Mad Max: Fury Road (soundtrack)

Mad Max: Fury Road: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack album for the 2015 film, Mad Max: Fury Road, composed by Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL. It was released on 12 May 2015 through WaterTower Music.[1]

Mad Max: Fury Road: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL
Released12 May 2015
RecordedThe Simon Leadley Scoring Stage, Trackdown Studios, Sydney
GenreFilm score
Length71:01 (standard edition)
125:08 (deluxe edition)
LabelWaterTower Music
ProducerTom Holkenborg
Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL chronology
Run All Night
(2015)		 Mad Max: Fury Road: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2015)		 Black Mass
(2015)
Mad Max soundtrack chronology
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
(1985)		 Mad Max: Fury Road
(2015)

A limited vinyl edition of the soundtrack was released by Mondo at the end of July 2015.[2]

Overview

Since Mad Max: Fury Road experienced a lengthy development, multiple composers were attached to the film at various times including John Powell and Marco Beltrami.[3][4] In October 2013, it was officially announced that Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL would be composing the film's music.[5] After being contacted by Warner Bros. Senior Vice President Darren Higman, Holkenborg flew to Sydney where he viewed a three-hour workprint of the film and met with director George Miller.[6] Because of Holkenborg's work on 300: Rise of an Empire and his on-the-spot ideas for Mad Max: Fury Road, Miller hired him, and he immediately began work on writing the film's themes.[6][7] "I got in August of 2013 and we [didn't finish] until August 2014," said Holkenborg. "When you're so early in the game, you have so much room of experimentation."[8]

Similar to Brian May, who composed the scores to Mad Max and Mad Max 2,[9] Holkenborg was inspired largely by the work of Bernard Herrmann.[10] "One of my favorite time periods in film scoring is the 1940s and 1950s and in the early 60s during the golden days of Bernard Herrmann and the start of Ennio Morricone," said Holkenborg. "There was so much rich material written then and George and I wondered why more of that wasn’t being used in film scores today."[11] Holkenborg also drew inspiration from the rock opera genre, utilizing hundreds of drums and constructing electric guitar-driven themes.[12][13]

Recorded at Trackdown Studios in Sydney,[14] a majority of the score was performed by Holkenborg himself. "I basically played everything myself except for the strings and the brass that we recorded as a section in Sydney," said Holkenborg "I worked with Nick Zinner, the guitarist from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on a couple of cues. He's got this really wonderful tone, so we added some guitars."[15]

The score was later played for the film's actors during ADR sessions to gain a musical awareness of the film. "I know that George played the music to the actors when they came in to do the ADR," said Holkenborg. "Once they saw rough cuts of their scenes with the music that I did, they got a whole different idea of how they should have handled the ADR."[16]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]
Film Music FanB-[18]
Film.Music.Media[19]
Filmtracks.com[20]
Movie Wave[21]
Sputnikmusic[22]

The musical score has received generally positive reviews. Andy Kellman of AllMusic called the score "rife with tension", describing Holkenborg's "thunderous sounds – battering drums, screaming guitars, urgent strings and horns, all physical and skillfully orchestrated – to match the intense action."[17] Jørn Tillnes of Soundtrack Geek praised the soundtrack, writing, "It's rare when a 2+ hour score feels short, but in this case, I could easily listen to it for many hours more." Tillnes added, "The world needs composers like Junkie XL, someone who has the guts to go all out... At the same time, he has shown he can go the complete opposite and create beautiful symphonies on its own without relying on the action music."[23]

Oktay Ege Kozak of The Playlist described it as a "sublime and energetic score" that "finds a delicate balance between percussion-driven action and a striking orchestral score that resembles old school Hollywood epics."[24] Conversely, James Southall of Movie Wave wrote, "The repetitive action cues which form the bulk of the album are too off putting: there just aren’t enough ways found of making one piece of noisy drumming sound different enough from another piece of noisy drumming to make me want to listen to it, which isn’t necessarily a problem in the film but is of course a big one on the album."[21]

Hans Zimmer, a frequent collaborator of Holkenborg, called the score "absolutely phenomenal and mind-blowingly brilliant."[25]

Track listing

Standard edition

All music is composed by Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL.

No.TitleLength
1."Survive"1:30
2."Escape"2:14
3."Immortan's Citadel"8:41
4."Blood Bag"2:30
5."Spikey Cars"3:11
6."Storm Is Coming"5:36
7."We Are Not Things"1:37
8."Water"3:15
9."The Rig"4:13
10."Brothers in Arms"4:22
11."The Bog"6:58
12."Redemption"1:45
13."Many Mothers"5:15
14."Claw Trucks"5:31
15."Chapter Doof" (Extended Version)7:04
16."My Name Is Max" (Extended Version)4:43
17."Let Them Up"2:36
Total length:71:01

Deluxe edition

All music is composed by Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL.

