Original score from the 2023 horror thriller feature film directed by Rodger Griffiths, starring Brian Vernel, Daniel Portman and Paul Higgins, produced by Synchronicity Films and MR. B Films, released by Saban Films (USA) and Kaleidoscope Film Distribution (UK).

THE STORY: Three brothers return to the remote woodland where they killed their abusive father only to discover his shallow grave is now empty, forcing them to question one another’s loyalty with devastating consequences as fear and paranoia set in.

THE SCORE: “Betrayal is a quite dark and bleak story, so we wanted a really raw, primal soundscape for this film, almost exclusively made of acoustic and organic sounds. We recorded a lot of custom violin and cello textures and worked with experimental percussion and vocal elements. There’s a mystic quality to these remote Scottish woodlands our characters live in, at nightfall almost a bit surreal, and in many cases, we decided to go very sparse and quiet with the score to really hear every breath and footstep. To balance out the bleakness, we wrote ‘The Red and Weary Paths’, a vocal piece serving as an emotional counterpoint. It’s essentially a mother’s lullaby, which opens and closes the film, as well as faintly reappearing throughout the score.” – Steffen Thum and Max Aruj

THE COMPOSERS: Max Aruj (Crawl, This is Football) is a composer born and raised in Los Angeles. His recent projects include MoviePass, MovieCrash (HBO), Lansky starring Harvey Keitel, and The Ice Road (Netflix) starring Liam Neeson. He joined the Assassin’s Creed universe for Wrath of the Druids. Aruj wrote additional music on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One for Lorne Balfe. He also did additional arrangements on Top Gun: Maverick for Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe. In the pop music world, Aruj co-produced Gryffin’s Gravity Deluxeorchestral album (2020). Aruj’s latest episodic release is animation action series Mech Cadets (Netflix). His other episodic credits include This is Football (Amazon), Empires of New York (NBC), and additional music for His Dark Materials (HBO) and The Crown (Netflix).

With over 70 credits to his name, Steffen Thum has garnered extensive experience across high profile studio films, TV series and ad campaigns, as well as independent cinema and celebrated shorts. He is best known for his work on feature films Crawl, Stockholm Bloodbath, Looking Up and Warning Shot, among others. He first started a career in film post production before making his way into music, studying media composition and audio production in Germany as well as film scoring in Los Angeles, where he moved in 2013. In 2014, Steffen accepted a position at Remote Control Productions in Santa Monica, working closely with top composers Lorne Balfe, Hans Zimmer and others, providing additional music for a diverse range of titles, including Top Gun: Maverick, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Black Widow, Bad Boys for Life, Ad Astra, The Lego Batman Movie, as well as high-profile TV series like The Crown, Hunters and His Dark Materials. Since 2020, Steffen works independently from his studio in Berlin, Germany. Recently, Steffen has contributed music to Benjamin Wallfisch’s scores for Twisters and Alien: Romulus.

MMS24034 BETRAYAL (aka KILL) (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by MAX ARUJ & STEFFEN THUM
Release date: September 6, 2024