Zanobard Reviews

Naoki Sato’s darkly and unwaveringly dramatic score for Godzilla Minus One is simply incredible in its orchestrations, and the way that they convey utterly raw emotion – whether its the solemn strings for the human characters that then build to surging hope towards the finale, or indeed the powerful brassy footsteps of the terrifying titular Titan.

The score for Godzilla Minus One is an intriguing one, that’s for sure. I’d never really dabbled in the Japanese Godzilla music arena before, but this particular album caught my eye – or well, ear – last year as it’s just so… visceral. Emotive, in its orchestrations. The way it uses these deep, painful strings and this swellingly sorrowful but determined brass to convey the resolve of the film’s human characters – composer Naoki Sato seems to be simply a mastermind at conveying raw, deep emotion in his music, and even though Minus One is perhaps a bit light on the side of really tangible, memorable motifs for its characters – relying more on the aforementioned emotional swell of its instrumentation instead – the frankly spellbinding way it does this is a thing to behold just on its own. So today I’ve finally gotten around to reviewing it – the deluxe version of it, more specifically, and without further ado; the score begins with “Fear”, and it’s here that we hear the first of Sato’s utterly captivating use of instrumentation. The track however opens almost silently, taking a few seconds before moody, low-pitched brass, aggressive electronic swirls and eerie ambience slowly start to build until just past the two minute mark where things get loud. Here the electronics are joined by frenetic strings with the entire ensemble whipped up into this gigantic deafening frenzy, and in doing so the stylistic motif for the antagonistic Godzilla is revealed. Like I said, less themes on this album than simply raw texture and emotion, and Godzilla’s here is rage.

The subsequent “Pain II” dials the volume back considerably, with solemn and much more withdrawn higher-pitched strings introducing the human side to the story. Unlike Godzilla’s emotively rageful motif, the music for the humans is much more tragic and downbeat, rather mournful in fact. The music in this cue builds in a similar way to that of Godzilla’s in “Fear”, increasing in both volume and intensity right up until the end, though this time in a less rageful and more sorrowful manner. The short “Live” then swells in a similarly gently morose manner before “Honor II” starts to swell too – but this time in a grander, much more determined manner with heroic bursts of brass and stirring strings building to a profound sense of orchestral wonder before the two minute cue then fades quickly out. The way this just sounds as well is really amazing; I have to hand it to composer Sato, their approach to orchestration is truly gorgeous. With this grandness fading out however the brief “Scar” starts to delve back into Godzilla territory with moodily low-pitched swathes of brass, and the subsequent sub-minute “Incident” behaves in a similar manner with echoingly unnerving electronics rising to rapid crescendo. “Days” then changes the tone up dramatically, trading the aforementioned brass and electronics for upbeat guitar twangs as a profound sense of peace and tranquility settles for just under a minute. “Portent” however then starts to re-seed the earlier darkness, with waves of ominous electronics setting a deeply unsettling tone throughout.

The five and a half minute “Confusion” opens in a similar manner to that of the prior cue with eerily low-pitched electronics before some rather air raid siren-sounding brass – which sounds really cool by the way – dials up the tension quite considerably, rising in both volume and intensity alongside swathes of equally ominous orchestra until this cold ambience then fades quietly away. Not the easiest track to listen to casually perhaps, but an impeccably atmospheric one nonetheless. “Divine” then brings back the orchestra properly with worryingly rising strings before Godzilla bursts thunderously into centre stage with great earth-shattering crashes of brass and echoingly dramatic vocals. This is the score at its absolute loudest so far, and wow does it go for it. With the terror of Godzilla’s wake still settling “Guilt” then turns to solemn, downtrodden strings for its four minute runtime before “Fear II” starts to rebuild the threat of the titular Titan with electronic swirls and tense strings much akin to that of the first “Fear” cue. Up next though we then have “Godzilla Suite I”; and its none other than an epic reprise of Akira Ifukube’s impeccably iconic Godzilla theme, apparently referencing the classic 1964 Mothra V.s. Godzilla score as it does so. I must say though I am a bit conflicted to hear this, as while Ifukube’s theme is of course fantastic, its thunderously heroic inclusion here does jar quite dramatically with Sato’s much darker, more solemn style for Minus One. They just don’t really fit together. I can’t believe I’m saying this but… maybe this was one Godzilla score that didn’t need Ifukube’s theme. Or at least… not in this epic orchestral way.

