Devine Score: “Unrelenting” – an exuberant score of surprising emotional heft and heart- thumping tension

Devine Score was founded by Zac Settles in 2015 as a project that creates original music for Film, Television, and Advertising campaigns. Since its inception, Devine Score has been recruited in the scoring of two feature films and a number of short films. A common refrain in film music criticism is that the best musical scores are the ones that go unnoticed, where the music seems to sprout organically from the screen, doing everything it can to avoid calling attention to itself.

We don’t have a screenplay to judge Devine Score’s latest work by, but clearly the music creator is in respectful disagreement, as “Unrelenting” pulls the often-underappreciated craft of film music composition into the limelight in a way that should delight fans of movie music. The track manages to wring drama and beauty out of it bars, and is an earnest example of its supremely important role in the film-making machine.

The composer utilizes all the capabilities of his chosen instruments throughout the arrangement, including glissandos that slur their way to suspense more often than not. Whereas the strings handle the duty of carrying character sensitivity, the horns are a tool for the action, muscle and occasional majesty, joining with bass accents and percussion to lend a unique sound to the concept’s epic leanings.

The amount of fully developed and lesser motifs in “Unrelenting” is breathtaking. These range from flowing dramatic strings with long lines to unique little stingers and other short phrases that are faithfully applied in carefully placed synchronization points in the arrangement.

This elusive, uneasy, slightly sinister but enticing string theme is quickly introduced and instantly flourishes into a full ensemble performance. Individual instrumentation often overlap to reach their final forms, both in drama and action environments, and some of these interactions become outwardly melodramatic in their harmonic expressions.

There is no doubt that Devine Score was going for the epic action effect in this score, and he is absolutely successful. “Unrelenting” combines melody with bright colors and dynamic orchestration, as well as deftly balances drama and suspense with adrenaline-charged action passages.

Devine Score is certainly on his way to developing an impressive discography. The grandeur of his latest work is certainly not understated, with the big bold orchestration immediately fierce and moving quickly into a suspenseful musical narrative. Devine Score is at his most unique in his use of bold basslines, driving percussion and searing strings to create an exuberant score of surprising emotional heft and heart- thumping tension.

Smart and affecting, “Unrelenting” delivers what you would expect from the title, with an energetic blend that is just downright engrossing. The track, which is the second single from the album entitled, “Pinnacle” confirms the composer’s growing reputation as one of indie’s more exciting and versatile new composers.

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