Douglas Pipes - Krampus (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2015) [Hi-Res]

The score for Krampus is by the outstanding young American composer Douglas Pipes, another entry on my infamous list of composers whose immense talent demands that he should be scoring more films than he is. His previous two high profile efforts, Monster House in 2006 and Trick ‘r Treat in 2009, were both remarkable works that blended elements of comedy and horror with a tremendous dramatic sense, mastery of the orchestra, and some beautiful thematic writing, and Krampus is very much more of the same. Whereas Trick ‘r Treat played around with the musical conventions of Halloween, Krampus has fun with the sounds of Christmas. The score is an absolute delight from start to finish, and is very clever in the way Pipes takes elements from several different traditional Christmas carols, breaks them down into musical fragments, and then blends them with his own orchestral ideas. It is written for a full orchestra and choir (which sings, chants, and makes terrible groaning noises, as required) and combines some lovely seasonal thematic writing with rampaging action sequences. (Review by Jonathan Broxton)