Homefront Composed by Matthew Harwood
Promotional Release (2010)
Rating:
4/10
More soundclips below provided by AmazonMp3
“Whether because of
time or creative pressures, MATTHEW HARWOOD’s score simply fails to
muster up the energy to make us engage with the story. ”
Take Me Home
Review by Marius Masalar
Unlike many mainstream critics, I actually enjoyed 2008’s intriguing
future shooter, Frontlines: Fuel of War. What it lacked in groundbreaking
mechanics it more than made up for in polished gameplay, nice graphics,
and some compelling combat scenarios. To have that team working on a game
with a premise as provocative and important as the one belonging to
HOMEFRONT seemed like a smart match in the making. The story itself,
penned by Apocalypse Now co-writer and Red Dawn creator, John Milius,
represents a strong look into one political fantasy that is chilling
because of its willingness to bring the conflict home. Despite promising
sales though, the game’s tepid critical response perhaps reveals a studio
unable to do justice to such complex plot potential. The overall effect is
one of having made no real progress from Frontlines.
Unfortunately, the musical score has also taken a step firmly in the wrong
direction. Following the Frontlines score, which was at least moderately
good if a little bland, MATTHEW HARWOOD’s music for HOMEFRONT delivers an
overly long salad of mediocrity that does the game’s narrative almost no
justice.
Opening once more with a rock song, MATTHEW HARWOOD teams up with score
mixer SCOTT CRESSWELL for “Stand Your Ground” (1). This alternative rock
ballad is an embarrassing pastiche of bands like Breaking Benjamin, whose
work leaves it in the dust. Pleasant chord progressions carry the bored
vocals through to the conclusion. The score itself begins thereafter with
“Main Theme” (2). The theme we’re introduced to is about as basic as can
be, which is to be expected, but the non-existent development robs it of
any impact it may have had (present it, repeat it, repeat it again louder,
meandering bridge, once more with feeling, etc.) Dropping off after a
build, the theme leaves us in the “Lobby” (3), a track that instantly
asserts a more memorable presence than any that have come before with the
gentle percussion/guitar work leading to a large orchestral swell. Two
action tracks, “Golden Gate” (4) and “Cul de Sac” (6) follow, with the
former being far more dynamic and interesting than the latter and its
stunted length. In between, “Oasis” (5) offers a gentle reprieve with some
lovely string pads; it’s a peaceful ambience showing a rare glimpse of
emotion.
“Escape” (7) is another criminally short (less than forty seconds) and
uninteresting action cue based on descending arpeggios. Whoever thought it
was a good idea to include so many short stinger cues in an album was
clearly not thinking of the listening experience. The strong percussion in
“Goliath” (8) is supported by piano stabs and some brass, and the
combination sounds a great deal like one of the action themes from the
first Pirates movie until the strings take over with some thematic drama.
“Good By Boone” (9) is a stunning glimpse of the score’s potential, with
soft woodwinds and an unexpected vocal presence managing to evoke in 50
seconds the level of emotive power that the album as a whole spends an
hour falling short of. The vocals are carried forward into “The Drop Off”
(10), but it is once again so short that we barely get to enjoy their
atmospheric touch.
We return to action with “Parking Lot Fight” (11), a propulsive cue with a
strong (if abrupt) conclusion and some personality. “Outpost” (12) follows
with some ethnic percussion and bass grinding, which brings us back down
toward the generic — a destination that “Airliner” (13) and its dorky
orchestral stabs are only too happy to take us to. Some cool clicky
percussion enters the fray in “Back Yards” (14), and the gameplay cue
makes an impression on the strength of its sound design if nothing else.
Some of that makes it into the vicious “Bridge Assault” (15), and a nice
thematic reprise at the end make for a welcome improvement. This
improvement continues with “Abandon Streets” (16), where the guitar and
vocals take us back to the mindset established briefly with “Good By
Boone” (9) — and this time we have time to enjoy it before it leaves
again. “Gas Station” (17) represents the score’s midway point, and offers
nothing new for it, just more thin action material hoping to be cool
enough to slip past unnoticed.
Since suburbia is apparently a good source of sound design inspiration for
HARWOOD, it’s not entirely surprising that “Suburbs” (18), like “Back
Yards” (14), is carried by the strength of its interesting production
rather than its musical merit. One more utterly forgettable action cue
later, we end up at “Burnt Oasis” (20) where the score’s softer elements
return in the form of a gentle ambient lullaby — as gorgeous as it is
short. Both “Back Yard Battle” (21) and “Warehouse” (22) trundle by
without any attempt to disguise their bare and uninteresting construction,
which is just as well since they’re keeping us from the cool and
otherworldly percussive layers of “Outsiders” (23). The strident blasts in
“Under the Bridge” (24) have a hard time keeping our attention, and the
following track, “Take The Shot” (25), manages to be expertly soothing…for
a track that was presumably intended to be tense. The tension builds
linearly with “Little Bird Approach” (26), and some theme snippets sneak
in amid the churning string and percussion rhythms.
The unnerving ambience of “Bus Ride” (27) serves as a good interlude
before the score’s last stretch. “No Compromise” (28) is (finally) a
rousing summary of the score’s better action elements and theme, and the
powerful reprise in “Front Gate” (29), though once again cut stupidly
short, forms a solid conclusion. Five “extra” tracks are offered at the
end of the album, and sadly they are better than much of the score’s
official material. “This is our Home” (30) and “Temperance” (31) offer
some warm dramatic ambience, and “Connor Morgan” (32) features some
spectacular guitar grooving. The oppressive atmosphere of “Crate City”
(33) is well executed with growling bass rumbles, and “Familiar Has Become
Alien” (34) is an excellent credits cue — one of the few that pushes over
the three-minute mark. While it never quite reaches any musical heights,
it gives us at least a half decent way of ending the album.
As a listening experience, the HOMEFRONT album suffers from an overload of
extraneous material sliced into unbearably short track lengths that keep
things shifting away before we can appreciate them. Not that there’s that
much to appreciate to begin with. The score is best enjoyed in small
doses, where the individual merits of the standout tracks make a stronger
impression; when taken as a whole, the listening experience both in game
and out is simply underwhelming. Whether because of time or creative
pressures, MATTHEW HARWOOD’s score simply fails to muster up the energy to
make us engage with the story. If the few glimpses of brilliant emotional
writing were representative of the score as a whole, the entire game
experience would have been transformed. As it is, HOMEFRONT plays out like
a very generic shooter supported by a very generic score, and it’s hard to
decide which perspective is more disappointing.
