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"Heavy Burden"
Review by Steve Townsley

Heavy Metal 2000
7/10
 

In a darker, cultish moment of the early 1980’s, the underground-comic magazine “Heavy Metal” broke away from the print medium to the silver screen. The result was a innovative hodge-podge of ultra-violent, hyper-erotic, comically satiric, animated science-fiction vignettes, featuring a hammering soundtrack featuring rock bands like Journey, Sammy Hagar, Black Sabbath, and Devo. The film was not a smash success at the box office, but has thrived in video rental. Flash forward some 19 years, and “Heavy Metal” takes another stab at big screen success, but to no avail. The vignette format is abandoned in favor of a single, unifying storyline involving a bold heroine, (modeled after and featuring the voice of cult centerfold Julie Strain-Eastman) whose traits, in true “Heavy Metal” fashion, are chiefly represented by her large breasts and her ability to kick the crap out of everyone. Meanwhile, in the 3-D world, the commercial public is treated to another compilation of hard core rock, because, let’s face it, what would you expect from a film called Heavy Metal?

Don’t get me wrong, here, either—rock music really sets an attitude for this animated film, not the least of which implies that the film is trying to transcend the pigeon-holing of animation for youthful audiences. However, one of the unsung highlights of the first film was a score by Elmer Bernstein, which helped set an atmosphere for the film that the rock songs alone could not accomplish. 20 year later, Heavy Metal 2000 producers handed scoring duties to relatively low-profile composer Frederic Talgorn.

You may have sought out the movie, and while I don’t recommend it to everyone, it may yet be the just the kind of movie you’d like to rent on a Friday night, when you’re not looking for the latest thought-provoking melodrama out of Miramax. Yes, the obligatory heavy metal songs do punctuate key moments—usually ones of violent action. But throughout the film, Talgorn score provides the true glue which binds the animated adventure together from start to finish. Talgorn’s score offers a thematic unity and epic quality to an otherwise gratuitous and simple storyline…and he does it so well, that the songs which pepper the film really take second chair to the score. Even the DVD release featured an isolated score. However, in the end, it the songs usually do get all the glory (and the CD release.) Fortunately, Supertracks has made this promo available, for those who would like to explore Talgorn’s score without having to sit through the film.

The score for Heavy Metal 2000 does seem to echo its’ cinematic predecessor. The main “heroic” theme (heard in track 4, “Julie & Kerrie”) is reminiscent of Bernstein’s theme for the “Den” segment of the 1981 film. Much of Talgorn’s score tends towards darker, more atmospheric cues, like “Assess the Threat” (track 7) which creeps along with hesitant whistles that suggest reprising the heroic theme, but never do. Track 9, “Tyler Awaits His Wench”, is a pleasantly sensuous and dreamy cue, despite the luridness of the scene it accompanies. Talgorn’s score at large does an excellent job at coloring a science-fiction backdrop which has the polar extremes of epic wonder and repulsive terror.

I had never (to this point) heard Talgorn on CD—only in the film. I must say that while the initial listen was filled with skepticism, I have found a renewed interest in repeated listenings. For those of you who do not have any particular interest in the genre, or in the film itself, you might want to seek out another title. For those of you, like myself, who are looking for composers whom you’ve never heard, who aren’t always at the top of the box-office, and who aren’t very well represented on CD albums--I would recommend giving Talgorn’s score a try.

*The Experience-O-Meter displays the track to track listening experience of this soundtrack based on the 5-Star rating given to each track.  It provides a visual depiction of the ebbs and flows of the CD's presentation of the soundtrack.

Referenced Reviews
 

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