Despair rises up gradually, then suddenly, like the arms of a vice slowly closing in until, all at once, they crush everything in their grip.
Lustmord’s score for First Reformed works in largely the same way. Much of the film passes without any music at all. Rather, sounds of a decaying nature fill the scenes. When Lustmord’s dark drone does begin, it merely simmers away in the background, nearly unnoticeable. The deep, constant rumbles mesh indistinguishably from the sounds of nature and the contrasting artificial world that has taken over.
But, as Pastor Toller finds himself crushed in the grip of despair, Lustmord’s wall of noise rises up and comes crashing down, over and over in devastating, oppressive waves. These waves are only broken up by brief interludes of warped and distorted Protestant organ music, emphasizing the Pastor’s madness. Eventually the score becomes unstoppable, with a heaviness that rips the film toward the bowels of the earth.
