Score of the Month #6 - King Arthur: Legend of the Sword by Daniel Pemberton (2017)

Thanks for staying tuned and welcome to #ScoreOTM #6; this one absolutely had to go to Daniel Pemberton for his work on Guy Ritchie's new film "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword"... If I ever saw this man in a public house, I would send over a pint without a second thought! 1hr 32mins of pure entertainment....

Being a reprobate and breaking my golden rule yet again, I listened to the soundtrack before watching the film and my first thoughts were, wow... This score is for lack of a better word, just rude! It's loud, angsty, bold and totally brutish while making absolutely no apology for being so in any way, shape or form; I just love that!

First of all, let me just clear up any anxieties people may have with regards to the film itself as for some unknown reason (to me at least), it got absolutely slated by the critics. Did Guy (Ritchie) piss some people off in Hollywood or something? I mean the "TOMATOMETER" over at Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film in at just 27%; the "Audience Score" however was much higher at 78%, I know which side I'm on! I guess what I'm trying to say is, go and see the damn film and don't worry too much what's being said about it, it's a film for the big screen without question and it would be a shame to miss it... Okay, okay back to the score...

You get put into Medieval England pretty quickly from the very first cue "From A King Comes Nothing" in which we hear a loud blast from what may as well be a Carnyx ensemble sounding out a battle cry, this is followed by a short, sweet and beautiful violin melody which also helps to set the scene for us cinema goers. Then it all kicks off, I legitimately started to jig in the cinema to the second album cue, "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" which we hear as the main titles and credit into to the film are shown, this is Arthur's theme and Pemberton gets us used to it pretty quick! It's rhythmic as hell and 100% like something you would hear on a Pagan Metal album, but just on a huge scale! From here on, any outside thoughts I had lingering around my head were gone as I began to relax and take in the story; here comes cue 3, "Growing Up Londinium" and later "Run Londinium"... I mean what is happening now, we have this heavily distorted drum section and percussion thundering through the cinema accompanied by some seriously heavy rhythmic breathing, guitars and scratching string, I was loving it! These cues work perfectly to voice the fun, youthful and playful side of the film which is portrayed by Arthur and his gang living and grafting in the streets of Londinium.

Cue's such as "The Story of Mordred", "Vortigen and the Syrens" and "Tower & Power" deal with the darker side of the story and voice the dark forces and mystical beings Vortigern is toying with perfectly as they have the right amount of a fear-and-wonder element while maintaining a creepy and eerie core.

And of course, I can't finish this blog without speaking about the "The Power of Excalibur"... For starters, I love that loud Carnyx ensemble sound yet again which kicks off the cue; I love the build in tension as we begin to hear distorted basses and high strings in unison before the addition of a huge percussion section and string runs. I loved being led into that classic heroic feel through the use of the horns as Arthur begins to realise the power of Excalibur, followed by the humble cascade as we are brought back to earth... The cue worked amazingly well to picture!

If you have not already, please go and see the film, listen to the score and I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments below; until next time....