Agreed. The bombastic warlike score definitely added to the tension when the two ships were fighting.

Hard to believe this was one of his first major gigs when he was only 28 years old. But I think it's his best, the best of the Star Trek films, and one of the best scifi soundtracks ever. The clashing and interweaving of "Khan's theme" (with a savage middle eastern flair) and "the Enterprise theme" (in a major key, tranquil and majestic) is brilliantly done especially in the tense battle scenes. This is one of the few films where the soundtrack really adds a whole new dimension to what we see on the screen. All the first 6 star trek films all had great music, but Khan had the most dramatic & memorable score of the bunch.