Some of Metzger's orchestrations of the legacy themes are actually better than the 2019 film. His crunchy arrangement of the coronation music for Simba in "A Story of a Great King" for massive brass and choir is simply superb compared to the lifeless, over-produced 2019 affair.
But 2:30 of that same track I think reveals the problem with the score in general. Just when you expect Busa to kick in, it chops abruptly to something sort of in the same vein but nowhere near as memorable, and then concludes with "Circle of Life".
It's a very hollow listening experience. The new songs aren't up to much either, sadly.
The Lebo M / Britell tracks are nice as atmospheric pieces.
Not a surprise Zimmer ran a thousand miles from this one after his bad experience on the 2019 film.
Narratively, the legacy material just does not work in a prequel context and Metzger's surrounding material is frightfully generic, like diet John Powell.
A second listen degrades the soundtrack further and you realise there is just nothing of value outside the quotes of the classic material, and while some of the quotes are beautifully rendered others like "Clash of Kings" and "The Earth will Shake" are quite awkward and stilted sounding, the latter almost amateurish.
Not a surprise Zimmer ran a thousand miles from this one after his bad experience on the 2019 film.
Narratively, the legacy material just does not work in a prequel context and Metzger's surrounding material is frightfully generic, like diet John Powell.
A second listen degrades the soundtrack further and you realise there is just nothing of value outside the quotes of the classic material, and while some of the quotes are beautifully rendered others like "Clash of Kings" and "The Earth will Shake" are quite awkward and stilted sounding, the latter almost amateurish with some embarrassing trumpets over a rather lumpy "epic" rendering of the legacy tune.
The songs are just... okay. Didn't love them or hate them. I thought the first third of the score was pretty strong but then it started to lose my interest. Maybe because there's so many different styles it doesn't come together thematically. The score is fine, Ive heard much worse. So I dunno, it will either grow on me or it won't.
Not a surprise Zimmer ran a thousand miles from this one after his bad experience on the 2019 film.
Narratively, the legacy material just does not work in a prequel context and Metzger's surrounding material is frightfully generic, like diet John Powell.
A second listen degrades the soundtrack further and you realise there is just nothing of value outside the quotes of the classic material, and while some of the quotes are beautifully rendered others like "Clash of Kings" and "The Earth will Shake" are quite awkward and stilted sounding, the latter almost amateurish.
It's all just so empty.
It is the worldbuilding. We can discuss Zimmer's compositions, but he is an excellent worldbuilding storyteller. If you take out Zimmer's material in this score, did Metzger really took me on a journey to Africa? He tried (with ethnic instruments and all) but he couldn't conjured up the passion and energy to write something truly memorable.
It is the worldbuilding. We can discuss Zimmer's compositions, but he is an excellent worldbuilding storyteller. If you take out Zimmer's material in this score, did Metzger really took me on a journey to Africa? He tried (with ethnic instruments and all) but he couldn't conjured up the passion and energy to write something truly memorable.
Metzger may have ended up trapped by the requirements of the project. One glance at his credit list showcases his obvious talent, and this would be a fairly high profile gig for him in his capacity as a composer. So I'm reluctant to put the poor end results down to a lack of passion, but whatever it is, it doesn't change the fact it just isn't very good.
Metzger's lacklustre diet John Powell material, the Zimmer quotations, the Lebo M / Britell Africa atmospherics and Lin-Manuel's songs all live in separate silos, never joining forces in a satisfying way. The only reason it doesn't sound completely disjointed is it's different flavors of bland and inoffensive.
Simba's beautiful destiny theme just doesn't work at all here even if is beautifully rendered in the opening and closing tracks. It's unearned and inappropriate for the story.
1. Destiny Reigns - Dave Metzger 3:01 2. Kuqondile - Nicholas Britell and Lebo M. 1:58 3 Listen to My Voice - Dave Metzger 2:44 4. Find the Way - Nicholas Britell and Lebo M. 1:07 5. The Race - Dave Metzger 2:23 6. Home - Nicholas Britell and Lebo M. 1:48 7. Burden of Pride - Dave Metzger 5:05 8. My Love - Dave Metzger, Lebo M. 1:44 9. Bathroom Break - Dave Metzger 0:32 10. Run Mufasa! - Dave Metzger 3:19 11. And So It's Time - Hans Zimmer, Lebo M. 0:30 12. All That Was Lost - Dave Metzger 1:06 13. Jamaa - Dave Metzger 1:30 14. Follow the Fireflies - Dave Metzger 0:55 15. Smell a Duck - Dave Metzger 2:19 16. Elephant Stampede - Dave Metzger 1:35 17. Beneath the Scars - Dave Metzger 1:06 18. The King Within - Dave Metzger 1:51 19. We Made It - Nicholas Britell, Lebo M. 1:34 20. Clash of Kings - Dave Metzger 1:53 21. Blood for Blood - Dave Metzger 2:34 22. The Earth Will Shake - Dave Metzger 3:41 23. The King of Milele - Dave Metzger 2:23 24. A Story of a Great King - Dave Metzger, Lebo M. 4:15
EDIT:
No tracklisting, provided, so I don't know if this will be different than what was already posted above me.
It wasn't so much a bad experience, but he's said interviews that he didn't like revisiting his old style. And you can clearly hear it - it sounds rather uninspired.
