{"id":47076,"date":"2026-06-06T03:17:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/?p=47076"},"modified":"2026-06-06T03:17:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:17:53","slug":"soundwaves-masters-of-the-universe-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-music-by-daniel-pemberton-w-brian-may-the-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/?p=47076","title":{"rendered":"Soundwaves: Masters of the Universe Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Music by Daniel Pemberton w\/ Brian May & The Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakeshore Records announces the release\"\"<\/a> today of Masters of the Universe—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack <\/em>with music by Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning composer Daniel Pemberton (Project Hail Mary, Spider Man: Across The Spider-Verse<\/em>) and featuring guitar legend Brian May on several tracks\u2014played on his iconic \u201cRed Special\u201d handmade guitar that has been featured on almost every Queen record ever made. The magnificent soundscapes capture the larger than life action and over the top thrills of the movie.  The album also features the theme \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d performed by The Darkness. The film starring Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, J\u00f3hannes Haukur J\u00f3hannesson, featuring Kristen Wiig with Jared Leto and Idris Elba is in theaters June 5.<\/p>\n


\n 
\nNotes Pemberton: “At my very first meeting with Travis Knight, the director of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, we both agreed this couldn\u2019t be business as normal soundtrack wise. I didn\u2019t want to write a generic modern blockbuster score. I wanted something that captured the ridiculous flamboyance and fun of the world of He-Man yet still played the emotion and peril with complete sincerity. Luckily so did he. We talked about trying to create a maximalist score that didn\u2019t shy away from throwing everything into the mix – big synths, huge choirs, pounding drums, heroic orchestras and big over the top electric guitar solos. The world has been missing the electric guitar solo in film soundtracks, and we were both determined to do our small part to bring them back. Lots of them. We talked about bands and records that had inspired us and how to try and capture both a sense of innocence, purity and raw excitement in what we were trying to achieve. I had a saying – \u201cI want to make grown men feel like small boys again, and small boys to feel like grown men\u201d. This obviously applied to small girls too. In fact, to anyone. This was a film for everyone, and it needed a score that reminded them cinema could be FUN. 
\n 
\nOne of the things I love about this film is it manages to both not take itself seriously – and paradoxically take itself INCREDIBLY seriously. Amidst all the bombast, theatrics and pyrotechnics there is a real heart and a real sincerity. This score needed that. It also needed something else. There was a legend whose sound is burnt into the soul of all of us. 
\n 
\nThe music of Queen was a huge influence on how I approached this movie – their amazing ability to mix flamboyant theatrics, bombast and style with a real heart, emotion and sincerity was everything I was hoping to achieve on this soundtrack. The Queen scores to films like Flash Gordon and Highlander for me felt truly groundbreaking in their approach and that attitude was something I felt modern cinema needed to experience again. So when we reached out to founding member, the guitar legend that is Sir Brian May and he was excited to come on board it really felt like a dream come true for both of us.
\n 
\nRecording with Brian is definitely up there as one of the favourite musical experiences of my entire career. The second he played the riff on \u2018Eternia\u2019 I just looked across the room at Travis and we both had these huge grins on our faces. It was an amazing life moment. It is incredibly rare I feel for a musician to have a sound, a tone and a style that is instantly unique and recognisable but Brian has it. He – and many other musicians – have elevated moments of this score to a level I could never imagine. As we worked our way through countless cues, overdubs, solos and riffs something strange dawned on me.
\n 
\nIn Masters Of The Universe, <\/em>we have THE SWORD OF POWER, a unique object that, in the right hands, bestows great power to the holder. Watching Brian play on \u2018The Red Special\u2019 I realised here we had its musical equivalent. The Red Special is the guitar Brian built with his father as a teenager. Like any legendary object of lore it was forged in fire – the wood for the neck comes from a fireplace. Like any legendary object there is only one. It has been with Brian his entire musical life and has played on almost every single Queen record. The sounds it has made have been transmitted across the universe into the souls of most of this planet. I cannot think of a single individual musical instrument that carries the impact it has had in the modern world. It has given people hope, love and light. That sort of thing can sound pretentious, but I truly believe it – think how many lives have been made better hearing his insane skills on \u2018Bohemian Rhapsody,\u2019 \u2018We Will Rock You\u2019 and \u2018I Want It All\u2019 to name a tiny portion of his immense body of work. Whilst so many weapons are used to hurt this has been used to heal. The guitar is mightier than the sword. Coupled with his incredibly distinctive way of playing (sixpence for a plectrum, old amp built by John Deacon, crazy movements on the fretboard) you end up with a sound that is truly deep inside all of us.
