Original Soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi

WaterTower Music

Available to stream now.

Available on CD September 29th

Vinyl double album TBC.

On screen it felt as if season 7’s score was composed mostly of the reuse of tracks from season 6, especially the Winter Has Come and Winds Of Winter tracks from the season 6 album. And of course many themes have been around for several seasons, from the various Houses’ themes, to the discordant and unsettling notes associated with the army of the dead.

There’s some truth to this feeling of reuse in the Season 7 soundtrack album, with Dragonstone especially sounding lifted from the Season 6 score, but in the end disproves it. There is actually plenty new here, and quite a lot of the familiar-sounding motifs are either new stylistic arrangements, or simply haven’t been included in the soundtrack albums for previous seasons.

Spoils Of War,  a two-part track, blends the Lannister theme – the melody shared with Rains Of Castamere – with the Unsullied theme in  an impressive way, filled with ominous threat and pounding action, while The Queen’s Justice gives us a quite proud and in a way cheerful Lannister passage. Heartstrings are touched by Home, which brings us a wistful yet warming version of the Winterfell theme, and Truth is a lovely and sweeping accompaniment to certain family and background revelations. There’s also a lovely bittersweet take on the show’s theme, in the form of Winter Is Here.

A noteworthy addition is Army Of The Dead, whose discordant notes for the wights, zombies and White Walkers that have been heard in previous seasons, are finally collected in a fine triptych of orchestrations, forming a memorable march for the undead bad guys. The Ironborn also get a good representation for their fleet too.

Throughout the album, the listener is treated to an array of sweeping epic mood music, heart-thumping battle music, in both new and familiar forms. The familiarity may be a downside to some, as there is, perhaps, some over-reliance on the range of existing themes, but they’re presented and re-interpreted in a way that develops them a little further, uses them more effectively, and so still bear freshness. So it definitely does feel like a new album, rather than a rehash, and that’s a great relief.

Verdict: A great listen, epic and moving and thrilling. The tracks are not presented in chronological order, as the cues from the finale essentially bookend it at beginning and end. (So one can see why the album isn’t released until well after the season has aired.) If you’ve been collecting the soundtracks, you won’t be disappointed, as this score develops and builds upon what has gone before, while still being a satisfying listen in its own right. If you just want to try one of the show’s soundtracks as a sample, this or the season 6 release are good go-to options for Djawadi’s magic. 9/10

David A McIntee