PERIL HALO 2 FULL
PERIL HALO 2 SERIES

A breathtaking, ambient synth and vocal track.

Synth, bass, drums, and chanting vocals, in a lot of ways this is the exact sort of track that 'In Amber Clad' from before was a spiritual successor too, and then 'Halo 2-ified' by adding in an electric guitar.

PERIL HALO 2 SERIES

Enough said.ДЄ Walk in the Woods, Halo CE Halo has a tradition of using plucky, upbeat groovy but also chill tracks during a lot of it's sections even as you're tearing shit up as a super soldier, and this is a great example of that, with it and it's remixes being arguably the most iconic line of tracks the series has outside of the main theme. Steve Vai absolutely fucking shredding an electric guitar as a sick piano piece plays and you have bits of the main Halo theme's leitmotif worked in. This dips even darker in tone and transitions into an eerie section with ambient noise, before then exploding in intensity in a fever pitch of excitement (much like how the somber, lonely streets of the overworld can then become intense when a fight interupts it) and then gradually moving down into a more mysterious, wonderous line which then cleanly moves into the track's final subtrack, which adds drums and is slow, but feels dire represents the stakes at hand. This opens up as another Melancholic, lonely piece, typical of the game, with the sound of light rainfall and thunderclouds, and gives way to sax and strings.

Like a lot of Halo music, this is actually a few tracks put together, but unlike a lot of them, I think the entire thing works together in sequence to tell a story.

PERIL HALO 2 FULL

Of note is it's also one of the only times in the game where the main leitmotif kicks in (if only for a few seconds), when the full track plays in the original 360 release's credits. Reach is another OST in the series i'm less keen on (not that it's bad, it's just less 'Halo' sounding), but this is a really energic, epic piece that captures a sense of action and high stakes, and is probably the most Halo sounding/feeling track in Reach's soundtrack. The H3 versions sounds a lot more 'epic' with vocals and other bits that give it more depth, also has some other tracks appended after, They take the leitmotif of the main Halo theme and turns it into a totally different track that a frentic string and violin piece that rapidly goes from high to low and back. I'm actually iffy on H3's soundtrack since it's mostly remixed CE and 2 pieces in a slightly more generic orchestral style, but 'Upon a Pale Horse' from CE and it's remakes deserved to be here and I actually like the H3 version best. It's a melancholic, sad, and mysterious piece that perfectly suits the occasion where it first plays in CE as you're moving and sneaking through desert canyons in the middle of the night, and then later in the game after you've learned what Halo really does and it's secrets have been let loose and you see havoc playing out in the snow before you.Д«ehold a Pale Horse (The opening 'Behold a Pale Horse' segment) Halo 3. A really moody, atmospheric bass and synth piece, that gets vocals during the second half.

You know how rock is so associated with Vietnam war movies and you have it playing as they push thorugh southeast asian jungles? it's like that but tuned for ancient alien jungles instead. A really awesome piece of music that combine's the rock side of Halo 2's more rock/piano focused OST with more traditional Halo Bass- y and vocal chanting elements, that totally represents the wonder, sense of awe, and beauty of of alien ruins scattered around jungle and lakes that you're fighting through on the mission this plays, along with the sense of action and thrill of actually doing the fighting. I actually wrote up that description for a list of 25 (it became 26) tracks from the Halo series I thought were incredible that excludes any variations of the main Halo theme, since I felt the main theme overdominates disscusions of Halo music and ironically makes the overall soundtracks somewhat underrated despite how iconic that main theme in (likewise I think Halo as a brand name is very iconic, but the series itself is very underrepresented in online disscusion and video content of gaming in terms of analysis or retrospectives, prob because it's just sterotyped as a Dudebro Shooter). Woolie agrees it was best track from the series when he played the games, and Marty O'Donnell, the composer, sums it up best: ' It's not Jazz, it's how jazz makes me feel'. This is a absolutely gorgeous, emotional piano, string, and sax piece that totally represents how melancholic, somber, and lonely ODST's overworld sections are and the game's noire tone.

Deference for Darkness (specifically the opening 'Rain' segment) from Halo 3: ODST.

Peril halo 2