\n 
\nI cannot express how thrilled I am to have Brian and his own sword of power on this soundtrack alongside a whole plethora of other amazingly talented musicians and our great friends The Darkness. I hope it awakens the feeling of excitement, joy and strength that it did to myself and Travis hearing this music come to life for the first time. It has been a real honour making this score. I hope you enjoy what we did.”
\n <\/p>\n

Track List:<\/u>
\n01. Eternia – Daniel Pemberton, Brian May
\n02. Young Adam – Daniel Pemberton
\n03. The Battle For Eternos         – Daniel Pemberton
\n04. You Failed – Daniel Pemberton
\n05. Skeletor and King Randor – Daniel Pemberton
\n06. Portal To Earth – Daniel Pemberton
\n07. Boys Don’t Cry – Daniel Pemberton
\n08. Comic Store Heist – Daniel Pemberton
\n09. Freeway Escape – Daniel Pemberton
\n10. Folding Space (Eternia) – Daniel Pemberton, Brian May
\n11. Eternos In Ruins – Daniel Pemberton
\n12. What’s Left Of Us – Daniel Pemberton
\n13. Prison Break (Edit) – Daniel Pemberton
\n14. Conflict Territory – Daniel Pemberton
\n15. The Power Of Grayskull – Daniel Pemberton, Brian May
\n16. He-Man Vs Trap-Jaw – Daniel Pemberton
\n17. Get The Sword – Daniel Pemberton
\n18. Sky Fight – Daniel Pemberton
\n19. Mulched – Daniel Pemberton
\n20. You Are He – Daniel Pemberton
\n21. See Another Morning – Daniel Pemberton
\n22. Such Good Friends – Daniel Pemberton
\n23. Journey To Snake Mountain – Daniel Pemberton
\n24. Enter Snake Mountain – Daniel Pemberton
\n25. Fight For Snake Mountain – Daniel Pemberton
\n26. I Wanted To Protect You – Daniel Pemberton
\n27. The Universe Shall Quake In My Shadow – Daniel Pemberton
\n28. Battle Cat and He-Man        – Daniel Pemberton
\n29. The Witch and The Warrior Goddess – Daniel Pemberton
\n30. Let’s Have A Look – Daniel Pemberton
\n31. The Sword Of Power – Daniel Pemberton, Brian May
\n32. Skeletor Vs He-Man – Daniel Pemberton
\n33. Return To Eternia – Daniel Pemberton, Brian May
\n34. A Job For He-Man – Daniel Pemberton
\n35. Masters of the Universe – The Darkness
\n 
\nABOUT MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE<\/em><\/u><\/strong>
\nIn MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, Director Travis Knight brings the legendary franchise back to the big screen in this epic live-action adventure. After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) back to Eternia where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor (Jared Leto). To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela (Camila Mendes) and Duncan\/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), and embrace his true destiny as He-Man \u2014 the most powerful man in the universe.
\n<\/a> 
\nABOUT DANIEL PEMBERTON<\/u><\/strong>
\nDANIEL PEMBERTON is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy winning composer and songwriter who has regularly been cited as one of the most exciting and original new voices working in modern film scoring today. He has scored films for some of the industry\u2019s most legendary figures such as Ridley Scott (All the Money in the World, The Counselor), Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Project Hail Mary, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Celine Song (Materialists), Michael Mann (Ferrari), Danny Boyle (Yesterday, Steve Jobs), Aaron Sorkin (Being The Ricardos, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Molly\u2019s Game), Ari Aster (Eddington), David O Russell (Amsterdam), Edward Norton (Motherless Brooklyn) and Guy Ritchie (The Man From U.N.C.L.E., King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) and written songs with the likes of Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Busta Rhymes, Drake, Celeste and many more.
\n 
\nHe has been nominated five times as Film Composer Of The Year for his vastly broad range of work by the World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) as well as winning the prestigious honour in 2021 from both the WSA and also the international film music critics association IFMCA.
