Music Composed by Marco Beltrami
Rating: **** 1/2

I can fondly recall watching Scream for the first time, being dazzled by a frenetic Herrmann-esque horror score, thinking to myself, “Wow, who is this Marco Beltrami? Is this some veteran Italian film composer making his Hollywood debut?” Ok, so I was a naïve kid at the time. I soon discovered who Marco was: an incredibly well-schooled young composer beginning to establish himself in the industry, and thanks to Scream, getting type-cast as a horror composer. His fantastic score to Mimic didn’t do much to dispel that image. In fact, it probably cemented it. Mimic really opened my ears to Marco’s music and ever since that score I’ve been waiting patiently for him to write something even better… After being disappointed with some of his suspense thriller work (in his defense, few suspense thrillers make for good soundtrack albums) and a few other scores that were merely average, I finally found joy in Beltrami’s thrilling Blade 2. Incidentally this was a score for Guillermo del Toro — the director of Mimic and now Hellboy. Blade 2 had all the fire and bad-ass appeal that made Marco’s first couple of scores such a great listen, but not a whole lot going on in the theme department (although the love theme is really quite memorable), and while that’s not necessarily a problem for me, it can be problematic for soundtrack fans. Well, at last, Marco has written Hellboy, his most accomplished score to date, and easily the best film score so far this year. I’ve waited seven years for Beltrami to write a score like this.

On his second outing scoring for a comic book character, Beltrami has succeeded admirably. Somewhere between the thematically rich Wagnerian playground of Danny Elfman’s Batman Returns and twangy guitars and eclecticism of an Ennio Morricone Western lies Hellboy. The score is rich with everything from dark and heavy Germanic orchestral/choral gestures (for a film featuring Nazis) to delicately romantic string writing, to some fun, bad-ass electric bass grooves, to some incredibly effective and well-performed theremin. (The theremin in Hellboy is used as an actual instrument playing melody along with the orchestra rather than just as an added effect.)

Marco Beltrami

Everything is held together with Beltrami’s themes - and there’s quite a few. Like Elliot Goldenthal’s Batman Forever, the score is almost completely built upon the themes. (So anyone who says they can’t find the themes in this score would pretty much be a bonafide idiot.) It also should be noted that the themes share a lot of relationships and one could make the case that they’re all linked to each other. The title character, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) gets two themes. The main Hellboy motive is heard prominently in the main titles. It’s got that brooding intensity that Elfman’s known for in his comic book scores. The motive is a little off-center with Beltrami’s harmonization of the fifth note - a leap upwards of a minor 6th to the leading tone with the tonic chord. It creates a nice dissonance (until the third repetition when Beltrami harmonizes the note in a more consonant manner.) The second Hellboy leitmotif is a full-blown theme that sounds more like a real heroic superhero theme, and is basically a slightly altered and extended version of the main Hellboy motive. The love theme between Hellboy and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) is simply gorgeous and it’s fun listening to Beltrami toy with it, variating the theme and changing the harmonization. The love theme shares intervallic relationships with the Hellboy theme as it also contains a leap of a minor 6th and a certain emphasis placed on parallel major/minor oscillation. The father figure Professor Broom (John Hurt) has his theme- which is connected to the triadic motion of the extended Hellboy theme. The fish boy Abe Sapien gets a little shortchanged with just a stream of open fifths played on new-age synth pads. (Quality new-age synth pads though.)

Oh yeah, and then there’s the bad guys themes. There’s no doubt which themes are the bad guys themes. (Even if the track title “Evil Doers” didn’t tip you off.) The main one for Rasputin - which again, shares intervallic links with the extended Hellboy theme, is very long, creepy and snakelike. More interesting is the Kroenen theme which leaps downwards a major 6th (as opposed to Hellboy’s leap upwards of a minor 6th ). Beltrami does some cool stuff with this theme in particular. He turns it into a piece of original German lieder (German art song) with a tenor and a soprano singing the theme in German text with the orchestra. Original German lieder is NOT something you typically hear composed for Hollywood action/adventure comic book films these days.

There’s too many highlights in Hellboy to make mention of. I found something to enjoy in every track- often listening to the entire album for multiple repetitions at work and in the car. Do you like heavy choir? Then you’ll love “Oct 7, 1944,” “Wake Up Dead,” “Nazis,” and “Investigating Liz.” Do you like manic action? Hellboy has some of Beltrami’s best, highly-concentrated action writing in “Fireproof,” “Mechanical Mausoleum,” and “Nazis.” “Mechanical Mausoleum” is the wildest 45 second cue I’ve heard in some time. The action track of note is “Alley Fight” with the Hellboy bass line and some great percussion grooves popping up, making it one cool ride. All the themes get big pay-offs at one point or another too. Like your themes big? Then you’ll love “Investigating Liz,” “Stand By Your Man” and “Hellboy and Liz.” The full ensemble presentation of Kroenen’s theme at the end of “Investigating Liz” is amazing. Do you like fun, oddball Elfman-esque marches? You’ll love “Wake Up Dead” or the wonderfully bizarre “B.P.R.D.” Like swells of cool tutti triadic progressions? Like theremin? Like high horn trills? Like violent col legnos? Ok, I’ll stop.

Needless to say, I highly recommend Hellboy and am very impressed at the high level of craftsmanship on display. The themes are very tightly structured into the score, the orchestrations are fantastic, and album itself is well compiled. (It definitely makes you hunger for more, though.) I can’t tell if fans will regard this as a classic and memorable filmscore, but if not, it’s definitely at that next highest level. Granted Hellboy is no Batman or Superman, but for Marco Beltrami, this is as good as it’s ever been.

The slate of comic book films coming out this year and forthcoming years is immense. Here’s a request to all composers attached these comic book projects: use Beltrami’s Hellboy as your model and give us more scores like this one! (Originally posted April 19, 2004).

Music Composed and Produced by Marco Beltrami; Conducted by Pete Anthony and Marco Beltrami; Orchestrated by Pete Anthony, Jon Kull, Ceiri Torjussen, Marcus Trumpp; Recorded and Mixed by John Kurlander; Availability: In print; Label (Catalogue): Varèse Sarabande, (302 066 562 2); Release Date: April 6, 2004

01. Oct. 7th, 1944 (1′18)
02. Meet Hellboy (1′29)
03. Main Title (1′06)
04. Snow Walkers (2′22)
05. Liz Sherman (2′26)
06. Fireproof (1′34)
07. Rooftop Tango (1′13)
08. Wake Up Dead (3′19)
09. Evil Doers (2′44)
10. Kroenen’s Lied (1′57)
11. Father’s Funeral (2′03)
12. Alley Fight (3′11)
13. Nazis (2′43)
14. Investigating Liz (3′22)
15. Abe Sapien (1′28)
16. Mechanical Mausoleum (0′41)
17. Soul Sucker (3′31)
18. Stand By Your Man (2′32)
19. Hellboy & Liz (2′00)
20. B.P.R.D. (2′58)

Total Playing Time: 44′58