by Ludwig Goransson

Disney

In the wake of a devastating loss, the Wakandans meet a new enemy…

Regular Mandalorian composer Ludwig Goransson scored the first Black Panther film, and returns for the sequel, which helps maintain a consistent sound between them, and helps this score be a more thoughtful and emotional follow-up in musical terms.

Like its predecessor, the score has both a distinct and distinctive voice; here even more literally so, as just about all of the tracks have some vocal element mixed in along with the fusion of different traditional instrumentation and tonalities from a variety of societies and cultures.

The opening “Nyana Wam” has the feel of the opening track from the previous film, but a little warmer, basking in the Southern African sunshine, with gourd-like percussion before the orchestra fades in. “We Know What You Whisper” is a fascinating discordant track with short sharp vocalisations and echoes, too, though things really start feeling like a mix of Africa and superhero action with “Welcome Home,” and there are nice gentler tones and vocals in “Sirens” and “Lift Me Up.”

Wood blocks are an another recurring instrumentation, giving a slightly more Asian flavour to some of the tracks as well as the more expected African style sounds. For example “He Wasn’t There” blends a fusion of both of those with a more Arabic sound of air blown across jars.

The main new character introduced, Namor the Sub-Mariner, also brings a new theme with him, which is a mysterious and tense theme that weaves and warbles, quite unexpectedly for a Marvel character’s main leitmotif. When Namor’s theme returns for “Namor’s Throne” it dials up the triumphant bombast without sacrificing the hint of discord and mystery, and as well as the various regular instrumentations there are background samples of jaguars and other wildlife to keep the listener on edge in a good way.

There’s a change of pace when we hit “They Want It, But No,” which goes full autotuned voice sample with an electronic Club beat, while “Con La Brisa” is a siren song number with a mysterious Latin vibe, which then takes us to the birdlike whistles and toots of “Yucatan” and this is a lovely sound of South America whose last third becomes a sweeping set of tones to welcome us to this new exotic location. It’s perhaps not surprising, therefore, that quite a few tracks bring the gentle fingering of Latin guitar into the score’s global fusion mix.

Later in the score, there’s a great rhythmic march in the form of “Imperious Rex,” before the title theme, “Wakanda Forever,” which starts small with its tones, before growing to a soaring flight that mixes many of the instrumentations from synths to electic guitar, to hollow percussions in a memorable way.

The violins get their main notable say in “Blood For Blood” before the highly rattly and percussive action cue of “Yibambe!” which gets the blood going, apart from with the 90s-style synths come in at one point. Otherwise it’s a real blood-pumping track, with counterpoints of chants and bird calls and an undercurrent of standard MCU action orchestra in the latter half. That leads to “Sink The Ship” which goes full throttle with the wildlife and non-Western intrumentation and still works to excite. If you’re looking for more regular orchestral action, “It Could Have Been Different” is definitely your track, which comes closest to being what we might think of as a normal action score track. This also flows into “Vengeance Has Consumed Us” which is mostly a similarly orchestral track rising to a trilling (yes, trilling, that’s not a typo) climax with a hint of vocals.

The score closes with a reflective Latin guitar theme for “T’Challa” to wind down and relax to.

Overall, the blend of African percussion and vocals, Arabic winds, Asian woodblocks, and South American sounds front and centre ahead of the regular orchestra makes score a more global but non-Western soundscape that’s a fascinating listen. It’s different, but it hits all the right emotional and mood beats, and even when a track isn’t vocal-led, there is basically always a vocal element mixed in subtly, which works well for it.

A good change for the typical MCU sound, and recommended. 9/10

David A McIntee