\n 
\nComfortable composing for everything from rock bands to symphonic orchestras, record-scratchers to jazz quintets, Pemberton\u2019s innovative scores have consistently been singled out for critical acclaim. His other credits include studio films such as Enola Holmes, The Bad Guys, Birds of Prey and Ocean\u2019s Eight as well as smaller independent features such as the Sundance winner Brian And Charles, acclaimed Thai caves documentary The Rescue (for which he won the Critics Choice Original Score award), Cannes Palme d\u2019Or competitor Mal de Pierres or the powerful Paralympics documentary Rising Phoenix, for which Pemberton won a Sports Emmy Award for Best Music Direction. He also works in series on shows such as Black Mirror and espionage thriller Slow Horses, including co-writing its BAFTA nominated main title theme song \u201cStrange Game\u201d with Mick Jagger.
\n 
\nPemberton\u2019s recent scores include A24\u2019s \u201cThe Drama\u201d starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson and Amazon\/MGM\u2019s \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d starring Ryan Gosling.  
\n 
\nABOUT BRIAN MAY<\/u><\/strong>
\nSir Brian May, CBE, PhD, FRAS is a founding member of Queen, world-renowned guitarist, songwriter, producer and performer, also a Doctor of Astrophysics, 3-D stereoscopic photographic authority and advocate for animal rights.
\n 
\nQueen\u2019s accolades accrued over five decades include a staggering list of sales with a catalogue that consistently tops popularity polls, along with a deserved list of awards and honours. Brian has penned 22 Queen top 20 hits, among them the powerful ballads \u2018Who Wants to Live Forever\u2019, \u2018No-One But You\u2019 and \u2018Save Me\u2019, along with anthems \u2018The Show Must Go On\u2019, \u2018I Want It All\u2019, and \u2018We Will Rock You\u2019, namesake to the Queen\/Ben Elton hit musical which enjoyed an unprecedented 12 year run at London\u2019s Dominion Theatre alongside numerous worldwide productions. Iconic sports anthem, \u2018We Will Rock You\u2019 was performed live by Brian and Roger during the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, viewed by an estimated one billion TV audience. Other memorable global live appearances include the band\u2019s 1985 Live Aid show stealing set and during the 2002 Golden Jubilee celebrations, Brian playing his own arrangement of \u2018God Save the Queen\u2019 from the rooftop of Buckingham Palace.
\n 
\nQueen became the first rock group to score a major film, Flash Gordon, followed by definitive music for Highlander. Brian\u2019s personal credits include further film, TV and theatre collaborations and two successful solo albums earning him two Ivor Novello awards. He continues to inspire a diverse genre of international artists and has a wealth of guest artist appearances featuring his distinctive guitar style, produced from his revered homemade \u2018Red Special\u2019 guitar using a sixpence as a plectrum.
\n 
\nBrian was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 and received a Knighthood in the 2023 New Year Honours List for services to Music and to Charity.  He enjoys interacting with his fans on Instagram @brianmayforreal.
\n 
\nABOUT THE DARKNESS<\/u><\/strong>
\nIt was back in 2003 that we witnessed the start of a love affair between one of the most extraordinary and best loved bands to come from the UK and fans all around the world. The Darkness exploded from their Lowestoft roots to global success when they released their debut album Permission To Land to almost overnight success. It topped the UK charts, going 5x Platinum and selling over 1.5 million copies in the UK alone, whilst also becoming a huge success everywhere from the USA to Australia, Germany to Japan.
\n 
\nThe album spawned a series of hit singles including \u2018I Believe In A Thing Called Love\u2019, \u2018Growing On Me\u2019, \u2018Get Your Hands Off My Woman\u2019 and \u2018Love Is Only A Feeling\u2019. It also clocked up a series of awards including three BRIT Awards, two Kerrang Awards and an Ivor Novello for \u2018Songwriters Of The Year\u2019 amongst many others. 
\n 
\nThe Darkness played a number of landmark shows, including a headline set at the 2004 Reading & Leeds Festivals, as part of a whirlwind career of global touring and international success. The band then followed the success of their debut with the 2005 album One Way Ticket To Hell\u2026 And Back, which produced the Top 10 hit \u2018One Way Ticket\u2019. 
\n 
\nHowever the pressures of fame took their toll and in 2006 lead singer Justin Hawkins left the band, checking into rehab and The Darkness were no more. Yet, like a veritable phoenix rising from the ashes of despair, the band reformed in 2011 touring Europe and South America the following year with Lady Gaga. They released their comeback album Hot Cakes that year and Last Of Our Kind in 2015. 
