FORMAT: VINYL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
There is something unfathomably joyful about the manner in which Colin Towns’ score for the 1986 George Pavlou film, Rawhead Rex, goes from light fantasy into abject terror in just a few tracks. It begins lightly and whimsically, with the main theme and Welcome to Ireland, and even Rawhead Appears starts off bright, but once the strings begin shrieking, that’s it.
It’s utterly intense from that point forward, working less in terms of melody than presenting an overarching sense of dread. The use of drone, occasionally shot through with high-pitched, attacking stabs is a definite recurring theme, but the insertion of more melodic aspects, such as the organ in The Vicarage, demonstrates that Towns knows how to keep things interesting.
Unfortunately, as the score progresses, the traditional orchestral instruments are overcome by synthesisers. While the pairing of orchestra and electronics worked well to create that sense of terror, when the technology overtakes Rawhead Rex’s music, it begins to sound thin and from there, terribly dated. Howard Discovers a Strange Glass Window in the Church is meant to raise gooseflesh on the back of one’s neck, but all it ends up raising is a bit of a smirk and a questioning eyebrow.
That said, the score for this Clive Baker-penned creature feature has been long-awaited by fans, so the very fact that it’s seeing release over 30 years after the film itself is something to be noted, even if it’s not aged so well.
