The soundtrack to the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's superb book is almost as evocative as the words on the pages themselves. Soundtrack maestros and Bad Seeds Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have done it again.
Anyone who's read Cormac McCarthy's tense tale of a father and son's struggle through a post-apocalyptic landscape will be aware just how bleak 'The Road' is. It was the least surprising news in the world, then, that Nick Cave and Warren Ellis were to compose the score for John Hillcoat's cinematic adaptation; not only have the Bad Seeds duo excelled on numerous previous soundtracks (The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, among them), but their aesthetic fits in with the dark, chilling atmosphere of the novel.
Crucially, it's clear that Cave and Ellis both have an understanding of the source material. The Road is all-too-often pigeonholed as a desolate and austere book, but there are moments of hope seeping through the pages, too, and these 17 compositions - particularly the tenuous piano and reed warmth of 'Home' and the peaceful 'The Church' – allow chinks of that optimism to filter through on occasion.
Yet it's true that from start to finish, the mood is largely sombre; initially sure-footed piano codas begin to show signs of hesitation, and on the cacophonous 'The Cannibals' and 'The House' – two of the film's most unsettling scenes – Ellis uses his instrument magnificently, creating a screeching tumult that's almost difficult to listen to. 'The Cellar' is an equally disconcerting piece, an atonal nightmare that chills to the bone.
Weighted with just the right amounts of steady sanguinity and genuine horror, 'The Road' is an incredibly evocative composition when paired with either the book or the film – which is about the highest accolade you could pay to Cave and Ellis.
