Most Trailer Music fans are familiar with Music Junkies as the creative force behind Ars Arcana and their excellent 2004 release of The Savage Tongue. Music Junkies is unlike many companies in the business which only feature music by a handful of composers, as nearly 70 different people have contributed tracks over the company's 18 year history. With a rich and diverse catalog, there can be no doubt that Music Junkies is the home of a plethora of brilliant and evocative works. Devoted fans have spent years pleading for public releases, and now we have a chance to hear some of these tracks for ourselves (Which is just as well, because my strategy of ambushing anyone involved with Music Junkies and spraying them with a cheap water gun while laughing manically didn't seem to do much).

Good Idea features tracks by no less then 13 different composers, including a song by Two Steps From Hell co-founder Nick Phoenix and several pieces by Kerry Muzzey. The album is a compilation of tracks from the entire Music Junkies catalog, ranging in genre from epic orchestral and choral to techno and everything in between. Unlike The Savage Tongue, for this release Music Junkies doesn't have the luxury of a live orchestra and choir. Thankfully, thanks to modern technology this is not a particularly huge hindrance when utilized properly.

Though the album seems like a recipe for success, Good Idea is ultimately an inconsistent scramble that falls slightly short both as a listening experience and as a showcase of the best Music Junkies has to offer to fans. While looking through my dictionary to learn more about adorable little rodents, I stumbled across a picture of Good idea next to the dictionary entry for “Mixed-Bag”. Its a pretty accurate description of the album as a whole, though I haven't figured out what trailer music was doing in my dictionary (or why i was looking for that information in a dictionary in the first place).

Do not misunderstand me – there is definitely a good side to this album, and there are a few truly powerful and emotional pieces scattered throughout. Fatal Fantasy is easily the best of the bunch, and it is the splitting image of a solid, uplifting and epic trailer cue that wouldn't feel grossly out of place if it was played by a real orchestra and placed on the next Trailerhead release.

Another bright spot is Escape Hatch, which is a fun mix of rock elements and the classical orchestra. Sometimes such unions are doomed to failure, but in this case the two work extremely well together and the result is a very catchy and quirky track unlike anything else out there.

Unfortunately, these songs are the exception rather then the norm. Approximately half of the album is fleshed out by enjoyable though rather unremarkable pieces such as Cosmos Dei. (Edit: This track was originally credited to Nick Phoenix, while it was actually composed by Max Cameron). They are tracks which are pleasant enough to listen to and definitely worth a look if you love this style of music. Just don't count on them to drive you to victory against the armies of guinea general Sparklewhisker, because they aren't going to be enough. Thankfully, Good Idea is a long album, and we are treated to a solid 35 minutes of enjoyable music.

On the other hand, the remainder of the album leaves me absolutely befuddled. A large portion of Music Junkies catalog consists of minimalistic tracks meant to build tension and atmosphere in productions, and that's wonderful – when used in productions. Somehow quite a few of these tracks found their way onto this release, which is a shame given the untapped potential in their catalog which would have better suited a public album. Those in charge of compiling the album seem to have forgotten that Good Idea is something that people will purchase and want to listen to, not just a place to shove the most successful tracks from every single genre in the library. I'm renowned for my ability to enjoy music that others find dull, but even I found myself bored to tears by many of the pieces.

Power Play is a good example of this, which spends most of its five minutes demonstrating just how dull a single, barely-audible electronic tone can become. As a dramatic tension builder it may work, but as a listening experience it falls on its face spectacularly. There are far too many tracks of this sort in the album, and I'm not sure why. You can read my lengthy hypothesis at the end of this review, the details of which I won't pester you with here.

If it's not dull, on occasion the tracks can even be downright unpleasant, such as Stalker, which started randomly blaring heavy techno at me. I'm not a particularly big techno fan, so perhaps I'm not the best judge of its sound (Though on the bright side, it seems to work as a guinea pig repellant!), but It left me wondering what it was doing smashed in the middle of the album and if the album was suffering from an identity crisis.

Some artists, such as Yoav Goren and the rest of the crew at Immediate, take time to organize their tracks in a particular order so that the album flows together as a larger work. Good idea has little sense of this, jamming together disparate styles on top of one another in a hurried fashion. You'll find yourself shifting between genres constantly, rather then listening to a group of similar tracks.

At the end of the day, Good Idea is a mixed blessing. For hardcore Trailer Music Enthusiasts, its absolutely worth a shot for tracks like Fatal Fantasy, and overall this release gives us quite a few solid tracks. However, for every good track there is a disappointing counterpart, and there are certainly better releases you could purchase. I earnestly hope that Music Junkies releases another public album, hopefully one which draws primarily from their action and epic compilations and not from their drama and suspense collections. Tracks like Fatal Fantasy show that the talent and potential is there, as long as we get the chance to hear it. Because good or bad, I think we can all agree that public releases are always a Good Idea.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

(Please note the following is not part of the actual review and is intended only for comedic effect. Ryan likes to pretend he is funny, and we indulge his fantasies):

My hypothesis is this: Someone at Music Junkies (lets call him “Bob”) had the “good idea” of releasing a public album. As always happens when people get ideas, a light bulb magically appeared over his head and lit up brightly. However, public releases of trailer music are so awesome that this light bulb began to shoot lasers (as seen on the cover). This drew the attention of the guinea pig mafia, who quickly arrived and threatened to torture bob by putting him through the unending exercise wheel of doom unless he told them how to harness this amazing new power. Bob had to show them how to put together a public album, and only had 5 minutes to do so. He was halfway done and had a pretty good tracklist when time ran out, so in desperation he grabbed a bunch of random tracks and smashed them in there. The Guinea Pigs were impressed, so they have begun a new trailer music library of their own called X-Ray Guinea Pig. Their first few albums include “Stand up and Hear, Fresh Hay, Old Tricks and Angry Guinea. Similarities to X-Ray dog albums is entirely a coincidence.

