“Leonardo’s Intervention Part 1” uses sparse piano, guitar and strings to great effect while an empty air sample hollows the song out. “Home of Brotherhood” uses distortion to great eerie effect while tense downplayed strings twist over eachother and a lone guitar plays solomn riffs. “Back in Venice” is more of the same acoustic lute on strings sound while “Dreams of Venice” has an otherworldly sound of light harps and glockenspiels dancing behind archaic operatic rants. “Flight Over Venice” is much more uptempo but is like a folk rock battle ballad – its got a real sense of grandure and history but never really breaks into a sweat. The ever present angelic vocals against an uncertain backdrop of strings makes for a haunting theme of despair. Almost like watching a town from a rooftop and then swooping down, the track has a slow-motion feeling of descent into the depths below. The change of tempo in the last two tracks actually makes the soundtrack feel like its on a mission. The smashing percussion really ups the ante here and leads onto the more fraught “Florence Escape” which throws everything into the mix – massive drums, discordant vocals, bending strings and heavy basslines. “Venice Fight” is a good cross over of electronica and orchestrated and reminds me of a Shadow Hearts battle track minus all the vocals.
The second one definately has more clout than the first as the timpanis get into the mix with deep brass sounds but overall the sound of sneaking is downplayed yet complex with lots of sounds playing out in the background instead. “Approaching Target 1” and “Approaching Target 2” are actually quite tense ambient sections.
It reminds me of the Tomb Raiders original triology of game music for some reason before it transitions into a more orchestrated tense movement. “Home n Florence” however begins more ambient with keyboards and pianos plinking away in seemingly random loops before a calming choral pad soothes it all away. “Florence Tarantella” is more baroque for want of a better word! It’s got that country dance feel written all over with Irish gig undertones, its a joyous little track. This version has a sorrow by the bucketload and is particularly heartfelt. “Ezio’s Family” completes the trio with another filmic downbeat interpretation of the previous two songs but more centred initially on swelling string and vocal elements of the same tunes.
“Venice Rooftops” continues the guitar elements which rolls effortlessly alongside ambient vocals and strings giving you a sense of grandure with free flowing motion as the cycles never stop and each instrument riff perfectly circles round. The calm and the unnerving side by side is quite unique.
Opening with “Earth”, it starts off quite serene and soon takes an eerie feel with the falsetto vocal slowly getting more shrill and anxious before the song breaks into full flow with strings, guitars and rolling percussion chugging away. Following on from the epic score of the original, Jesper Kyd returns for Assassins Creed II’s OST and this time we’re going back in time! Spread over two discs, the soundtrack features some lush and beautiful soundscapes and while there’s a lot of dramatic evolvement, its quieter moments can easily stand up to all the massive orchestras.