With the X-Files movie coming out onto DVD soon, i thought I'd stop putting off the review to Mark Snow's score, and here it is.
I'd like to begin with saying how surprised I am to find so little X-Files soundtracks there was produced. For the television series, only one album and one score album were made, along with a soundtrack for each movie. (I think Fight the Future had both an album and score, but don't quote me on that.) A lot of science fiction/cult shows seem to have a lot of music released to appease their crazed fans (i.e. Star Trek), but X-Files does not seem to be one of them.
Which is a shame because Mark Snow's music has really grown on me, just as X-Files has over the last year or so. I Want to Believe is different kind of score compared to the previous Fight the Future, but this is because they're two different kinds of films. Fight the Future is more a straight action - suspense piece while I Want to Believe has more of the ambient feel of Snow's earlier seasons.
The title theme of X-Files is present, but Snow does not utilize it as much as in FTF. There are a couple nice hints of it in "Looking for Mulder" and "March and Dig," but it's not until "Home again" that we hear the biggest quote of the theme, and still it's mostly in fragments. Surprisingly, the remix after that is pretty good, It manages to stay true to Snow's theme while being original in its arrangement. Best of all, it still fits in with Snow's score.
There is a secondary theme, heard in "Ybara the Strange" and "The Surgery." It's a haunting and mournful tune that helps fill in for the absence of the main theme. "Box Them" has this theme, present on piano, playing into another short quote of the X-Files theme.
The rest of the score has a lot of tense moments with some quiet ones, but on the whole, nothing too remarkable. "Foot Chase" has some great energized string movement. "The Trip to DC" should sound very familiar to FTF fans. "Can't Sleep" sounds like something I've heard in the series. I enjoyed the music on the soundtrack, but it's too restrained to be put in the same category as Fight the Future. B-
Recommended Tracks:
2. No Cures/Looking for Fox
8. March and Dig/ Girl in the Box
10. The Surgery
13. Foot Chase
15. Photo Evidence
19. Box Them
20. Home Again
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