Overview

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth put an enjoyable spin on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic battles with its real-time strategy gameplay. Bill Brown and Jamie Christopherson were asked to supplement Howard Shore's film scores with new music that would be used during key cinematic sequences. They excelled in producing imitations that were convincing musically and technologically. But do their scores have any appeal on a stand-alone basis?

Body

With the opening piece "Spreading Hope", Brown establishes just the right tone for the game. The orchestration here is sufficiently bold and weighty to capture the epic scope of the war gameplay, but the focus on a uplifting trumpet fanfare is enpowering. With "The Fellowship Continues", Christopherson explores the feelings of the Forces of Light across a four minute playtime. The cinematic flow and rich orchestration here is just as impressive as the film scores. While reliant on high-quality samplers, the implementation is also impressive even by today's standards. Other extended tracks such as "Heroes Shall Rise", "Building An Empire", and "Riding the Plains" also integrate well with Shore's compositions and serve as wonderful stand-alone experiences.

Though the soundtrack focuses on the Forces of Light, there are plenty of entries here. For instance, "Dark Times" captures the Forces of Darkness of the game with piercing brass figures, racing string ostinati, and plenty of percussion and chorus. Even more dissonant soundscapes are yielded by shorter cues such as "Battle of the Dead" and "Unstoppable Evil". While these tracks don't quite pulsate like Shore's Isengard tracks, they are still sampled in an impressive way to yield an incredible wall of sound. These tracks are among the most striking in and out of context.

Given the soundtrack was designed to be a supplement, it doesn't entirely satisfy as a collective stand-alone listen. Over half of the tracks were designed for short cinematic sequences and, as a result, barely exceed the one minute mark. Whether the encouraging crescendi of "Allies Unite" or the explosive action of "Fight for Freedom", all these tracks are impressively produced. But when compared with the four minute epics scattered elsewhere in the score — and featured throughout Shore's trilogy — they simply aren't as immersive or wholesome.

With its focus on battle tracks, the album also lacks the variety needed to establish a dramatic arch and sound interesting from start to finish. The structure of exposition, development, and climax that one would expect in a film score isn't really present here and most tracks don't really build on each other. This isn't helped by the lack of recurring thematic material, even though there are plenty of enjoyable melodies to be found. It's of note that, while all the tracks channel stylistic influences from Shore, some are also melodically inspired. Most notably, "New Lands" integrates hints of grandiose Rohan theme and the chilling "Gollum's Song", without quite infringing copyright. Other tracks have more subtle parallels, but are still likely to intrigue seasoned fans of the franchise.

Summary

In context, the music for The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth does everything it is intended to. The score supplements Shore's reprises with a range of imitations that fit specific action scenes and cinematic sequences. Brown and Christopherson demonstrate that they could produce orchestral tracks that are as richly orchestrated and implemented as an Oscar-winning trilogy. But this digital soundtrack does sound more like an add-on than a fully-fledged listening experience, and the abundance of short cues is particularly detrimental. Nevertheless, Lord of the Rings music enthusiasts may wish to sample this soundtrack and will find some goodies.