The pathos and emotional character of RMS Titanic is stunning. Every track finds its mark. Young once again presents a variety of emotional character, from the lighthearted joy of boarding, to the wayfaring hope and optimism of the first voyage, to the downright horror and panic of being abandoned in the middle of the ocean. The thing that marks all these emotions though, is their realism: nothing is blown out of proportion, and nothing is sensationalized. As far as any music can go in depicting an actual event, what you're getting from Young in RMS Titanic feels like a 1:1 ratio of what actually happened.
The bullseye of the emotional circle may well be "Nearer My God To Thee," the hymn which was famously played by the resident musicians in the ship's final moments. Slow and beautiful, the hymn would have formed a stunning juxtaposition to the chaos happening around it. This device is part what makes Young's music so interesting to listen to in this album: in the entire latter half, after hitting the iceberg, there is very little "panic" music. Most of it is slow and lumbering, bringing an immense sense of gravity to the situation. This is captured nowhere better than in the two back-to-back tracks "The Iceberg" and "Distress Call."
Another feature of Titanic is the appearance of soundscapes. Two prominent ones appear on the album, in "Lookout Duty" and "Silence." Here, and as they appear in many of Young's subsequent scores, they serve to almost pictorially immerse the listener in the environment, an apt decision given the lack of any visual material (save the album artwork and posters) for these conceptual scores. In both tracks, Young uses different means of mimicking the creaking and groaning of massive icebergs, adding to the sense of profound desolation.
Two themes also appear on the album, that span across multiple cues. The first, which appears in "Southampton," and then later in "Lifeboats," seems to be a general theme for the whole subject. The other, with more of a sense of movement and journey, appears first in "Maiden Voyage," and then at a much slower tempo at 1:05 in "Survivors." Come to think of it, both these themes are slower in their recurrences, which could again serve to give the album a sense of gravity. One further element of note is the prevalence of minor chords throughout the album, which perhaps keeps the album's persona grounded, with more of a mature outlook. Incidentally, both recurring themes also begin on minor chords.
On the whole, RMS Titanic is a striking entry into Young's soundtrack series, with an almost inexplicable weight of pathos and realism. This is an example of perfectly matched musical character and story content.