If you've been reading Splendid for a while, you've probably noticed that I think In The Nursery are, to put it mildly, rather good. Whether creating original, filmic, neo-classical pieces or penning new soundtrack material for classic silent films, the Humberstone brothers are in a class by themselves. Over the last twenty years they've honed their skills, taking advantage of increasingly sophisticated music-making technology, always pursuing new challenges and seeking new outlets for their work.
Engel is their latest challenge. It's the soundtrack to a multimedia role-playing game of the same name, from German publishers Feder & Schwert, and includes both new compositions and new recordings of "classic" ITN tracks. Like most of ITN's soundtracks to things you haven't seen and have relatively little hope of seeing, it functions quite well without its "parent" material -- which is a good thing, as I know nothing about Engel, the game, beyond what I was able to glean from the promotional materials. Apparently there's a graphic novel, a book and a role playing game. The rest, at least as far as non-German-speaking people are concerned, is a mystery.
The music on Engel, the album, is intriguing for two reasons. First of all, ITN's soundtrack-friendly neo-classicism has never sounded better; even when you know that the majority of their compositions are sample-based, it's hard to listen to pieces like "Beutereiter" and "Gabrielites" without assuming the Humberstones had a full orchestra at their disposal. The steady improvement of sampling technology has enhanced ITN's sound dramatically; Engel doesn't merely ring true -- some of its more powerful passages could give David Arnold a run for his money. The new material here is particularly well fleshed-out, making greater use of wind instruments and de-emphasizing ITN's trademark (but sometimes slightly cloying) "liquid string" sound, while taking full advantage of their passion for detailed, often martial percussion. The older material -- "New Religion" and "Engel - To The Faithful" -- has been nicely updated, with additional layers added to the original music. "To the Faithful"'s vocal sounds slightly amateurish by contemporary standards, but that's more a byproduct of slaving the vocal to the piece's less-than-supportive metre than a lack of skill on the vocalist's part.
More interestingly, after years of emphasizing the classical elements of their compositions, ITN here seem unusually willing to include rock-oriented instrumentation. Perhaps it's an exception they're making on Engel's behalf, but the modern elements prove surprisingly invigorating. Witness the throbbing punch of bass on "Beutereiter", and the anchoring pulse it provides in "Cathedral of Thoughts". I'm not sure if the sinuous, metallic bassline in "New Religion" was used in the original version of the track, but regardless, it adds a surprising measure of passion and urgency. You can even hear fingers squeaking across the steel strings -- an unusually raw, organic touch by ITN's standards.
It's impossible at this point to judge Engel's success as a game soundtrack, but it certainly sounds like a worthy musical companion to an epic tale. ITN's music conjures grand vistas, shading them in subtle emotional tones. Listening to Engel, you'll find joy, terror, fury, doubt, desire, uncertainty and love; you'll imagine spectacular battles, star-crossed romance and a timeless struggle between good and evil. It's virtually impossible not to be moved by Engel -- which makes it a success by almost any standard.
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