August 27, 2018
Mark Isham’s 1998 BLADE Score to Be Issued on Vinyl
The Original Motion Picture Score for BLADE by award winning composer Mark Isham will be released for the first time on vinyl on October 4th and is now available for pre-order from varesesarabande and other retailers. The LP’s jacket, inner sleeve and labels thematically reference the infamous warehouse rave scene of the vampire thriller from 1998.
“The score needed to have an epic super-hero quality but with a very dark side, and it needed to be able to live next to the world of 1990’s electronica—The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin etc.” described Isham. “We used a large symphony orchestra supplemented with electronic synthesizers and samplers for a unique musical vocabulary. I did a lot of sampling of weird and strange sounds as well as programming my synth collection. We recorded at the Fox stage which is a wonderful room. The process went smoothly as I had worked tirelessly with Steve Norrington, the director, during the demo process to get what we both wanted. We recorded some sections of the score in smaller segments—to be edited together later
—as a lot of the visual effects hadn’t been completed yet. I think my two favorite musical moments are “The Death of Whistler”—which is very emotional scene, a bit unexpected in a film of this genre—and the culmination of the “Ritual for Summoning La Magra.” This is big and bombastic and just plain FUN!”
The movie starring Wesley Snipes in one of his signature roles was a commercial success that spawned two sequels and a short-lived television series; the films have enjoyed cult status for many years. At this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego, Marvel Studios got movie-goers amped by announcing a BLADE reboot in 2020, with none other than accomplished actor Mahershala Ali to star.
