Overview

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was a cross-platform video game published by Vivendi. The publisher actually purchased the rights from the J.R.R. Tolkien's book rather than the Peter Jackson's movie, though it undoubtedly benefited from the publicity of the latter. As a result, a whole new score was created for the game by Brad Spears. In contrast, Electronic Arts' The Two Towers and Return of the King licensed the rights to the movie and largely reused Howard Shore's film scores as a result.

Body

The soundtrack actually features a succession of suites that recount the experiences of the Fellowship in key areas of the game. For example, the days that the Hobbits spent in the Shire are captured with a series of soothing Celtic pieces. Each variation is sufficiently similar to produce a seamless suite, while having the detail needed to portray specific circumstances and bring variety to the gameplay. Through listening to each suite in this soundtrack, it's possible to recall experiences with the book and game in vivid detail. In this regard, it is excellently presented.

As expected, the soundtrack progressively darkens as the Fellowship is challenged. Haunted by the Nazgul, the Hobbits' journey through the Old Forest is accompanied by eerie orchestrations influenced by horror films. The ten minute suite dedicated to Moria, "A Journey in the Dark", grows more intense with each transition — culminating in a portrayal of the Balrog with aggressive percussion and chants. It pales compared to Howard Shore and Chance Thomas' lavishly produced suites dedicated to this sequence, but it is still good for a video game made ten years ago.

The individual pieces could appeal more on a stand-alone level. While the soundtrack features plenty of beautiful stylings to portray the Shire, Lothlorien, and Rivendell, these tracks would have been more enjoyable with richer melodies. The darker tracks on the soundtrack tend to be completely ambient and, while impressive for the day, sound somewhat stale all these years on. Even Jimmy Smyth's main theme for the game is a comparatively brief and unmemorable affair.

Summary

To summarise, the music for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring effectively underscores Frodo's journey with its varied stylings and extensive suites. However, the soundtrack lacks the memorable themes or emotional orchestrations to be especially worthwhile on a stand-alone basis. Stick to the film score instead.