'The Road' is a film based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy; a bleak, brilliant book set in a post apocalyptic world which follows the journey of a man and his son. There is little room for sentiment in the story, which focuses especially on the man's task to instil a survival instinct into his offspring so that the boy may live on after he is gone. The world is portrayed as a desolate place where food and water is scarce and the few remaining humans will stop at nothing to get them. It's fair to say that John Hillcoat's filmed adaptation pulls few punches and, with the exception of a couple of particularly harrowing moments, stays admirably close to Mccarthy's text.

Is there a better qualified man to score a film such as this than Nick Cave? Working again with fellow Bad Seed Warren Ellis, following their work together on 'The Proposition' (a film that was also scripted by Cave) and various documentaries (some of which appeared on recent collection, 'White Lunar'), as well as the score for Andrew Dominik's 'The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford', he has created something that within its context is another masterpiece. Cave seems to have an uncanny knack of, when necessary, summoning pure evil to his music, in this case to evoke the living hell that the Earth has become. Violins screech and percussion crashes on tracks such as 'The Cannibals', piling on a sense of dread that those familiar with the book or film will understand only too well. Then on the flipside there's a track such as 'The Mother', a tender piece of music that makes the listener feel almost safe, if slightly uneasy.

Cave is one of the few artists working today that can genuinely lay claim to being a true auteur. He has an uncanny sense of the ridiculous (just try reading his hilarious yet horrific 'The Death Of Bunny Munro') that few can pull off (Tom Waits perhaps?) and this lends itself perfectly to his Bad Seeds and Grinderman persona, strutting the stage like a devil with a handlebar 'tache. However, it sometimes seems that in these scores he's written, there's a sadder, more serious side showing itself, that when writing for someone else's creative output, he can strip the showman away and truly bare his soul.

Like any film score, this certainly isn't for everyone - it's sparse, melancholy and instrumental; however, for Cave aficionados and film lovers, it's a fascinating piece of work. Cave, Ellis and Hillcoat were set to reunite for 'The Wettest County In The World' this year (featuring another Cave written script), although the production seems to have run into trouble. Let's hope that they can get things back on track soon, as together, they are one of the most genuinely affecting teams working in film and music today.

COMPETITION - YOU CAN WIN A COPY OF THE ROAD SOUNDTRACK AS WELL AS A COPY OF THE RECENT NICK CAVE AND WARREN ELLIS COLLECTION, 'WHITE LUNAR' JUST BY DROPPING US AN EMAIL TO COMPETITIONS@FLASHLIGHTMUSIC.CO.UK WITH YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS. FIRST NAME DRAWN FROM THE HOLLOWED OUT HUMAN HEAD TAKES THE PRIZE...

We are soon to start a new weekly newsletter, which will be perfect for those just too busy/lazy to check the site themselves. This will basically comprise a list of what's new on the site, and will contain links to future competitions etc. When entering this competition, please let us know if you wish not to receive the newsletter. Though we don't know why you wouldn't. We promise - and anyone who has ever read the site before will be able to back us up on this - that we wouldn't know how to use your email address for anything other than sending you the newsletter, even if we wanted to..