Composed by Jed Kurzel

Milan, out May 26

Australian composer Jed Kurzel adds another genre credit to his CV with his score for the latest Alien instalment, and sadly follows the mantra ‘If it ain’t broke…’

For a movie franchise that boasts an eponymous star beast which rebirths itself with the fused DNA of its host, it’s somewhat appropriate that Jed Kurzel’s score to Ridley Scott’s Alien Covenant feels like such a cocktail of the series’ previous scores. Unusually for a franchise, every single instalment has been scored by a different composer, which inevitably leads to a diversity in style. Not a problem if each movie is stylistically different, but a pitfall if you’re deliberately trying to create a connection.

Following the criticisms that Prometheus was too far removed from the series that it purported to be part of, Fox clearly set out to make the follow-up a recognisable fit. Not only have they revisited (read ‘copied’) many of the series’ tropes, they’ve brought back the familiar Xenomorph design and (one imagines) asked Kurzel to use previous themes to up the déjà vu. Step forward Jerry Goldsmith’s theme from the 1979 original, slightly reinterpreted for the 21st Century, and with a new coda.

A few bars of Goldsmith’s theme were also used briefly in Mark Streitenfeld’s score for Prometheus, and it would appear that this is now the ‘go-to’ motif when harking back or stitching things together. Kurzel uses it well in “The Covenant” and “Planet 4 (Main Theme)”, with some brassy Goldsmithian after bursts and chimed to stitch it in, but regrettably this is not the only phonic reference. The inevitable chase music – and there’s a lot of it on this hour-long disc – strays into territory that’s not uniquely saved for Elliot Goldenthal or John Frizzell, but you can’t help think of their respective scores for Alien3 and Alien Resurrection. Is there also an echo of Horner’s Aliens? Maybe. Such is the familiarity of the music that you start imagining references that might not be intended… or even there.

The composer’s previous genre scores are The Babadook and Assassin’s Creed, the latter directed by his brother Justin, and also featuring Michael Fassbender. Maybe that’s where the connection was made with the production, as the composer initially on board was the more enticing Harry Gregson-Williams, who did great work with Ridley Scott on Kingdom of Heaven and The Martian. I enjoyed Kurzel’s work on his previous movies but suspect he was just too tightly constrained to the franchise’s legacy to come up with something truly original this time round.

Verdict: Perfectly serviceable in the film to underscore the thrills and spills, this is an unengaging soundtrack listen that ultimately feels like Goldsmith-lite. The skittering effects for the Facehuggers and the snarling low range sounds are fun, but this is inevitably just an unsatisfying hybrid of former and better glories – Promethaliens Resurrection 3 anyone? 6/10

Nick Joy