The opening track of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Soundtrack, “Atlas”, by Coldplay, ignites a smoldering flame that doesn’t stop burning until the final song on the album. Although some of the songs in the middle of the album flicker and sputter, the album remains a solid listen.
The artists on the compilation, which features the likes of everyone from Ellie Goulding to Santigold to Patti Smith, created original songs just for the movie Catching Fire, with the exception of Lorde, who sang a cover of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, one of the few mis-steps in an otherwise strong collection of music.
The last song on the album, “Angel on Fire”, by Antony and the Jacksons, is another song that fails to please, a rambling confusing mess of a song that doesn’t end the album on a high note, a disappointing fact.
However, the good overwhelmingly outweighs the bad. “Lean” by National is pleasantly low-key and catchy despite having some heavy and dark material that pervades the rest of the album as well, not surprising considering the subject matter of the film.
“Silhouettes”, sung by Of Monsters and Men lifts up high, their wonderful voices and melodies eliciting real emotion. “Gale Song”, by The Lumineers is quietly beautiful and perfectly captures the plight of Gale Hawthorne, twisting and winding with a heavy sadness.
“We Remain”, by Christina Aguliera is by far the best track on the album. The most powerful of the bunch, it is also the only one to capture the strength and fearlessness of Katniss that is so key to Catching Fire. “So burn me with fire/Drown me with rain/I’m gonna wake up screaming your name”, Aguliera sings, showing she is more than capable of sparking a revolution herself with this song.
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Overall, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Soundtrack is more than worth it, serving as the perfect accompaniment to both the book and the movie, and leaving the listener with several tracks that will surely endure for a while to come.
