Roque Baños captures the eerily unnerving dread of the 2013 Evil Dead movie impeccably in his relentlessly atmospheric score, with some tremendously brass and gothic choir-focused action setpieces (“Abominations Rising”) cementing it as a true work of horror music art.
‘Of gothic melancholy’ is the phrase I would use to describe Roque Baños’ “The Evil Dead Main Theme”; quietly foreboding piano notes echo serenely against swathes of moodier strings through this almost waltz-like hundred second cue, seeding a deep sense of unease and dread without so much as raising a loud note until the instrumentation simply fades out. Beginning the score proper, “I’ll Rip Your Soul Out” then dips into more obvious horror territory as high-pitched strings set a hair-raising tone right off the bat before a sudden burst of angry brass and deafening drums practically screams. The dramatic volume then fades as quickly as it arrived, with quietly simmering strings, ominous plinks of percussion and an air raid siren continuing the tension building for several further minutes. Chanting vocals then quickly start to increase the volume again, building to an intensely Elliot Goldenthal-esque crescendo before the gentle piano motif of the main theme returns to warily bring the five minute track to a close. All-in, it’s an intriguing start for Baños’ Evil Dead – the sheer style of it is immense, both in the deeply unsettling piano/string combination of the main theme and the intensely aggressive chanting, brass and siren-focused relentless action that sounds at least partly influenced by Goldenthal and Christopher Young. Often horror scores just descend into the standard mindless high-pitched strings territory, but this – this is so much more than that. Richly atmospheric with some frankly gorgeous-sounding instrumentation and a solid theme to boot – colour me already intrigued.
A similarly solemn piano-focused tone to that of the main theme opens “Sad Memories”, with another – this time much gentler – new motif then debuting on downtrodden, almost regretful strings. As the track continues however the mood then starts to descend into warier, more ominous territory with the still sublime piano and strings work evoking more and more of a horror-like mood together with hints back toward that eerie air raid siren. A seething sea of creepy strings then occupies much of “Don’t Say It, Don’t Write It, Don’t Hear It”, alongside some intriguingly whispering vocals, plinking piano and additional, higher-pitched strings playing the serene main theme. A sudden burst of tense brass opens subsequent action setpiece “Demon Possession”, with frantic strings urging a dramatic pace along until the music suddenly stops dead. From here, eerie murmurs of strings, the whispering temptations of vocals and echoing piano all seed a hair-raising atmosphere until the action suddenly roars back into centre stage again from the two minute mark with bursts of Goldenthal-y brass, a surging choir and rapid strings at the intense forefront. After a lively crescendo finish, “Get Me Out Of Here” returns to quieter and thickly atmospheric territory as the motif from “Sad Memories” reprises firstly on anxious piano floating atop a backdrop of sinister-sounding strings before then transitioning onto those strings with low-pitched brass, the air raid siren and the whispering vocals all tempting away in the background.
A deeply sinister ambience settles for “She Tried To Kill Me” as low-pitched strings and brass play centrally, with “He Won’t Let You Out” afterward continuing in a similar stylistic vein with the addition of a coldly malevolent rendition of the main theme and echoing piano notes. The air raid siren then echoes horrifically at the start of “Bloody Kiss” together with increasingly nervous strings before several suddenly shrill blasts of brass thunder the two minute cue to a crashing finish. A rather ghostly choir then opens “Three Ways Of Saving Her Soul”, with frenetic strings, frenzied brass and the occasional hint of the air raid siren surging dramatically inbetween quieter, piano-focused ominousness for the remainder of the track. The ghostly choir then also starts the subsequent “Natalie Hunting” alongside the eerily ever-plinking piano reprising the Memories motif from earlier, before action suddenly kicks off at the halfway mark as the air raid siren ushers thudding brass, frantic strings and imposing drums back into centre stage. The ten minute behemoth “I’ll Do What I Gotta Do” then bursts immediately with orchestral drama as high-pitched strings, tense brassy bursts and moody piano notes surge. The Memories motif and main theme then provide a mournfully string-focused respite with wary choir for a few minutes before some tremendously unnerving brass leads the main theme on an anxious march, and the eerily gentle piano closes out the lengthy track.
The Memories motif soars to sublime heights at the start of “Come Back To Me” as strings swell with hope, building to an exquisite crescendo which is then followed by some frankly gorgeous piano and strings work. The quieter piano continues into “He’s Coming” with the Memories motif plinking solemnly away until a sudden burst of horror emerges on strings at thirty seconds in, and frenetic action leaps back into centre stage with the air raid siren, thunderous bursts of brass and emphatic vocals all aggressively in your face alongside an unusually malevolent-sounding Memories motif. Standout action setpiece “Abominations Rising” then makes incredible use of the established frenetic action sound as breathtakingly gothic choir, endlessly energetic brass, piano and strings, the air raid siren and the now dramatically nerve-wracked two major themes all surging with increasing and indeed relentless intensity all across the impeccable cue’s seven minute runtime. Final track “The Pendant/Evil Tango” then brings everything full circle, opening with a serene piano rendition of the Memories motif before full orchestra rapidly builds to a dramatically horror-like crescendo, and eerily echoing choir and strings then play a tensely main-on-end and enjoyably lengthy rendition of the main theme.
Overall, Roque Baños’ relentlessly intense score for the 2013 Evil Dead movie is an absolute work of horror music art. The compositional style used throughout the album is superb, drawing at least partial inspiration from the likes of classic Christopher Young and Elliot Goldenthal horror music in the thunderous use of blasting brass, high-pitched strings and gothic choir, and the result is this utterly captivating combination of heart-poundingly in-your-face action highs (examples include the dramatic “Demon Possession” as well as lengthy standout “Abomination Rising”) and darkly serene, more atmospheric lows (“She Tried To Kill Me”, “Don’t Say It, Don’t Write It, Don’t Hear It”). Central to this breathtaking orchestral style too are the score’s two main themes, with the first being a sublimely eerie primary piece (“The Evil Dead Main Theme”) and the second being a quieter, more introspective and mournful motif (“Sad Memories”). Both are used extensively across the album in a variety of tones ranging from tense to tranquil that all prove their excellent versatility, and an accompanying recurring sequence of piano notes that echoes malevolently in pretty much every track also helps to cement this overall sense of pure, unnerving evil that takes hold of the music in the very first cue, and simply never lets go.
The result of all the above? An absolutely phenomenal horror score.
Score: 8.5/10
Standout Cues: The Evil Dead Main Theme, Abominations Rising, The Pendant/Evil Tango
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