical before this particular album came out – to my shame, I know – but diving into its richly thematic and indeed magical world through this new score gave me a proper appreciation for it, with the way that John Powell’s frankly fantastic manipulation of orchestra comes together with Schwartz’s memorable and iconic themes from the original musical being the absolute highlight. Indeed, the emotional power that the motifs from “No One Mourns The Wicked” and “What Is This Feeling” in particular evoke here is amazing, with the latter theme for example elevating Standout Cue “Train To Emerald City” to soaring heights. And the brassy and percussive highlights in “Arrival At Shiz University”, the sweeping strings through “Train To Emerald City” and the heroic powerhouse of “All Around Defying Gravity” to name but three are impeccable illustrations of Powell’s excellent compositional style at work, so all-in it’s an album well worthy of this year’s list.

7. The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim
By Stephen Gallagher

The iconic orchestral style of Howard Shore’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy returns in spellbinding form for Stephen Gallagher’s The War Of The Rohirrim, so already this score has some serious stuff going for it before you’ve even hit play. But despite the utter grandiose glory of the Rohan and Gondor themes returning, what actually stands out the most here is Gallagher’s brand new theme for Héra, the shield-maiden of Rohan and main character of the film. Her noble, heroic and rather memorable motif stands tall and genuinely holds its own amongst the thematic giants of Howard Shore here, and through several spectacular action setpieces – “The Beast Is Rabid”, “Adventure Beckons” and “A Shield-maiden of Rohan” to name but three – as well as the frankly fantastic opening suite and standout “Overture”, it leads a dramatic orchestral charge that makes this LOTR soundtrack entry well worth checking out, and of course one that belongs and then some on this year’s top ten.

6. Nosferatu
By Robin Carolan

Enter a world of haunting gothic grandeur with Robin Carolan’s Nosferatu, where gentle strings-based serenity and hair-raising brassy crescendos evoke a continually orchestrally unnerving tone throughout this darkly, twistedly romantic soundtrack for the brand new film. And while the aforementioned eerie style of the music here is meticulous, impeccably well-crafted and very enjoyable, the most standout aspect of this album is its themes; the titular Count Orlok gets two, one for his sinister malevolence (see “Orloks Shadow”) and the other for the dark, mysterious nature of the character (“Premonition”), while the Hutters – Thomas and Ellen – get a gently mournful piece that plays across the brilliantly serene “Goodbye”, and the way it then builds to an absolutely devastating conclusion in “Liliacs” as part of the finale is orchestral storytelling at its finest. It’s the “Daybreak” motif though that’s the absolute star of the show here, as the tremendous emotional swells it goes through across the aforementioned cue and the conclusive “Bound” are just utterly gorgeous in their haunting string solemnity, and all these aspects together guarantee Carolan’s hauntingly romantic score a spot on this year’s list as a result.

5. Transformers One
By Brian Tyler

Brian Tyler’s Transformers One features the composer at his thunderously orchestral best, with a killer main theme that not only harkens back to the grand old heroism of Tyler’s Transformers: Prime in compositional style but also leads a fist-pumpingly epic charge all across this action-heavy album. Standout Cue “Transformers One Theme” features the titular motif at its heroic finest – being equal parts memorable and thunderous, and happily paying a loving tribute to Transformers: Prime in its second half, which I’m sure will please many – with action setpieces “New Cog Potential” and the final fight “Battle Of The Titans” as well as the swellingly emotional “The Fall” also being particularly dramatic highlights. The slower, more thoughtful side of the score is quite interesting as well, with “Resting Place Of The Primes” for example shining brightly with wistful vocals and electronics, and so all-in its an entertaining and indeed unapologetically epic Tyler work that absolutely belongs amongst the very best of the year.

