Home : Archive : TSV 31-40 : TSV 38 : Review

The Curse of Fenric

Music by Mark Ayres

CD review by Stuart Brown

I initially viewed buying a Doctor Who compact disc with trepidation - for an extra $8 or so I could have got the video so the main deciding factor was curiosity - what could a 72 minute CD offer that a 106 minute video can't? An instant selection of various tracks for one.

The CD consists of 39 tracks with names like The Boats, Viking Graves, Exit Miss Hardaker/The Vicar and the Vampires and (surprise, surprise) The Curse of Fenric. The music was performed on synthesizers and evolves from orchestral into the horrific as the action proceeds. The opening bars of The Boats (second track) are used as the theme for most of the other tracks which are variations on these 12 notes.

The music itself is very good and evokes powerful mental images when listening to it with the eyes closed. Memories came flooding back to me on my first listening and I remember things as if they were yesterday, no mean feat as the last time I saw this was three and a half years ago. The Haemovores is a particularly strong track as are The Boats, Beach-head and Rat-trap, The Battle for St Judes, Kathleen's Escape and The Final Battle. To open and close the CD a more 'traditional' version of the Seventh Doctor's theme music is used. Overall, an excellent CD which definitely grows on you.

This item appeared in TSV 38 (March 1994).

Index nodes: The Curse of Fenric