The film formerly known as Eaters of the Dead seems to have rather been a complete waste of effort, I for one have only a vague clue as to what it's about. It came and went from theatres too quickly for me to get around to seeing it and apparently no-one else saw it either. I'm not sure how long it was in production, but there was enough time to shoot the film, score it, then re-shoot bits and edit it and then score it again. The poor unfortunate who wrote the original music was Graeme Revell and by all accounts his music was very good. However, Michael Crichten who took over the post production from director John McTiernan choose Jerry Goldsmith to score it. I was rather under the impression that the film was all about Vikings, but evidently it's about Anthonio Banderas' character who isn't a Viking, but joins a group of Viking warriors to kill strange monstors. Or something. The Arabian connection means that the music is rather closer to Jerry's other mega action effort, The Mummy, although I don't think this has faired quite so well. The main theme is eventually introduced after a short build up in Old Baghdad, accompanied by chanting chorus, it is a faintly noble, but not terribly inspired brass/horn effort - quite rightly noted for sounding a bit like some imitation version of Hans Zimmer's Crimson Tide theme - sadly not nearly as good. The theme is used quite often during the score, but always sounds best when presented in very stately fashion such as at the end of Semantics.
Of course, this being a blood and guts kind of film (I assume), there are enough actiony bits to keep everyone happy and you can't go wrong with a Jerry action score nine times out of ten. This kind of film leaves very little room for any kind of subtlety in the scoring choices so anything less than the orchestra going at full tilt would seem like a waste of resources. The first major, extended action cue is The Fire Dragon which lets rip with brass, percussion, running strings. The usual. The lengthy penultimate cue is an extremely well sustained action cue that batters away, to be capped off by a brief coda in the final track. There are plenty of more low key moments, but they are all built up in a quietly epic way, the chorus still appearing in tracks that, compared to the rest, are quite intimate. Some of the low choir sections actually have a slightly liturgical sound to them, which isn't an especially obvious move, but does make for an interesting alternative to the deep chanting during the more exciting moments. The battery of ethnic percussion seems to include the odd hint of the percussion used in Mulan as well as the aforementioned score to The Mummy.
This isn't a score that is likely to disappoint action fans, it has a decent, just about right running time (as, like The Mummy it was recorded in London). Jerry doesn't use choirs in quite the same gung-ho fashion as some of his colleagues, but when he does so, the effect is most impressive and always adds a touch of the epic sound to any musical canvas. There isn't anything terribly new or inspired about The 13th Warrior; odd bits of other, better Jerry scores make appearances - some have compared it with The Wind and the Lion - but I would suggest The Mummy was more akin to that score than this one is. However, for sheer spectacle and entertainment value it rates pretty highly as yet another well crafted, exciting and exhilarating album that only Jerry Goldsmith manages to do quite well and on a regular basis.