Graeme Revell - The Siege - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1998)

An uncommonly dark and brooding twist on the conventional action movie score, The Siege offers little in the way of fist-pumping, heart-stopping suspense, contrasting sharply with the film's stars-and-stripes themes. Recalling his classic work on The Crow, Graeme Revell employs a series of ethnic instruments, most notably the duduk, as well as the piercing vocals of Nona Hendryx to communicate both the surreal otherness of war and its harrowing emotional intensity. Moody electronics and low-register strings further underscore the bleak approach. Without a dominant theme to tie everything together, The Siege doesn't hold up as a uniform listening experience, but its potent atmosphere makes for a compelling soundscape nonetheless.~ Review by Jason Ankeny