While 2026 has officially started, as a critic, I am still focusing on soundtracks from 2025. I would love to start exploring 2026 scores, but I need to make sure I am well-informed before the awards I am involved in, namely the IFMCA Awards and my own eSWay Awards. In this Spotlight article, I would like to highlight two scores from composers who wrote music that is different from what I was used to from them, and a score for a sequel to a game of which the first installment, with its score, was exceptionally well received.
Nuremberg – Brian Tyler
One of the scores I have really been wanting to talk about for the last couple of months is the music for Nuremberg. It is a movie about a psychiatrist who has to deal with the defeated nazi leaders after the end of the Second World War. Being a war drama, I was quite surprised that Brian Tyler wrote the music for this film, since for me, he is mainly known for writing bold scores for action-packed movies. I was curious what Tyler would write, but it did not take me long to be quite impressed, because the album starts with some amazing orchestral suites featuring stunning, emotional and powerful melodies. After listening to those suites, I continued listening to the score itself, which has some tense moments – it is a drama after all – but the music still contains many of the outstanding melodies of the initial suites, ending with a fantastic long end title suite. I love it when a composer catches me off guard by writing a stunning score in a genre I do not expect.
Ella McCay – Hans Zimmer
When I think about Hans Zimmer’s music, I usually think of the bold, loud statements he can make in his soundtracks. When I go to the theater to see a movie with Zimmer’s music, I always make sure I have my earplugs ready. But with that said, I also know that he has a romantic side, with the music for The Holiday as his greatest example. Zimmer returned to those roots when he wrote the music for the comedy Ella McCay in 2025.
In this short 38-minute score, you can listen to some gorgeous orchestral music, in which you can hear individual musicians playing the melodies, like the woodwinds or the piano, which results in a delicate score, radiating positive vibes. It is not the best score I have heard this year, but it was definitely a treat to listen to Zimmer’s more romantic and comedic sides, and it is still a solid score to enjoy without the film.
Hades 2 – Darren Korb
After releasing the wildly popular game Hades with its stunning score by Darren Korb, studio Supergiant Games did something that they had never done before: they made a sequel, Hades 2. The best way to describe Korb’s music is that he writes songs that stand on their own, with the majority of them being instrumental, featuring guitars, drums, and all kinds of electronic sounds. When I listen to the 4-hour album with the music for Hades 2, I can hear quite a few similarities to the first Hades game. I could hear the main theme in several places, and many tracks also get the metal treatment. The music, on the other hand, is also different. As shown in the credits, many others have contributed to this score. Besides trusty collaborator vocalist Ashley Barrett, other vocalists contributed to some songs, who also do voices in the game. In the latter part of the album, we can even hear some orchestral pieces, for which Korb enlisted the help of composer Austin Wintory.
Overall, it is another decent score by Korb, but I do not think it is his best. I enjoyed listening to it, but I was not amazed by it, as I was by Korb’s previous work. One of the things I liked less about this score are, unfortunately, the orchestral tracks. Korb’s music shines best when he writes these tracks that are basically songs with only a handful of instruments, and lets the vocalists perform their magic on top. The orchestral tracks, in my opinion, are too dense and too complex, which doesn’t really work in a Darren Korb score. Despite that I’m still looking forward to Korb’s next project, because I wouldn’t be surprised if Supergiant Games goes for something new again, which will probably result in another great score by Korb.