\n 
\nIn 2017 the band ushered in a new era with the release of Pinewood Smile and the critically acclaimed record became their third UK Top 10 album. With its successor Easter Is Cancelled (2019) achieving equally great heights there seemed no stopping the band. However, that album\u2019s title proved semi-prophetic and following its release the world plunged into the Covid-19 pandemic. 
\n 
\nUndaunted, they released their most recent studio album album Motorheart in 2021 which not only received some of the best reviews of their career but once more catapulted them straight back onto the upper echelons of festival bills such as Download and saw them pack out the arenas around the country with fervent fans hungry for the band\u2019s return to the stage. 
\n 
\n2022 saw The Darkness perform incendiary shows around the world while, in tandem with their touring, fabulous frontman Justin was quickly becoming the internet\u2019s favourite rock \u2018n\u2019 roll personality with his highly revered Justin Hawkins Rides Again podcast. 
\n 
\nThe Darkness then came full circle as their game-changing debut album Permission To Land turned 20 in 2023. They rang in the anniversary year with a performance of the timeless classic \u2018I Believe In A Thing Called Love\u2019 on BBC One\u2019s New Year\u2019s Eve programming and by selling out arena shows including Wembley with Black Stone Cherry. The band continued to be lauded as rock gods throughout the year, performing with Guns N\u2019 Roses at BST London Hyde Park, as well as KISS in Norway amongst many other hugely acclaimed shows.
\n 
\nA specially expanded Permission To Land deluxe album was released via Warner Music and their 2023 Permission To Land 20 world tour sold out shows across the globe. In November a critically acclaimed documentary film entitled Welcome To The Darkness premiered in cinemas across the UK to rave reviews.
\n 
\nThe band\u2019s most recent studio album, Dreams on Toast, released in 2025, scaled the heights of the UK music charts, reaching number two in the UK charts, with number ones in the Rock & Metal, Indie and Vinyl Album charts. Singles bounced around the charts and won yet more acclaim, whilst the furious pace of touring continued throughout the year. 
\n 
\nIn 2026, The Darkness celebrate their status as British National Treasures by supporting Iron Maiden at their iconic Knebworth show, and with an extensive and lavishly packaged \u2018best of\u2019 album, cheekily titled Crock of Hits, released by Warner Music in October, and celebrated with a run of Arena shows in the UK in December.
\n 
\nAnd so, here we are – more than 20 years after The Darkness exploded with a big bang which changed the face of British rock music forever, their cheeky, spandex-clad anthems continue to capture hearts, and a new generation of fans, around the world today. 
\n 
\nABOUT LAKESHORE RECORDS<\/u><\/strong>
\nLakeshore Records is a GRAMMY-winning record label, and the soundtrack arm of the Cutting Edge Group.  Lakeshore Records is the global independent leader in top line soundtrack album releases, including such popular, critically acclaimed and classic soundtracks as Bridgerton, Stranger Things, Wednesday, Fallout, John Wick, Whiplash, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Drive, Cyberpunk 2077 \/ Edgerunners, Star Trek: Picard, Bojack Horseman, The Walking Dead, Napoleon Dynamite, Red Dead Redemption 2, the Grammy-winning Assassin\u2019s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok, the Academy Award nominated Lady Bird and Academy Award winners Moonlight, Little Miss Sunshine, American Factory, If Beale Street Could Talk, The Hurt Locker and many, many more.
\n 
\nFor more information, contact: www.lakeshorerecords.com<\/a>
\n 
\nRead Lakeshore\u2019s blog Soundtracks, Scores And More<\/em> here: https:\/\/soundtracksscoresandmore.com<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lakeshore Records announces the release today of Masters of the Universe—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack with music by Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning composer Daniel Pemberton (Project Hail Mary, Spider Man: Across The Spider-Verse) and featuring guitar legend Brian May on several tracks\u2014played on … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8653,12728,5642,8085,2120],"class_list":["post-47076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soundwaves","tag-he-man-and-the-masters-of-the-universe","tag-lakeshore","tag-lakeshore-records","tag-masters-of-the-universe","tag-original-soundtrack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47078,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47076\/revisions\/47078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}