UNSEALED

One of the great ironies of soundtrack collecting is that one of the most fantastic symphonic scores ever written is for a movie entitled “Heavy Metal.” The 1981 animated feature Heavy Metal (adapted from stories published in the magazine of the same name) was an adult-oriented anthology with copious amounts of sex and violence. Sporting a hit soundtrack of contemporary pop-rock songs (licensing of which delayed the film’s video release until 1996), the film also benefited from an extraordinary symphonic score by Elmer Bernstein which did the lion’s share of the musical storytelling. (Bernstein was, at the time, the regular composer for producer Ivan Reitman.)

To put it simply, Heavy Metal is Elmer Bernstein’s Star Wars—a rich, vital, thunderingly symphonic work bursting with melody and drive. The anthology nature of the film allowed Bernstein to write distinct melodies for the disparate segments: from the heroic anthem of “Den” to the moody film noir stylings of “Harry Canyon,” and, especially, the soaring chorus and ondes Martenot of “Taarna”—the latter adapting the composer’s rejected love theme from Saturn III (1980).

01 Beginning 1:19
02 Intro To Green Ball 1:22
03 Discovery / Transformation (Den And The Green Ball) 3:18
04 Den Makes Out (Den Makes It) 2:44
05 Castrate Him / Searching For Loc Nar 2:07
06 Queen For A Day (Den And The Queen) 2:56
07 Pursuit (Den's Heroics) 2:54
08 Fiste 1:28
09 Getting Bombed 3:09
10 The Green Ball 2:17
11 Dem Bones 2:46
12 No Alarm 1:01
13 Robot Love (Space Love) 1:35
14 Harry 1:38
15 The Next Morning 1:59
16 End Of Baby 2:47
17 Council (Taarna Summoned) 2:52
18 The Flight To Temple (Flight) 2:20
19 The Sword (Taarna Prepares) 3:35
20 Flight To Holiday Town 2:22
21 Fighting 2:45
22 My Whips! / Taarna Escapes Pit 4:59
23 Finish (Taarna Forever) 3:41

Bonus Tracks
24 Den Makes Out (Film Version) 2:52
25 Bomber And The Green Ball (Album Edit) 4:38
26 Harry And The Girl (Album Edit) 3:43
27 Barbarians (Album Edit) 3:35