Game Of Thrones Season 4 Soundtrack Review

Track Listing

Main Title
The Rains of Castamere
Breaker of Chains
Watchers on the Wall
I’m Sorry for Today
Thenns
Mereen
First Of His Name
The Biggest Fire the North Has Ever Seen
Three Eyed Raven
Two Swords
Oathkeeper
You Are No Son of Mine
The North Remembers
Let’s Kill Some Crows
Craster’s Keep
The Real North
Forgive Me
He Is Lost
You Are No Son of Mine
The North Remembers
Let’s Kill Some Crows
Craster’s Keep
The Real North
Forgive Me
He Is Lost
I Only See What Matters
Take Charge of Your Life
The Children

Following on from the success of its third season soundtrack, Rawin Djawadi returns to compose the fourth score in the Game Of Thrones audio catalogue. With the various character themes already established, this 60 minute slice of orchestral music sees the various themes clash and merge in harmonic and discordant ways. All of which culminating in a brilliant soundtrack.

Setting the mood for what’s to come, ‘The Rains Of Castamere’ is a chilling and moody song, combining haunting vocals with low-key violins for maximum effect. From here, the album continues on, much like previous seasons, progressing chronologically through the events that transpired in the fourth season. 

Over the past few soundtracks, Daenery’s theme is something I’ve discussed quite a bit and musically, it’s really evolved and progressed with time. With the third season utilizing horns and Armenian flutes, her theme is much more defined this time around, reflecting the newfound confidence she radiates this season. This is particularly apparent here during ‘Mereen’, a goosebump-inducing, mysterious song that reflects Daenery’s fully fleshed out theme perfectly.

After this, the rest of the soundtrack really takes on a much more urgent and dramatic tone, reflecting the rising tensions and pockets of explosive drama evident throughout the fourth season. There’s much more emphasis on drums and heavy bass this time around too, mainly thanks to the various battle sequences that take place along with the shocking plot developments that crop up along the way.

With most of the main themes already established, and Daenery’s theme finally coming together, the various themes all begin to merge and clash in really interesting ways. All of this, combined with the teasing bites of the main theme’s motif, bring up some really interesting and audibly pleasing results. One of the best examples comes in the form of ‘Two Swords’ which really typifies the main conflict in the show, capturing it perfectly in one, solitary track. This sees the Lannister and Stark themes clashing, tied together through various instruments and a methodical pacing.

As a musical journey, the fourth season’s soundtrack really culminates three years worth of work and tops it off with a beautifully composed soundtrack. Much like the series itself, the soundtrack solidifies itself as the pinnacle of classical scoring and does an excellent job mirroring the emotional highs and lows of the fourth season.