Soundtrack Review: Underworld: Awakening (2012)

Reviewer: JØrn Tillnes
Underworld: Awakening Soundtrack Review

Underworld: Awakening Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score Underworld: Awakening by Paul Haslinger.

"This is a decent score and is actually a step up from everything else I have heard so far this year."

This is the fourth installment in the Underworld films. Returning is Kate Beckinsale as Selene. Directing their first big Hollwyood production are Måns Mårlind and Bjørn Stein. Previously it has all been about lycans and vampires, but this time they bring humans into it (rather than being just the victim). Full scale ware ensues between humans and vampires/lycans sounds good. Also returning is Paul Haslinger who is doing the score.

Track List

1. The Purge****
2. Underworld Awakening Main Titles****
3. Raiding the Army Surplus Store***
4. Non-Human Aggressor***
5. I Was Subject 2***
6. Arriving at the Coven***
7. I've Never Seen a Child Like This**
8. This Is Not One of Us***
9. I Know Exactly What You Are***
10. If You Knew Him as I Did****
11. Prepare the Armory***
12. The Uber-Lycan****
13. Reanimation****
14. Then Came the Purge**
15. Selene Returns to Antigen***
16. Find Her and Destroy Her***
17. The Lycan Van Escape***
18. I Heal Instantly**
19. You Came Back****
20. Reclaiming the World****
21. The Melancholy of Resistance****
22. A New Dawn****

The first score in the Underworld series was scored by Paul Haslinger, the second one by Marco Beltrami before Haslinger scored the third one. The very first Underworld score was very rough around the edges, almost like an experiment. There was not much that could hold my interest. In the third score Rise Of The Lycans, Haslinger took a different approach, more thematic, less ambience. In this score, Haslinger mixes the two and it doesn't sound too bad. Some of the cues are close to sniffing at 5 stars, but that is also one of the score's biggest flaws: There are no clear standout tracks.

'The Purge' and 'Main Titles' has a theme that is hidden in Haslinger's effort to make it sound rough and cool. I am surprised how laid back this score is compared to the three previous ones. Cues like 'If You Knew Him As I Did' is good, but very somber, slow and minimalistic. That's just one example, but very rarely I got pumped up with good action cues like 'The Uber-Lycan'.

Conclusion

This is a decent score and is actually a step up from everything else I have heard so far this year. It's quite possibly the best score in the series and maybe with a fifth Underworld film, Haslinger will make it right. It is a bit slow and quiet, not what you might expect and it lacks a standout track but it's not bad at all.

CUE RATING: 65.4

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Listen to the Underworld: Awakening soundtrack by Paul Haslinger below:

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