“Have you ever heard someone hum Kasseelian Opera?”
Well, now you’ll have the chance to do it yourself — and maybe annoy your partner, the way Hugh Culber annoyed Paul Stamets — with the release of the second Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 soundtrack from Lakeshore Records.
The collection of “Chapter 2” music from composer Jeff Russo’s stellar work on Star Trek: Discovery is more of the same in all the best ways possible, as he continues to add his unique style and substance to Trek’s fabled musical past. Following December’s “Chapter 1” soundtrack, which covered the first nine episodes of the show, this new release includes 22 tracks and more than 53 minutes of music from the final six episodes of Discovery’s first season.
The opening four tracks on the album are very moody and capture the unknown feeling the crew is facing as they enter the Mirror Universe in “Despite Yourself” and “The Wolf Inside,” the first two episodes of the series’ second chapter.
“Burnham Take Over” preps the series lead for her return to the captain’s chair on the Mirror Shenzhou, but it’s “Tell Me the Truth” — the longest track on the album at 6:30 — that perfectly encapsulates the raw emotion of Ash Tyler’s reveal and betrayal of Burnham. The track swells with the highs and lows of the emotion of that episode.
About that Kasseelian Opera that plays such an important part in the relationship between Stamets and Culber: it’s here in its full glory. And if you like opera, you’re bound to like this magical, falsetto-led track that serves as a companion piece to “I Can’t Dance” off the first Discovery release.
The album takes off with the conclusion of the fifth track, “The Rebels Haven’t Completed Their Evacuation,” which will have you reliving the exciting appearance of Emperor Georgiou when, well, the rebels haven’t completed their evacuation and she blows them off the face of the planet.
From to track to track, Russo is a master at building tension with the symmetry of percussion offset against aggressive strings that prop up his arrangements. The ability for his individual, film-quality tracks to stand alone is impressive.
That skill is on full display in both “The Lorca I Knew” (a winning track that will have you reliving the dramatic build-up that eventually reveals that edgy Captain Lorca was from the Mirror Universe all along) and “Safe to Drop Out of Warp,” which is arguably the album’s high-point. The standout track from “What’s Past Is Prologue” builds from crescendo to crescendo, with the signature beats of the Discovery theme ever present, and fully captures the excitement and tumultuous fun of the Mirror Universe.
Once “Lorca Is Finished” and Discovery is “Coming Home” — two more strong Mirror Universe tracks that are peppered with the energy of the main score — the album comes to a rousing finish with seven tracks from the final episode of the season, “Will You Take My Hand?”
Two unique musical selections from the Orion bar scene on Qo’noS in the season finale are included with the accurately-titled “Qo’noS Bar Source” and “Not a Lot of Humans Here.” “Qo’noS Bar Source” captures the interesting visuals from those seedy scenes, and amazingly harkens back to the Orion music featured from the Enterprise episode “Bound” (although quite unintentionally, I’m sure).
“I’m No Good” features a solemn Tyler goodbye to Burnham, while “War Is Over” exemplifies the show’s bold, epic and emotional final scene on Earth — medals for everyone, hooray!
Of course, if you’ve seen the final moments of the season, then you know the final two minutes of this album is all about the reveal of Alexander Courage’s original them as the Enterprise appears out of nowhere to close out the season in “Incoming Transmission.” On that selection, the music swells with energetic strings before seeing cues from the Courage theme pounce at the end.
The album closes out with Russo repurposing the original Star Trek theme in its full glory. His up-tempo rendition of the iconic music is a welcome addition to the Trek pantheon. It is simply perfect, as is this entire collection of new Discovery music, which fits perfectly into the rich tapestry of musical scores throughout Trek’s history.
The Discovery “Chapter 2” soundtrack is available now as a digital download, but for those of you looking for a physical copy, the CD edition won’t be out for another few weeks — it arrives in stores on May 25. (You can preorder through our link below.)
If you’re holding out for the colorful vinyl release we previewed earlier this month, you’ll need to wait a bit longer, as it’s not expected until mid-July — do remember, however, the vinyl release will be a partial mix of both soundtracks, and will not include all of Russo’s Season 1 score.
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Jim Moorhouse is the creator of TrekRanks.com and the TrekRanks Podcast.
He can be found living and breathing Trek every day on Twitter at @EnterpriseExtra.
 S1 Soundtrack: Chapter 1   | S1 Soundtrack: Chapter 2 |  S2 Soundtrack |