As powerful and as moving as the Academy Award Best Picture nominated feature film, the All Quiet On The Western Front original soundtrack by Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka) is a masterpiece. For anyone (this writer) who obsessively listened to Michael Giacchino’s The Batman original score, everything we get with Bertelmann’s tracks is just as addicting.
Comprised of 24 songs, the original soundtrack is undoubtedly one of the most jaw-dropping 53 minutes and five seconds anyone will spend while listening. The original score is dark, unnervingly heartbreaking at times, and yet, simultaneously effortless to listen to it. We mention this with original scores at times, but sometimes darker themes don’t make it easy to put on for a long while, but that’s not the case here because something about the moving pieces makes it impossible to turn off.
Specifically, there’s something about the places a track like “Flares” takes listeners to—corners where there’s light even amidst darkness and survival despite all odds. It’s a beautifully encompassing track that comes rather closely in the beginning and keeps the momentum going despite slowing down from the first few themes. The same can be said about “Comrades,” “Retreat,” and “Making Sense of War.”
But an original score of this caliber generally comes with a titular track that hits like a ton of bricks, and that’s the case with “All Quiet On The Western Front,” which is the second to last track on the album. How Bertelmann weaves the first few notes of the opening track to create a haunting ending then is no small feat. While “Paul” concludes the album, “All Quiet On The Western Front” leads it to its endnote. To depart listeners with an incredible end track after a thrilling opening isn’t something that always works as seamlessly with original scores, but here—it’s the best part of it.
Listen to the All Quiet On The Western Front original soundtrack below and let us know which tracks are your favorites.