Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (soundtrack)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film score album for the 2017 film of the same name. The music is arranged, composed and written by Geoff Zanelli. The album was released on May 26, 2017 by Walt Disney Records.

Background
For the first time in the series since Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003, which he co-wrote with Klaus Badelt, Hans Zimmer did not return to compose the music for the film. Instead, Geoff Zanelli, who worked on all previous four installments in the franchise, is the main composer for the film.

Zanelli said of taking over from Zimmer as composer for the series, "What Hans did for the Pirates movies redefined the sound of the entire genre, it has been very fulfilling to work alongside him and [producer] Jerry [Bruckheimer] on the past four films. Dead Men Tell No Tales enlarges the Pirates universe with many new, unique elements, and I'm building a distinctive sound for this film that springboards off of many years of collaborating in the Pirates world."

Recording
The recording locations were Air Studios (London, UK), Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA), and Sony Scoring Stage (Culver City, CA).

Reception
The soundtrack for Dead Men Tell No Tales has received critical acclaim, with many critics noting it as a significant improvement over On Stranger Tides while also praising Zanelli's new themes and incorporation of classic music. Soundtrack Dreams states "With a spectacular, emotional sound to match the on-screen thrills, the score for Dead Men Tell No Tales is the perfect companion to the movie; it’s like having all that excitement in your pocket. Geoff Zanelli takes the ingredients from previous scores and mixes it up with his own special recipe - the result is a score that has a unique identity and can introduce a whole new horde of fans to this sound and universe." Giving 3 of 5 stars, Christian Clemmensen from Filmtracks rated this score as the best of the franchise.