It’s kind of like…
You know when a rock/pop band does a song with some strings on it? The impact is heightened, the chorus becomes an explosion of emotion, the lyrics seem to soar above the sigh of the violins. It’s amazing what a couple of people with violins can bring to a song.
Those kind of songs are great. An entire album of them is amazing. Globus is a band like no other, in that they an entire orchestra who make epic rock music. In what way does this not sound awesome enough to make you want to keep reading?
Bit of backstory
The chances are, if you’ve watched film trailers, whether by seeking them out, or by simply going to the cinema, you will have heard at least a few compositions by Immediate Music. A few films whose trailers have used their music, just to give you a sample, are:
- War of the Worlds
- Vanilla Sky
- Sleepy Hollow
- The Da Vinci Code
- I, Robot
- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
- Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest
- Pirates of the Caribbean, At World’s End
- Toy Story
- The Matrix
- The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring
I’m not listing anymore, on account that Immediate music have scored over 7,000 films. That would be something to make you want to stop reading.
Hang on, aren’t you supposed to be reviewing Globus?
Immediate Music make all the awesome film music, which their ‘house band’, Globus, take and rock-up a bit. I suppose you could say they sample Immediate Music’s work, rocking it up, adding lyrics, putting the cherry on the Everest-sized cake. So, technically, Globus is Immediate Music (Globus’s songs are composed by Immediate Music’s composers). Immediate Music also have their own albums, Trailerhead and Trailerhead: Saga, which I have yet to buy, but are right at the top of my list.
Break From This World
This is Globus’s second album. Their first, Epicon, was stunning. For quick highlights, listen to Orchard of Mines, Europa and Take Me Away.
There is a problem with Break From This World. You can’t give any highlights.
Picking the best tracks from this album is impossible. The album is, to me, pure perfection. I’ve always loved trailer music, although that’s not exactly easy to obtain (legally) on account of the fact I don’t have thousands or hundreds of thousands of pounds to approach these companies with to buy their soundtracks. They’re made for Hollywood’s consumption. It was only at the end of 2010 that Immediate Music (presumably responding to popular demand) released their two albums, which of course only represent a miniscule fraction of the material they have composed.
Thankfully I discovered Globus. I do love film music on its own, but what Globus do with Immediate Music’s work (it is mostly the same people, I should point out) is stunning. Break From This World tells a story through it’s music. It starts with a more classically orchestral feel, choirs chanting Latin at the top of their voices, a feeling that the world is going to end. Track four, 1000 Deaths, is just about the coolest piece of music I had ever heard, until I got discovered some of the tracks later on.
It dips in intensity after that song, becoming more focussed on the lyrics for the power rather than the music. Manuela is a beautifully stripped down song, entirely about the words. Globus use a variety of singers and languages, and it is beautiful to hear songs that have a cultural feel outside of my typical White Western experiences.
Next up are Amazing Grace, and Black Parade, perhaps more ‘pop/rocky’ songs. These two are proper sing-alongs, especially Black Parade which perfectly matches the tones of a female and male singer. Black Parade is my favourite song on this album, although as I said earlier, that’s a very close call. Track 11, Terminal, is the saddest song I have ever heard. Thought Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars was sad? Terminal makes that seem like puppies handing lollipops to kids on a trampoline as the two happiest people in the world get married in a theme park by a clown.
After what is such a depressing (but in a good way, it’s very powerful) song, it’s good to end on a high note. The sublime Elegy lifts the spirits right up. The hopeful strings, building into jubilance, underneath the lyrics of praise, charge you with feeling. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to do something epic, like fly up into the sky, or perhaps get shot and magically heal before saving the world.
Music as music should be
Break From This World is something you can’t just listen to. It grabs you by the heart, it tugs at your soul. You don’t listen to this, you feel it. This album is perfectly balanced – from epic scores to driving rock, sad and slow reflections to choral adulation. This album takes you on a journey.
There aren’t enough stars in the sky to give this album. I can’t wait to see what Globus do next. Hopefully they come back and play Wembley again.
Follow me on Twitter @RewanTremethick.
Got a question? Want to request a post? Got a topic you’d like my take on? thehypertellerATgmailDOTcom.
You kinda had me when you mentioned the violins, and by the time I saw “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings”, I was yours, all yours.
…Or, um, the music hype’s, all the music hype’s.
I’m definitely going to have to look into this. In fact, let me wrap up this comment so I can hit up a search engine right now…
So I own you now, yeah? Ahahaha. *Ahem* Glad I inspired you to check them out. Let me know what you think
I’m listening to some of the songs on YouTube this very moment. The music switches up a lot, so it’s a little like listening to two or three songs on a single track, which can be unsettling. (“Ooh, my classical side is loving this part– wait! Change gears! Have to pull out the inner rock star for this bit!…” That kind of thing.) Still, there are definitely some blissful moments, once we’ve settled into a section one or another part of me can latch onto. So far, I’m partial to “A Thousand Deaths”, “Wyatt Earth”, and “The Promise”. …Oh, and “Doomsday”, I think.
I’ve read a few other reviews in which people have said the same thing. I think it’s something that perhaps take a little getting used to – after all it is quite a strange mixture of sounds and styles. The incredible versatility of an orchestra makes this album quite electic, but if you listen to it as a whole then the pacing and contrasts become an intended part of the sound in my opinion, rather than ‘shoddy composition’ as some people have claimed. Glad you checked them out, and that you liked some of what you found
The one thing I want to say is I agree and disagree with you on Elegy. The song starts on a high note I agree, it is uplifting, and as the song progresses the music soars to a high point lifting you up ans stealing your emotion, but then comes the sad part. At the end of the song (which one might have seen coming if they knew that an elegy was a poem or song written for a deceased person in much the same way that eulogy is, though they are two different things) the listener finds out that all the praise was for a loved one, who from the words, was killed by a murderer or in some other indecent which has yet to legally be resolved, hence the lines, “And now your gone while justice cries”. I feel that this is one of the best songs on the album, though as you said choosing an actual best is very hard.
You’re probably right; I’ll admit I get more caught up in the music by that point in the song so I’ve haven’t studied the lyrics in depth. I find the music alone to have a very positive vibe, even at the end. Maybe it’s not an entirely uplifting song, but I feel it is more a celebration of the person, certainly.
I agree that it’s one of the best. My favourite is Black Parade. Which others do you like particularly?
Thanks for your insight, I’ll have to have another listen and pay real attention to the lyrics
Your right in that the is about celebrating a person, which is partially why I find it so sad. Elegy has this strange mixture of joy and sadness that just fills you up with a whole set of emotions making it one of my favorite songs on the album. Elegy interestingly enough actually helped me get through my girlfriend breaking up with me.
As I said before I very much love Elegy, but I also feel the same way towards Black Parade. I very much like the songs Wyatt Earth, Doomsday (saw a really LOTR video done to that song), The Promise, and In Memoriam (which sound like its out of a musical or something).
An final thing about Elegy is that I think it would go great in a musical. I go to a school for performing arts, and I’ve been thinking of writing a musical centering around Elegy (even though I know its not gonna get published)
Elegy is such an amazing song. I’m actually listening to In Memoriam right now.
I’ve heard bits and pieces of both Two Steps from Hell and X Ray Dog (every now and then I go on a Youtube hunt for more epic music). If you’re into this kind of stuff then Brand X Music are really good as well. For great fight music try Acid Reflux and Bring the Pain, and Killstreak is a great song as well.
Thanks for the comment!