When it became clear Eric Serra's GoldenEye score was not the direction the series wanted to take, and after EON negotiations with John Barry fell through for Tomorrow Never Dies, David Arnold was welcomed into the Bond family.

Not many jobs in music come with 35 years of history and a world-wide audience of millions ready to pounce on your work. But pressures aside, David Arnold brought a truly modern sound to TND while still maintaining the traditional elements such as the orchestral pieces and a rich decadence which seems unique to Bond soundtracks.

The World Is Not Enough headed more towards the techno style that was cautiously introduced in TND, although the traditional elements were still there, this experience was a bolder statement to enforce Bond's contemporary status.

As with TND, TWINE used the melody from it's original end titles song within the main score to great affect, although sadly with TWINE this will be lost to people who have not heard the soundtrack CD through as Scott Walker's "Only Myself To Blame" was cut from the film in place of a techno 007 theme remix.

Arnold's score for "Die Another Day" builds upon the style "Tomorrow Never Dies" beautifully, with the techno and electronic elements more profound and revelling in confidence.

The traditional Barry-esque elements are here in spades too, with haunting strings, sassy brass and motifs which interweave between tracks (especially Jinx's melody).

The score sets out to stun with an up-tempo gunbarrel that will truly stands out in the series when the last 40 years are looked back upon, and then heads full throttle into the teaser sequence.

TWINE's boat chase, "Come in 007, your time is up", pushed the bar high for fast paced Bond chases, and the score for the hovercraft sequence does not disappoint.

The slower and romantic scenes of the film are also well looked after, with the other end of Arnold's high contrast range of styles used to full effect.

The score for the climax of the film utilises several motifs from TWINE to great effect, the rolling piano from "Pipeline" being the most prominent.

Some people may criticise this as recycling, but the elements are used in a new context and add to the feeling that this is a special entry in the series.

Finally a clever tribute to You Only Live Twice takes us out of the movie, and our of the best score David Arnold has produced for Bond.

"Die Another Day" builds upon the fantastic sweeping sounds of "Tomorrow Never Dies" and complements them beautifully with a higher contrast of electronica that dominated "The World Is Not Enough".

Five years working on Bond, and a lifetime as a fan, has brought together a fabulous blend by David Arnold, and delivered the best soundtrack of the modern day films.

David Arnold's Score: 5/5
Madonna's Title Theme: 2/5
Paul Oakenfold's Remix: 3/5

The limitations of a CD sadly restrict the amount of space given to Arnold's score, but is used quite effectively with an interesting "Making Of" Madonna footage and and alternative music videos for "Bond Vs. Oakenfold".

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Bonus Elements: 4/5

Buy

The "Die Another Day" Official Soundtrack is released on November 18th 2002 and can be ordered through MI6 Shop today:

02 Bond Vs Oakenfold - 4:02
With Moby's remixing of the famous theme now five years old, Paul Oakenfold fold tries his hand - but fails to better it with a by-the-numbers remix of the TWINE end credits music.

03 On The Beach - 2:50
A fantastic up-tempo gunbarrel piece leads into a slow and steady build up of anticipation to the fast paced action ahead.

04 Hovercraft Chase - 3:48
Punchy percussion kicks off the main teaser action with all the classic Arnold chase music elements in abundance - including some clever reversing of samples and tumbling strings. The quintessential 007 guitar riff is underlined magnificently by double timed percussion which melds into the spectacular brassy finale.

05 Some Kind Of Hero? - 4:31
Military drums and oriental twangs lead into a haunting orchestral section, which successfully builds a sense of danger and uncertainty.

6. Welcome To Cuba - 2:06
What sounds initially like the most out of place piece of scoring ever, somehow works when the piano, sassy brass and Latino percussion form a sound that is still Bondian.

07 Jinx Jordan - 1:28
A slightly indistinct romantic motif for Jinx is introduced, and later reprised.

08. Jinx And James - 2:03
Utilising the Jinx motif, the love scene is complemented with a slight feeling of You Only Live Twice's rich strings.

09 A Touch Of Frost - 1:50
A familiar feel lurks within this romance piece, occasionally punched with beaty spydom.

10 Icarus - 1:21
The electronic elements return to lead into a sinister build up to the weapon's unveiling. The controversial introduction of a choir to a Bond soundtrack works brilliantly in highlighting the magnificence of Icarus.

11 Laser Fight - 4:35
A steady build up to the fight brings back the deep TND style brass and military percussion, before techno breaks loose.

12 Whiteout - 4:54
Deep brass introduces us to a new motif which will return later, as the ever-clever sampling leads to the lull before the storm: more choir chanting, spinning strings and a full on blast of the 007 theme before returning to the opening motif.

13 Iced Inc - 3:07
More sampling and high-paced electonica lead into a prominent reprise of the Whiteout motif, sassy brass and a segment of 007 to create the best track of the album.

14 Antonov - 11:50
A monster of a track that encompasses almost every part of the soundtrack's spectrum. The most surprising element is the reprise of the tumbling piano from TWINE's "Pipeline", which works better in this context than it's use the previous film.

15 Going Down Together - 1:32
You Only Live Twice? You would be forgiven for being fooled in to that assumption, before the track sweeps into the final romantic embrace between Bond and Jinx, with more than a few echoes of TWINE's "Christmas In Turkey"