Drone and ambient have increasingly found their way into film music in recent years. However, most of these scores, like Annihilation or First Reformed, stay relatively approachable for those less comfortable with these genres. MMMD (pronounced Mohammad) take these genres to their extreme in Hagazussa, creating a hypnotic, if divisive, experience.
Hagazussa is about as unvaried as music gets. Feedback-tinged strings ring out for seemingly minutes on end, gradually shifting pitch and volume like a gargantuan, ceaseless pendulum. The rattle of chains, the twinkle of bells, and ominous, occult-like humming and chanting occasionally interject the endless drone. The combination is ritualistic, conjuring images of religious incantations, incense and smoke; suppressed mysticism.
The relentless wave of sound crushes the listener amidst a backdrop of massive mountains and endless forests, until at once it’s gone. In a fell swoop near-silence replaces the suffocating drone, leaving only a crackling fire, a cough, the creak of a floorboard. The juxtaposition has an unsettling effect, as the viewer never knows when the roar will return or when everything will fade away.
This is a rare instance where the score works better without the film. The music’s slow nature requires a freedom from interruption in order to facilitate its mesmeric effect. While the film’s frequent interjections of silence create their own unsettling effect, they also keep the score from fully entrancing the listener.
The score’s glacial pace will be a turnoff to many listeners. But this is part of its brilliance. Its simple, stripped down nature slowly entrances and overwhelms. It hypnotizes the listener, pulling them into a world unlike our own, one laden with demonology and the occult, completely inescapable.
