I first heard Danny Elfman's Terminator Salvation soundtrack before I'd seen the film, and I didn't like it. The music sounded nothing like what I expected Terminator music to sound like, and I was disappointed.

I didn't listen again to the score until I had seen the movie. The music suited the film and, with that awareness, I thought I'd give the score a second chance. I'm glad I did, because the Terminator Salvation soundtrack has become my favorite score of 2009 to date.

First, let me just get out of the way the obvious issue most people have with this score - whilst the iconic Terminator theme does appear in Terminator Salvation, it doesn't on the soundtrack. Elfman's take is nothing like Brad Fiedel's Terminator soundtrack or his exceptional Terminator 2: Judgment Day film score. Neither is it like Bear McCreary's also exceptional Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles score (which takes it's cues from Fiedel's iconic music).

The best way to approach this soundtrack is by considering the music on its own merit, and forgetting that it's a Terminator score all together.  Once you move past that, this score has some damn cool music to offer and, once you give the score a fair chance, it's hard not to conclude it's the best thing about the film.  By fair chance I mean listen to it a few times on some damn good headphones. On its own merits, blasting through some high quality earphones, it's nothing short of friggin awesome.

Terminator Salvation is filled with heavy percussion from what sounds like a massive orchestra (I could probably look that up, but whatever). It has a dark, metallic feel to it and even though it is devoid of an iconic theme, it is most definitely thematic. It's kind of like a heavy, metallic version of his Planet of the Apes score which I'm also a fan of. Actually in terms of comparision, Terminator Salvation sounds more like a vastly improved version of Elfman's Hellboy 2 score, which I've listened to once and is now gathering dust. Yes, Hellboy 2 didnt' do it for me, but Salvation does.

On the subject of comparison, one good thing in favor of Terminator Salvation is that whilst it sounds very similar to Hellboy 2 and is noticeably like Planet of the Apes, it is still vastly different in sound to much of Elfman's earlier work. That's a good thing. If you haven't invested time into Elfman's recent work, you won't feel like you just re-purchased Batman again, for example.

Trust me when I say this is a score that grows on you. I didn't like it the first listen, and it took a few more listens before I began to appreciate it, and a few more after that before I became addicted to it. Now I love it, and are most definitely addicted to it.  So if you want to feel the same way, be sure to give it a chance in the same way.

Now, to what I don't like. My biggest beef with this score is that it contains the song 'Rooster' by Alice in Chains. I love Alice in Chains, and 'Rooster' was one of my favorite songs for a very long time, but it's completely out of place on an orchestral album (as is any friggin song). When you listen to the score on loop, it simply breaks it in half. Fortunately these days we have the ability to rip a CD to our hard drives and delete the tracks we don't want, but it should never have been included in the first place.

Finally, I'll admit I don't listen to this score any way other than through headphones, but then I don't want to. My experience of listening through headphones is A-Class. When I'm sitting at my PC wondering what music to put on, more often than any other recent score I choose Terminator Salvation first.  That says it all.

I give it: [Rating:10/12]

See larger image Terminator Salvation (Audio CD) List Price: $18.98 USD New From: $5.84 In Stock Used from: $1.74 In Stock Release date May 19, 2009.

Tags: Danny Elfman, Terminator Salvation