Ive always been a huge fan of James Cameron's Aliens, so when I came across a battered, well-worn vinyl of the soundtrack recently I just had to pick it up.

Composed by James Horner and recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Aliens soundtrack not only fits the film perfectly but is so atmospheric and bombastic that it remains a pleasure to listen to in its own right. The soundtrack includes tracks of serene yet unsettling atmospheric classical music that do a great job of illustrating the cold, vast beauty of space and the grandeour of huge ships gliding silenty onwards, dwarfed by the infinitude of the cosmos desipte their immense size in human terms.

These tracks contrast brilliantly with the more upbeat and urgent tracks that build up slowly to bombastic crescendos, with ominous, Wagnerian fugues merging with more dynamic strains that puncture the atmosphere like a knife. Meanwhile martial percussion ups the adrenaline further with drumrolls that remind of the military conflict taking place, creating a mix in atmospheres betwenn ancient, hellish imagery, the apocalyptic feel of Gustav Holst's 'Mars' piece and a more modern, futuristic feel.

The effect is not dissimilar to the works of metal bands Nile, Celtic Frost and Septic Flesh who regularly build their murky and portentous brands of death and black metal around similarly ominous classical compositions, employing the likes of french Horn and Timpani to create a similar sense of ancient foreboding in their works.

The digital remastering of the Aliens soundtrack improves on the experience with its crisp yet still immensely powerful sound, and its mix of gentle spaced-out lulls and all-out chaotic booming fugues complete with heavy and dynamic peaks and troughs of sound that stretch tensions to breaking point make the Aliens Soundtrack an essential purchase to anyone with even a modicum of interest in darkly atmospheric music, classical or otherwise.