The Iceman by Haim Mazar

The Iceman Composed by Haim Mazar Relativity Music 2 (RM2) (2013) Rating: 5/10 More soundclips below provided by AmazonMp3

The Iceman Ho-Hummeth
Review by Steven Sharratt

Based on actual events from 1964 through to 1986 in New Jersey, THE ICEMAN follows the life story of notorious Mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski (played by Michael Shannon). The film focuses on how Kuklinski tries to balance the life as a loving husband and a devoted father whilst keeping his profession as a mobster a secret from his family. As the story progresses we watch how the consequences of his actions finally catch up with him.

Scoring duties for the picture fell to a new face in Hollywood, Israeli composer HAIM MAZAR. Born in the US but raised in Israel, THE ICEMAN is Mazar’s first major assignment in film composition. That isn’t to say he hasn’t had any experience; he was classically trained from the age of 5 and has worked extensively with John Frizzell with whom he co-produced and orchestrated the sci-fi horror film lLEGION (2010). He has also worked as an orchestrator, music programmer and pianist on several other projects.

For THE ICEMAN, Mazar uses two very different techniques. To capture the dark and grisly nature of the film he uses electronics and atonal orchestral effects, whilst opting for piano and strings to represent the warmer and more touching moments; it is these latter moments that provide the main interest for the listener. The opening track Duality (1) has an enjoyable, jazzy, Mark-Isham-vibe to it, a slow building piano rhythm is played alongside strings and a soft horn. The Last Goodbye (4), I Don’t Believe in Bad Luck (9) and Finale (17) take these rhythms a step further. The strings become more emotional and bass drums add to the drama.

Unfortunately the rest of the score is padded out with electronic whirring and percussive orchestral blasts such as in Paranoia (8) and God’s Busy (11). The synthesised drum-loops in tracks like Ruthless Killer, Loving Husband (2) and Gotta Keep My Reputation (10) don’t help either. Whilst these cues work fairly well within the context of the film, they certainly suffer as a listening experience on album. The album closes out with a song by American rock band ‘Crash Kings’, No Looking Back (19). It’s a slow off-key ballad but won’t really excite many film score fans.

On the whole, THE ICEMAN is a serviceable score and shows that HAIM MAZAR has much promise as a film composer. His emotional writing for piano and strings is to be commended, his style has a touch of James Newton Howard about it! However, the album often feels too disjointed caused by the relentless electronic sound design. At times the score is very subdued, almost as if the director didn’t want the music to draw undue attention to itself. Hopefully Mazar will be able to stretch his wings a little further on his next project.

Rating: 5/10

Track	Track Title	Track Time	Rating
1	Duality	1:45	****
2	Ruthless/ Loving Husband	4:04	**
3	The Iceman	1:32	***
4	The Last Goodbye	4:11	***
5	Transgressions	1:43	**
6	Cold As Ice	2:49	**
7	I'm Polish, I Work for Everybody	1:24	***
8	Paranoia	3:33	**
9	I Don't Believe in Bad Luck	1:45	****
10	Gotta Keep My Reputation	2:23	**
11	God's Busy	3:21	**
12	Partners	0:53	***
13	Caged Animal	1:58	**
14	Two Birds, One Stone	1:56	***
15	You Kill My Family, I Kill Yours	4:09	***
16	Chamberlain Promised Peace	3:27	**
17	Finale	2:46	****
18	Coda	2:46	***
19	No Looking Back (perf. by Crash Kings)	4:45	**
	Total Running Time (approx)	51 minutes