4. Alien: Romulus
By Benjamin Wallfisch

The first of two Benjamin Wallfisch film scores on the list this year is Alien: Romulus, and what a dark, eerie, unnerving and genuinely brilliant soundtrack it is. The composer tries to have it all in harkening back to Alien films of old with thematic references to Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic 1979 original (see “XX121”) and Harry Gregson-Williams’ hopeful Prometheus (“Prometheus Fire”) as well as stylistic ones for James Horner (“Guns V Acid Blood”) and Elliot Goldenthal (“Raine”), while also introducing and cementing several memorable new themes of his own in motifs for main characters Rain (“That’s Our Sun”), Andy (see “Andy”) and of course the Alien itself (“The Chrysalis”), and somehow… it all really, really works. Wallfisch’s moody, atmospheric orchestral style fits the eerily unnerving atmosphere of Alien like a glove, and the way all the aforementioned themes are expertly weaved together throughout this chillingly entertaining album is truly something special, with the way Rain’s theme in particular goes through hope, harrow and heroism in its leading charge being the absolute standout aspect. Just check out “The Chrysalis” and soak in that stylistic and thematic atmosphere. Pure Alien.

3. Twisters
By Benjamin Wallfisch

Twisters marks the second of the Wallfisch scores on this year’s list, and it narrowly beats Alien: Romulus in one way and one way only. It has an absolutely killer main theme; Kate’s theme. It’s showcased throughout the album here but most notably in the hopeful “Kate’s Theme” on serene strings, in tense action form through “El Reno” on brass and finally across standout cue “Twisters” in a blaze of utter, impeccable heroism, and… well, that final track in particular is the absolute star of the show here, being an utter orchestral powerhouse of an action cue and one that comes in close second on the Cue Of The Year Awards this year because of how genuinely phenomenal it is. It’s Wallfisch at his absolute orchestral best, weaving themes and drama to incredible complexity and it sounds utterly gorgeous as a result, and that’s not just that track either – indeed, the rest of the album builds up to this epic powerhouse of a moment pretty excellently too, building Kate and a wondrously mysterious theme for the twisters themselves on frankly fantastic-sounding orchestra, and all-in you really gotta hand it to Wallfisch; he’s had one hell of a year.

2. Dune: Part Two
By Hans Zimmer

A wary desert soundscape now bound with a love theme for the ages, Hans Zimmer’s Dune: Part Two takes the established quiet, thoughtful and moody themes from the first film and essentially amplifies them to a dramatically bombastic hundred, with this shift in tone allowing for some truly spectacular weaving of the composer’s thematic tapestry for Dune as a result – and the finest new thread is the absolutely gorgeous aforementioned love theme for Paul and Chani. It plays at its best through the proudly romantic “A Time Of Quiet Between The Storms” and the dramatically triumphant “Kiss The Ring”, as well as quietly swelling through the first half of the album’s very best cue “Only I Will Remain” before the “Holy War” motif from the first film – now emphatically transformed into Paul’s Victory theme – builds to the most thunderously victorious crescendo on deafening bursts of dramatic electronics, soaring vocals and triumphant synth notes, all-in making for the Standout film music moment of the year for me, and cementing this already pretty fantastic score as very high indeed on this year’s top ten list. Beaten only by one.

1. Top Gun
By Harold Faltermeyer

Oh yes, you read that right. But didn’t this come out in 1986?

It is a bit cheaty, I admit. But while the film did indeed release all the way back then, Harold Faltermeyer’s epic synthesizer-focused score sadly never saw the light of release day at the time – it wasn’t until this year, nearly forty years later, that La-La Land Records was able to finally release Faltermeyer’s iconic Top Gun work in all its thunderous fist-pumpingly Anthem-focused glory, and it’s so utterly brilliant a film score that it pretty much won Score Of The Year immediately. The vibrantly remastered sound and the just wonderfully ’80s synth-and-guitar aesthetic of the entire album is simply gorgeous, and from all those spectacular unreleased setpieces you’ve been hoping for (including the absolute grail for me “Jester Flying”, that long-awaited “Mighty Wings” instrumental) and remastered inclusions of all the incredible songs for the film all the way thunderously up to the numerous impeccable renditions of the iconic Top Gun Anthem lovingly arranged all across this two-disc experience (with the “Extended Mix” at the end being the absolute masterpiece of them all), this score is frankly mesmerising in how utterly perfect it is from start to finish, and while technically it is a bit cheaty to crown this as the Score Of The Year for 2024, you have to admit – it is utterly, soaringly spectacular, and well worthy of this top spot.

And that’s all folks! Hope you all have happy holidays, and we’ll see you next year!