Danny Elfman

Elfman fronted the theatrical rock band Oingo Boingo through the late 1970s and 80s before transitioning into film scoring almost by accident, when director Tim Burton — impressed by the band's music — asked him to score his feature debut.

Tim Burton's regular composer took a rare detour into war-movie bombast for Salvation, trading his usual gothic whimsy for scorched-earth brass. He became one of Hollywood's most in-demand composers, best known for his long-running partnership with Burton across dozens of films.

His work on Salvation stands as one of his most atypical scores, built around militaristic percussion rather than his usual gothic melodicism, demonstrating a stylistic range well beyond the whimsical, offbeat sound most associated with his name.