Blind Divine- Music for Unmade Movies, Vol. 1

One of two new releases by Blind Divine, both appearing along with their debut in the new Melancholia box set, Music for Unmade Movies Vol. 1 contains about 74 minutes of music that blends the band's penchant for brooding soundscapes with a fairly diverse musical palette and a bit of blatant self-marketing. Playing out more like a resume portfolio than a proper album, Music for Unmade Movies Vol. 1 collects 39 pieces, largely short instrumentals of varying styles, complete with the inclusion of licensing information. What's found here is nicely layered and produced, with well-used sonic subtlety and attention to detail, albeit a bit less cohesive than the band's other two albums due to the sheer number of tracks and the incorporation of different facets of the band's soundtrack repertoire.

The genre assortment is more or less what you'd expect from the disc's descriptive but slightly misleading title (misleading in the fact that 9 of these tracks actually do appear in the 2003 film Orphans and Angels). Stark classical piano compositions ("Allegory", "Turning Point", "Shadow Being") sit beside ambient synth pieces, noise collages, and a handful of tracks more akin to the band's mainstream work (a remix of "Time" from the band's debut album, the Akira Yamaoka-esque trip-hop of "All Mine", "You're an Angel", and "Scare Me", and the mellow, synth-laden rock of "Got to Be Free"). The delightfully dissonant, haunting vocal and guitar number "Sun Ignite", the following peculiar trip-hop of "Tell Me", the rhythmic pseudo-rock of "Sacrifice", the more uplifting strings and music-box-like delivery of "Until Death", and all six aforementioned piano compositions and trip-hop tracks are among the most notable here.

Fans of Blind Divine's other work or those who enjoy film/game music, particularly that of Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, will probably find this a worthwhile listen. Filmmakers, especially those working in the horror/thriller genres or in the darker realms of drama, may just find something they like here. Either way, it's a slightly spotty but relatively well assembled collection of material with a fair number of emotionally compelling tracks.