With Ifukube fading out, “Divine II” returns to Sato’s own material for Godzilla; the grandly ground-shaking brass crashes and echoing vocals, and yeah – this really does reinforce my above point. Sato’s material is just so loud, dark and visceral – great as it is, it just doesn’t really work with Ifukube’s theme. It’s frankly immense in its own right too, so it doesn’t really need it either. With Godzilla having stamped orchestrally away once again, “Elegy” reprises the more human side of the score with solemn, painful strings painting a tensely sorrowful picture in the wake of the terrible Titan’s destructive force. Hope however starts to rise in the subsequent cue, the three minute “Mission”; stirring electronics rise through in its first two minutes before grandiose, emphatic brass and swirling strings take centre stage for the cue’s final minute, rallying hope and heroism behind it as the humans begin to take a stand against the threat of Godzilla. The well-titled “Hope” and “Honor” then continue this rapidly rising new feeling, with the sub-minute former track utilising high-pitched, gentle strings and the two-minute latter one reprising the grandly heroic brass from “Mission” to represent the newfound sense of optimism for the humans’ endeavour. Strings then swell to almost deafening effect in “Pride”, rising to a thunderous crescendo with the aforementioned instrumentation swirling all around at the two minute mark. “Pain” however then starts to pull the music back down, rising and falling in increasingly worrisome bursts of strings.

Standout Cue “Resolution” holds grandiose, determined strings as its stylistic centrepiece, endlessly repeating and resolvedly building to represent the hope and heroism of the humans as they fight against the iconic titular Titan in the film’s dramatic climax. As the impeccably orchestrated track continues, these strings rise in thunderous intensity with brass and electronics also starting to swirl until a sudden dramatic swell introduces loudly emphatic vocals alongside the now crescendoing orchestration for the score’s loudest and boldest moment yet. I mentioned earlier that Sato’s orchestrations for Minus One here are just sublime, and no truer is that statement than throughout this mind-bendingly fantastic five minute cue. “Godzilla Suite II” then returns to the iconic land of Ifukube with another lengthy but still jarring reprisal of his theme, before “Unscathed” returns to Sato’s own Godzilla material with downtrodden strings playing opposite the crashing footstep-esque bursts of malevolent brass for the Titan. “Last” however gives the humans one last stand, with bells ringing and hopeful strings playing until a sudden deafeningly heroic blast of brass thunders into centre stage at the ninety second mark with the full orchestra mightily at its back. Another standout track it most certainly is. With the album overall now approaching its end, “Pray” utilises solemnly ethereal vocals and morose strings before “Godzilla Suite III” gives us one last dramatic look at Ifukube. To close the score, “Resolution (reprise)” gives us another excellent look at the best part of the score before the forty second “Roar” finally gives the titular Titan one last screeching laugh.

Overall, Naoki Sato’s score for Godzilla Minus One is truly a phenomenal work. Its absolute strength lies in its orchestration, whether it’s the gently serene strings and vocals in “Pray”, the terrifyingly deafening bursts of brass that sound like the titanic footsteps of Godzilla himself in “Divine” or “Fear”, or indeed the powerfully heroic surges of orchestral hope as the humans of the story stand against the iconic Titan in the standout “Resolution”, “Last” or “Mission”. It all just sounds utterly immense, and the way the composer conveys sheer emotion throughout their impeccable stylistics across the above tracks and indeed the entire album honestly is something to behold. Because of this, I can pretty much forgive the lack of tangible themes of Sato’s own here as the raw emotions that their instrumentation and textures evoke are so visceral and recognisable that they work just as well as motifs, whether its the gentle sorrow for the humans initially before their powerful hope surges towards the end of the score, or indeed Godzilla’s unbelievable brassy thunder. On that last bit actually, I will say that the one thing I’m not overly fond of here is the inclusion of Akira Ifukube’s iconic Godzilla theme – and I almost kick myself for saying that. I love Ifukube’s theme, so much, but it just… doesn’t fit with Sato’s darkly dramatic stylings for Minus One. Whenever a “Godzilla Suite” kicks into gear here it clashes with the Sato cues that come before or after it, at least for me. But still, it’s nice that Ifukube’s themes are included at all I suppose (looking at you, Holkenborg!).

Anyway. Godzilla Minus One is the best Titan score since King Of The Monsters for me, for its sheer visceralness if nothing else. Clearly, I need to go check out more of the Japanese Godzilla works.

Score: 8.5/10

Standout Cues: Resolution/Last

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