While rather straight forward in its thematic constructs, Black Sunday is often restrained in its presentation of those ideas, leading to a morbidly somber and perpetually unsettled and ominous tone until its final moments. The score features two primary themes and one seldom-referenced secondary idea. By far dominating the personality of Black Sunday is the methodical motif for the Palestinians, represented by a series of four-note phrases that always begin with straight, almost mechanical repetition in its first phrase. The theme haunts the score from its opening moments to the final fade at the end, easily malleable in relation to the other themes and intensifying in performance depth as the plot to explode the blimp progresses. While the theme lurks on celesta and woodwinds earlier in the score, it is finally translated into its final, brass incarnations in "Miami," one of the film's more memorable scenes (as the blimp is first seen). Several momentous brass expressions of the theme, in a style typical to Williams' darker fanfares for his own disaster scores of the early 1970's, await the blimp's final journey to the stadium and collision with it. A handful of powerful cello, piano, timpani, and bass woodwind churnings of the theme produce highlights of the score, including another driving performance for a great shot in "Bomb Passes Stadium" (depicting the bomb on its way to be joined with the blimp as the game is starting). The relentless reminders of this propulsive theme, extending with stealth into the resolution cue and original end credits, serves as a reminder of the unyielding, focused threat of terrorism that spans even beyond this picture. As the theme changes its meter in its later, more accelerated performances, it takes on a personality similar to Jerry Goldsmith's tense material for urban thrillers in the 1990's, a characteristic that applies especially to the two variations of "The End." Interestingly, as the terrorists' theme is allowed to merge with underlying rhythms in this score, it begins to form a very clear mould for Williams' tumultuous motif for the raptors in Jurassic Park, especially in the use of rolling bass woodwinds in the mix. The ending of "Underway" is quite surprising in this regard. In fact, the connections between Black Sunday and Jurassic Park are plentiful in these passages, including the use of enhanced synthetic bass effects to expand the music's dynamic reach.

The second main theme for Black Sunday accompanies Robert Shaw's lead Israeli commando and is a clear precursor for Williams' redemptive but alluringly tragic theme for "the force" in Star Wars. This idea, while faithfully developed by Williams until its first full incarnation in the closing resolution scene, was considerably damaged in its application to the film due to the score's significant rearrangement in the editing process. Ultimately, you never hear this theme in full in the final cut of the film, though its interactions with the terrorists' theme, as well as its own intriguing manipulations for the character's thought process, can be appreciated on album. The third theme in Black Sunday is only heard on creepy piano in "Building the Bomb" and disturbed strings and celesta in "The Last Night," and it represents the doomed love affair between the lead Palestinian agent and the mentally unstable Vietnam veteran who will pilot the blimp. This theme is a bit too tortured for even fans of Williams' 70's romance ideas, its harmony twisted into eerie formations. A handful of other instrumental touches are used by Williams to accentuate certain concepts in the film, most notably an array of clicking percussion as the fuse on the bomb is lit and the distinct flourishes of the harp to address the vague romanticism of the blimp. The employment of the celesta, usually in conjunction with strained high violins, leads to cues difficult to enjoy on album ("Moshevsky's Dead," "The Test," etc). Outside of the intermingling of all of these themes and instrumental identities in Black Sunday is the standout cue "Preparations," which bursts with a fugue that foreshadows several similar, striking multi-string-lined expressions of rhythmic force to come for the composer. Also of note is "The Explosion," which was originally deemed too anti-climactic by the filmmakers, so Williams returned for a later recording session to specifically provide what would eventually be known as one of his blazing brass fanfares in the bombastic major key. The replacement 30-second cue for the very end of the film sounds like a combination of the nobility of The Towering Inferno's exterior shots (in the performances of the Israeli commando's theme) and the show-stopping timpani pounding and sixteenth notes on trumpets later to grace the composer's Star Wars prequels. The tone of this short cue is completely different from the rest of the score, but a welcome relief.

Overall, Black Sunday is an accomplished score but not necessarily a truly memorable one. The relatively archival sound quality doesn't allow the many intricacies of the instrumental colors to expose themselves well enough to casually appreciate. Once it starts cooking in the second half, there is much to like about its outwardly menacing attitude. Though the first half of the score is equally grim, it blends into the background much like Williams' just previous Midway did outside of its major thematic performances. The theme for the terrorists is afforded some truly fantastic statements that easily earned him his paycheck (it almost makes you wish they had accomplished their aim, if only to hear what kind of glorious variation Williams could have made on this idea). Those who appreciate the composer's use of low woodwinds to denote suspense (a la E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) will love the maturation of this primary theme. Those nostalgic for Williams' infusion of pop rhythms and instrumentation into his vintage disaster scores will find equal merit in the composer's solo trumpet and light jazz arrangement of the Israeli's theme in his original end titles cue. Thus, altogether, Black Sunday is the kind of score that will appeal to Williams collectors but convert few outside of that group. Long represented on album by only substandard bootlegs, it was finally given proper treatment by Film Score Monthly in 2010. This outstanding, remastered presentation of the score allows listeners to hear it as Williams had intended, which will give them the opportunity to consider an extensive amount of material dialed out of (or rearranged in) the film. Included are the source cues recorded by Williams for the game and beyond, as well as the original end credits cue without the pop percussion and an edited approximation of the end credits material heard in context. Unfortunately, the masters of the revised version of "The Explosion" could not be located, so the score's single most memorable moment reverts back to mono sound from a seemingly inferior source. Aside from this one major detraction, the FSM Black Sunday album will not disappoint. Had the score been recorded digitally twenty years later, a vibrant soundscape for the composition would likely have afforded it a fourth star in its rating. True enthusiasts of the composer can even extend comparisons of this score to Williams' last music for the screen before going into semi-retirement in 2005, Munich. The dark hues are equally sinister in both scores.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download