Given the longstanding connection between hard rock and sword-and-sorcery mythology, it's perfectly apt that composer Joel Goldsmith should appropriate heavy metal sensibilities into his orchestral score for the 1997Kevin Sorboopus Kull the Conqueror. A Sturm und Drang epic that seems spawned from the feverish imagination of the collective Dungeons & Dragons unconsciousness, it's pure cheese but an undeniably fun, engaging listen. Goldsmith's muscular melodies and bombastic arrangements perfectly complement the onscreen action, conveying the danger and violence of author Robert E. Howard's barbarian world in broad, slashing strokes. This is music possessing neither complexity nor subtlety, but taken solely on its own terms it's a vividly visceral success.