FACE/OFF's music creation is the responsibility of the British composer John Powell, which is also his first independent music work. Although I personally like his warm theme, the part of action music is really terrible, and it is already a level of noise. This kind of music is the electronic orchestral style created by his master Hans Zimmer in the 199s, that is, the electronic drums are combined with orchestral music or some real instruments, especially "Breaking the Rock", but this technique is very cheap in FACE/OFF. It's not that I don't like this so-called "MV" style, but that the "MV" style of music used by FACE/OFF is a bit rough, and it feels like a Demo in the pre-homework. Therefore, when listening to this work, I feel that I am looking for something I love in a piece of noise. After the criticism, let's dig out some good elements in the album.
at the beginning of the album, Face On begins with a ringing music box, and brings out the feelings of the hero and his son with strings with sad temperament, interspersed with some powerful electronic low frequencies, and the ringing ends with a murderous synthetic brass pipe, showing the sadness and anger of the hero who lost his beloved son. Then, in a quiet space, the low-key guitar plays the title phrase of the action theme, and indirectly shows the protagonist's grief and sorrow for many years; After that, the chorus of "Since By Man Came Death" written by Han Deer was skillfully introduced into the music, and a little electronic rhythm was added to the holy music, which was quite interesting. Looking at the song "Face On" with pure appreciation, I think it is well written. Every link is very associative and meaningful, especially the melody with warm theme, which makes people fondle it. The last album "Ready for the Big Ride, Bubba" makes a sweeter and warmer interpretation of the warm theme, which is also one of the reasons that prompted me (or other fans) to buy this album. This sketch is about the hero's return after a life-and-death battle and meeting his family with the enemy's children. The story and music alone are too romantic and feel that it is not what will happen in the real world. In addition, This Critical Chin, which describes the scene of face-changing surgery, is a good suspense performance. John Powell used some short and urgent string chords to pile up repeatedly, so as to enhance the mystery and uneasiness of music. This method of string and chord creation can be associated with Powell's personal style later, and the most obvious example is the series of "Authentication of Ghosts and Ghosts". Therefore, FACE/OFF didn't say that he was not creative, but was covered up by a large amount of electronic noise. As for the part of action music, I only think Furniture and Hans' Loft have better performances. Others, such as 8 Proof Rock, have good black humor, but they are also abruptly disturbed by noisy electronic sound effects. As for FACE/OFF's action title, I think the melody is quite similar to the theme melody in Broken Arrow, which is almost the same. It's no wonder that the producer of this album is Hans Zimmer himself. However, after being molded by synthetic copper pipes in FACE/OFF, it became a tragic heroic melody that can leave a deep impression on people. Hans' Loft, on the other hand, is full of the compact rhythm and electronic tube realization of typical MV music school. The short and powerful streamlined arrangement makes this music often used in trailers, and it is also a demonstration technique for the audience to catalyze their emotions.
As for FACE/OFF, which is also John Powell's first work, I can only say that I won't give it a good evaluation. After all, the whole CD has given me many things that I don't like. Just as the music theory points out, action music is more lacking and unacceptable in the contrast of warm music. If the whole album can get rid of the disturbing junk sound effects and add more emotional melodies, I believe FACE/OFF will become John Powell's masterpiece, not a famous one.