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GRAEME REVELL Aeon Flux Varese Sarabande **

New Zealand film composer Graeme Revell's scores work much better seen than heard. On Aeon Flux, as well as such recent scores as Assault on Precinct 13, The Chronicles of Riddick, Daredevil and Freddy vs Jason, Revell combines electronic percussion and treated vocals with pounding beats and short melodies to create dynamic soundscapes that propel a film's action forward. On screen the effect is propulsive and dynamic. On CD it is frantically formulaic because Revell neither develops his themes, diffusing their potential psychological depth and emotional complexity, nor varies his material in colour, texture and sonority, rendering it insistent and repetitive - except for the last track (Aeon Flux), where electric guitar and orchestral strings finally transform his main theme. Revell is an intriguing composer who has still to find his own distinctive voice (his scores for The Fog and for CSI: Miami's first season are fascinating deviations). Unfortunately, Aeon Flux is not. www.aeonflux.com

Jocelyn Clarke