No.TitleLength
1."Survive" (Extended Version)1:40
2."Escape" (Extended Version)3:28
3."Immortan's Citadel" (Extended Version)8:58
4."Blood Bag" (Extended Version)3:39
5."Buzzards Arrive"1:26
6."Spikey Cars" (Extended Version)4:08
7."Storm Is Coming" (Extended Version)6:16
8."We Are Not Things" (Extended Version)1:42
9."Water" (Extended Version)6:25
10."The Rig" (Extended Version)6:31
11."Into the Canyon"2:49
12."Brothers in Arms" (Extended Version)5:52
13."The Chase"3:16
14."Moving On"1:56
15."The Bog" (Extended Version)12:32
16."Redemption"1:45
17."Many Mothers" (Extended Version)8:58
18."The Return to Nowhere"5:17
19."Claw Trucks" (Extended Version)5:43
20."Immortan"11:10
21."Chapter Doof"6:49
22."Walhalla Awaits"2:40
23."My Name Is Max"2:23
24."Let Them Up"2:36
25."Mary Jo Bassa"2:26
26."Coda"4:43
Total length:125:08

Personnel

Credits adopted from liner notes:[14]

Additional music

Additional music credited in Mad Max: Fury Road:[26]

Title Musician(s) Key scenes/Notes
"Elegy for Rosa" Eleni Karaindrou Plays after The Splendid Angharad is killed.
"Refugee's Theme Symphonic Variation No. 1" Eleni Karaindrou Plays after the Rig comes across Furiosa's former clan.
"Messa Da Requiem - Dies Irae" Giuseppe Verdi Plays during Bullet Farmer's nighttime attack on the Rig. The piece was also featured in the film's theatrical teaser trailer.[27]
"Teardrop" Massive Attack Shots from the song's music video are shown during one of Max's visions.
"Out of Control" Zebrahead featuring Man with a Mission Plays during the end credits of the Japanese version only.[28]

Charts
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[29] 92
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[30] 197
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References
  1. Jagernauth, Kevin (1 April 2015). "'Mad Max: Fury Road' Soundtrack Details Arrive, Listen To The First Pulse-Pounding Track". Indiewire. SnagFilms. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  2. "Mad Max: Fury Road 2XLP". Mondo. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  3. Goldwasser, Dan (November 2006). "John Powell - Interview". Soundtrack.Net. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  4. "New Project: MAD MAX 4, Fans of Film Music audiopodcast". The Marco Beltrami Universe. 6 September 2012. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  5. "'Mad Max: Fury Road' to Feature Music by Junkie XL". Film Music Reporter. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  6. Weintraub, Steve (11 March 2015). "Junkie XL Talks RUN ALL NIGHT, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, BATMAN V SUPERMAN, and More". Collider. Complex. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  7. Roberts, Sheila (18 March 2014). "Composer Junkie XL Talks 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE, DIVERGENT, Possibly Collaborating with Hans Zimmer on INTERSTELLAR, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, and More". Collider. Complex. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  8. Burlingame, Russ (7 April 2015). "Mad Max: Fury Road and Batman V Superman Composer Junkie XL Talks Scoring Blockbusters". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  9. Hayward, Philip (18 May 2004). Off the Planet: Music, Sound and Science Fiction Cinema. Hertfordshire: John Libbey Publishing. p. 119. ISBN 0861966449. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  10. Labrecque, Jeff (14 May 2015). "Inside the Fury Road soundtrack: How Junkie XL scored the madness of Mad Max". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  11. McCue, Michelle (13 May 2015). "WAMG's Conversation with Composer Junkie XL On His Spectacular MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Score". WeAreMovieGeeks. Lanier Media. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  12. "Q&A - Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL)". Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  13. Brevet, Brad (22 April 2015). "Preview Junkie XL's Score for 'Mad Max: Fury Road' and Preorder Now". Rope of Silicon. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  14. "Mad Max: Fury Road - Booklet Credits". HansZimmer.com. Remote Control Productions. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  15. DiGiacomo, Frank (13 May 2015). "'Mad Max: Fury Road' Composer: 'The First Time I Saw The Movie I Thought, This Is So Insane!'". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  16. McWeeny, Drew (6 May 2015). "Junkie XL On Creating The Insane Soundscape For 'Mad Max: Fury Road'". HitFix. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  17. Kellman, Andy. "Mad Max: Fury Road [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]". AllMusic. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  18. "Mad Max: Fury Road - Soundtrack Review". Film Music Fan. 12 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  19. Savas, Kaya (7 May 2015). "Mad Max: Fury Road by Tom Holkenborg a.k.a. Junkie XL". Film.Music.Media. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  20. "Filmtracks: Mad Max: Fury Road (Tom Holkenborg)". Filmtracks.com. June 12, 2015. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  21. Southall, James (18 May 2015). "Mad Max: Fury Road". Movie Wave. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  22. "Junkie XL - Mad Max: Fury Road (album review)". Sputnikmusic. 16 May 2015. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  23. Tillnes, Jørn (14 May 2015). "Soundtrack Review: Mad Max Fury Road". Soundtrack Geek. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  24. Ege Kozak, Oktay (18 May 2015). "Listen: Junkie XL's Full, Speaker Breaking Score For 'Mad Max: Fury Road'". Indiewire. Snagfilms. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  25. Tapley, Kristopher (6 November 2014). "Hans Zimmer says Junkie XL's 'Mad Max' score is 'mind-blowingly brilliant'". HitFix. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  26. "Mad Max: Fury Road - Song Credits". Soundtrack.Net. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  27. Blankenship, Mark (17 December 2014). "Verdi Gives the 'Mad Max: Fury Road' Trailer Its Personality". Tribeca Film Festival. Tribeca Enterprises. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  28. "Man With a Mission x Zebrahead's 'Mad Max: Fury Road' version MV for 'Out of Control' released". TokyoHive. Theory Media Network. June 30, 2015. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  29. Ryan, Gavin (23 May 2015). "ARIA Albums: Hermitude Dark Night Sweet Light Is No 1". Noise11. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  30. "Ultratop.be – Soundtrack / Tom Holkenborg AKA Junkie XL – Mad Max - Fury Road" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
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