I'm not actually sure about any of this, but it seems to be the most logical explanation.

When you ask the average trailer music fan what their favorite company is, chances are good that Two Steps From Hell will be one of the first names out of their mouth. Founded in 2006 by renowned composers Thomas J Bergersen and Nick Phoenix, Two Steps From Hell has rapidly grown to become one of the most recognizable and respected names in the industry. Their music has been featured in some of the most memorable trailers in recent memory, such as in promos for Star Trek, 2012, Prince of Persia, Mass Effect 2 and countless others. Unsurprisingly, their outstanding work has earned them a huge cult following online, and for years fans have been relentlessly begging them to release their music to the public. After years of waiting, our wishes have been fulfilled!'

Formerly known as “Genesis”, Invincible contains 20 of the duo's most popular tracks from previous albums, as well as 2 previously unreleased compositions. Don't let the burly Gladiator on the cover fool you into thinking that only epic and combative cues are featured. While there is plenty of action, it is joined by an array of softer, emotional and romantic pieces, several featuring beautiful solo vocals. Together, the myriad of tracks take the listener on a dramatic, epic journey through the spectrum of human emotions, tugging at the heartstrings all the while. After listening to the album, its easy to understand why it has built up such an incredible amount of hype in the community.

Thankfully, the album meets the lofty expectations set forth by the community easily, often managing to surpass them. For those of you hurrying to save the world from rampaging guinea pigs, I urge you to stop reading, buy Invincible, and listen to it while battling the ferocious beasts. Win or loose, your battle is guaranteed to be approximately 954% more epic!

Though I'm sure that just about everyone has a favorite song that didn't make the cut, Thomas and Nick have done an outstanding job of assembling the very best tracks from their catalog. Though certainly not perfect, the album is an unparalleled 58 minute musical experience that stands as one of the finest examples of the genre as a whole. For those of you seeking to turn all of your friends into Trailer Music junkies, this should be your weapon of choice. Were I to give every track the attention it deserves we would be here all night, so I will only take the time to comment on a few of the most outstanding pieces.

The album opens with the dramatic sweeps of “Freedom Fighters”, one of TSFH's most popular and recognizable tracks after featuring in trailers for Star Trek. The mix included on the album is the finest yet, with subtle percussion adding to the impact of the sweeping, emotionally charged theme.

“Master of Shadows” has also built up a great deal of anticipation since being featured in trailers for 2012. However, the version on the album is different then the version we are familiar with from the trailers, and the change is arguably for the worse. The version on the album features pronounced orchestral strings on top of the rock beat of the original, and at times they are simply overwhelmed and lost against the screaming chorus and pounding percussion. In addition, the smooth strings break up the sharp staccato pacing of the song. That said, the new version has been steadily growing on me, and either way it's still an absolutely fantastic listen and certainly my favorite of Nick's many contributions.

“Am I Not Human?” is the first of the two unreleased tracks on the album. Its an intriguing piece, combining an electronic techno background with a gradually growing orchestral melody. Nick lends his own voice to the track (seriously, what can't these guys do?), and the result is a somewhat haunting, unsettling piece. It's far from the best track on the album, although given the competition that still means that it's nothing short of excellent.

“Black Blade” is one of the finest action cues on the album, and it sounds even better on here then it did in the trailers, benefiting from added percussion and vocals. It begins slowly, allowing the orchestra to build up tension before finally exploding with the full choir. The next time you are outnumbered and facing a mass of enemy guinea pigs, this is the song to propel you to victory.

Though known for their pounding epic tracks, TSFH also excels at creating pieces that appeal to the inner romantic in all of us. Nowhere is this more apparent then in “Fill My Heart”, which features beautiful vocals by Aya Peard. You know the burly Gladiator on the cover? The story (as a guinea pig told me) was that he was listening to the album before the photo shoot, and when he reached this song he just collapsed to the ground sobbing and muttering “It's just so beautiful!” Naturally, a crying Gladiator doesn't make for the best album cover, so they had to keep his face in the shadows. It still took them more then 20 minutes to get the guy off of the floor and keep his mouth in a straight line.

Before concluding, I want to single out “To Glory”. Taken from an upcoming album tentatively known as “Eclipse”, this track alone is worth the price of admission. After weeks of deliberation, meditation, and leaping around my house with a cardboard sword fighting guinea pigs, I have come to the conclusion that it is possibly the best song Two Steps From Hell has ever released. It's a relentless 4 ½ minute ride that will prepare you for just about anything. This is what action music was always meant to sound like.

The biggest problem with the album lies not with the music itself, but the problems inherent in digital distribution of music. Fans have been clamoring to hear this music in lossless, and there are few albums more deserving of such clarity. Unfortunately the rules set in place by distributors means that for now it is limited to lossy mp3's. Nonetheless, the music still sounds sharp and epic even with mp3 compression, and this is one album which even the most hardcore audiophiles should snatch up. It's worth it.

Ultimately, Invincible is a musical triumph and a powerful testament to just how much Trailer music has grown and matured during the past several years. There isn't a bad apple in the entire bunch, and each track will tug at your heart in its own unique and powerful manner. I won't say outright that this is the best album I've ever heard, but it ranks very highly on my list. It doesn't matter if you are a fan of trailer music or not; Invincible is likely to please any fans of orchestral and choral music (along with some who aren't particular fans of either).The next public release, Nemesis II, will no doubt raise the bar even higher. Invincible represents the vert best of Thomas and Nick's first few years at Two Steps From Hell, and if tracks like “To Glory” and “Ocean Princess” are any indication of what's coming up, we have some truly unimaginable surprises in store for us over the next few years!