Album: Halo 3 Original Soundtrack
Label: Sumthing Else MusicWorks, Inc.
Genre: Classical (Instrumental), Electronic, Ambient, Rock
Released: 2007 - 26 November
Moe Rating:

What can I say about the new Halo soundtrack that hasn’t been said before? It’s stunning, plain as that.

The latest from our good mates (and excellent composers), Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, the Halo 3 original soundtrack features the music you’d most likely expect from a game soundtrack. The music from the game, in this case, the game is Halo 3… obviously. Luckily for you, they’ve now converted this musical masterpiece into CDs, rather than having to shove your DVD into your 360 and listen to the menu music… which I’m sure you all did.

Similar to the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack, the Halo 3 soundtrack contains the music that sets the atmosphere when playing your favourite console-based FPS. This means your traditional classical instruments, being brass, violins, maybe a cello or so and hey, perhaps some massive drums. This juxtaposition of old and relatively new sounding instruments creates an incredible sounding soundscape that encompasses the Halo universe perfectly. Listening to the soundtrack gives a certain sense of nostalgia, even if I’ve played the game recently.

Each track sounds similar, in that they are all high quality, contain a common set of instruments and are face-meltingly good, but are unique enough in their own way to stop it from sounding boring and repetitive. The chanting is still here, as it has been throughout the entire saga. The chanting gives each song an extra layer of depth. You’ll soon get used to these chants, and eventually they become a craving, listening to the familiar hum of the Halo tune.

On account of - some might say, though I disagree - me being a loser, and having finished the campaign numerous times, when listening through the soundtrack, it’s easy to remember and visualise where the particular piece of music is from. I wouldn’t account all this to my nerdiness however, because each chapter of the game has it’s own ‘feel’, which can be primarily attributed to the music that’s in the background of when you’re playing. Not only that, but the tracks are listed in a handy fashion in which sets of tracks correlate which each chapter of the game, which makes it easy to find what part of the game you might have heard that great track which is stuck in your head.

The soundtrack features some of your old favourites from previous Halo games, usually with some interesting sounding twist, but are distinctive and recognisable nonetheless.

Once again, another 5 star effort, with unique twists on all the classics, enough new stuff to keep you entertained and engaged throughout. Pat yourself on the back O’Donnell, Salvatori, well done.