Often, Alan Silvestri can be one of the most infuriating composers around. He has written the most fantastic main themes, but then some of the least interesting scores ever. Once in a while, he strikes gold and for Judge Dredd he did just that. Like Demolition Man previously, this was a futuristic cop thriller thingy with lots of shooting and stuff. It was originally to have been scored by Jerry Goldsmith (who wrote the infamous trailer music - you can find it on Hollywood 95 or The John Beal Trailer Project, OK?!), however due to scheduling conflicts etc etc, Alan Silvestri was hired to ultimately score it. It turned out to be one of his best action efforts. Curiously, it doesn't contain one of his greatest main themes. It is suitable to the hilt though, blaring brass, dramatic, heroic turning into a sharply constructed march, introduced after a slow and rumbling build up in, surprisingly enough, Judge Dredd Main Theme. The style is used as a basis for a lot of the rest of the score, the splendid brass section of the Sinfonia of London being used to best effect, with the choir giving it a wonderfully epic quality. It remarkably mirrors these hugely dynamic sections with some very atmospheric and marvellously orchestrated quieter sections such as the opening of Judgement Day. Some of the slower, portentous sections seemed to echo the high drama of the final Cloud City music from John Williams' classic score to The Empire Strikes Back; no bad place to start, even though this music is shot through with Silvestri's own harmonic and melodic language.
The action cues are some of Silvestri's best serious efforts, and while they do rely on very strong rhythmic devices, one never gets the feeling that he's just hitting the repeat key on the synth machine. The strident Dredd March makes a few appearances and the music is all the better since being so single mindedly serious makes it seem incredibly dramatic and thoroughly epic in scope. Block War is one of the best examples of this, which thunders on like a war machine, which is essentially Mr Dredd's (can I call him Mr?) only purpose. Council Chaos features some more intricate string and brass writing, which really is chaotic as well as being utterly riveting. One of the most disturbing tracks I've heard Silvestri compose is Angel Family which uses what sounds like twisted whale song, along with skittering percussion. It is really very creepy indeed, but finally breaks out into a percussive action cue a la Predator.
Unless you are a metal/heavy rock/grunge/whatever fan, I would skip the opening songs. I frankly loathed them (even worse than the one's from Lost in Space), but at least Silvestri's score is given a decent 41 or so minutes. Can't really complain too much; the sound quality is notably sharp along with the fantastic performance of the Sinfonia (who also gave a great performance for Danny Elfman's Batman). Overall this is a very intense score, lighter moments are mainly left for the end and unlike Goldenthal's Demolition Man, it takes itself a lot more seriously. This makes it neither better nor worse, but perhaps makes it a more grown up effort for what was essentially a silly film. If attached to a really classy futuristic thriller, then great, but sadly it's attached to a pretty lame, comic book futuristic thriller. As with Demolition Man, skip the movie and just enjoy the score. PS. Rating ignores the presence of the songs.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 72:54