Back Lot Music, out now

Michael Giacchino scores his second feature in the Jurassic Park movie franchise (do we also count his The Lost World videogame soundtrack?) building on the themes he established in 2015’s Jurassic World.

One of the joys in receiving a new Michael Giacchino soundtrack is the chance to groan at some of the worst puns imaginable – this was even brought up multiple times by his director friends at his Royal Albert Hall 50th birthday concert. This new release doesn’t disappoint, with such eye-rolling treats as Lava Land and Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Free. It does mean that you have to work a little harder to recall what the track is actually about, but there’s always a word or two in the track title to help.

Blasting off with This Title Makes Me Jurassic we’re immediately treated to some bombastic sturm und drang as the mixed choir belts out an apocalyptic chant. It’s a theme that’s also used in Thus Begins the Indo-Rapture, essentially being the theme for new dinosaur the Indo-Raptor, as well as in Raiders of the Lost Isla Nublar, World’’s Worst Bedtime Storyteller and Declaration of Indo-Pendence . It’s got a lot of the DNA of Cloverfield’s closing credits, which I’ve always been a fan of.

Elsewhere there’s militaristic brass and percussion-heavy themes – March of the Wheatley Cavalcade and Jurassic Pillow Talk being the most striking, and heartbreaking accompaniment to the death of a dinosaur in Volcano to Death.

The Theropod Preservation Society features a reprise of his previous Jurassic World theme, expanded and with a bit of Star Trek Beyond’s Yorktown woven in. Maisie and the Island is a similar upbeat track focusing on the sense of awe and wonder, and then we’re thrown into a bunch of action cues as the dinosaurs are captured and the island evacuated – Nostalgia-Saurus, Lava Land, Keep Calm and Baryonyx and Go With the Pyroclastic Flow.

Operation Blue Blood takes things down a notch with a beautiful motif for Blue the friendly Raptor, while Shock and Auction is another high drama operatic piece with soaring chorals. The album concludes with The Neo-Jurassic Age, a sparkling lullaby with an undercurrent of fear, and if you just want hear a medley of all the main themes (including a minute of John Williams’ classic original) there’s the monster-sized 11-minute At Jurassic World’s End Credits\Suite.

Verdict: You might be surprised at how much new material Giacchino has composed for this sequel, and separated from the volcanic explosions and dinosaurs you really get to appreciate what a fine job he has done here. 9/10

Nick Joy