Zanobard Reviews

Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori’s dramatic score for Halo: Reach showcases the darker side of the iconic franchise’s thematic catalogue to excellent effect, with the mournful theme for Reach an emotive centrepoint to this deeply atmospheric battle-worn soundscape.

Halo: Reach‘s gritty soundtrack opens with “Overture”, where an abundance of themes both new and old are introduced – seriously there are a lot, and that’s no bad thing. Hints toward the iconic gregorian chant of the Halo theme open the piece before dramatic percussion then kicks into gear, shifting the tonal focus to a much darker and more militaristic mood. As this section continues vocals and brass then start to rise in proud grandiosity – introducing what we’ll call the heroic theme – until a dramatic crescendo is reached. A two-note repeating strings motif then overtakes at just past the two minute mark, which we’ll call the atmospheric motif, at a much slower and more solemn pace, with further much quieter hints toward the Halo theme playing until sorrowful brass introduces a wary, pensive, almost “Hymn To The Fallen”-esque new piece – which seems apt as a theme for Reach itself – interspersed with additional hints of the Halo one. With the track now approaching its end, strings introduce one last, slow and rather mournful motif – which we’ll call the Ashes theme given its later appearances on the album – with the opening track then fading to a gentle close. All-in, the composers weave all these themes pretty impeccably throughout this six minute setpiece, making for a pretty anticipatory introduction overall – certainly when I heard this playing over Reach‘s main menu in the Master Chief Collection during my playthrough last year, all I wanted to do was hit play.

“Winter Contingency” echoes notes from the Halo theme in its first few seconds, before moving back into the proudly grandiose heroic theme territory of the “Overture” with the addition of bolder and more dramatic vocals for the first three minutes of this twelve minute setpiece. An electric guitar and crashingly epic percussion then overtake for a few further minutes before tense ambience settles for the remainder of the track. The eight minute “ONI: Sword Base” then opens with wary drums and brass setting a stern tone before an electric guitar and strings elevate the mood into grander hope up until the five minute mark. Slow and gentle solemnity however echoes after this point with small sections of the Halo theme playing here and there, bringing the track overall to a quietly sorrowful close a short while later. Eerie strings and horror-like vocals then occupy much of “Nightfall”, with tense electronic beats finally coming in at the three minute mark alongside a few reprisals of the two-note atmospheric motif from the “Overture” to bolster wary action in this otherwise very atmospherically ominous cue. “Tip Of The Spear” then leans much more into action territory with string and percussive variations of the Halo action theme; it plays in more anxious and wary style here but that iconic element of dramatic heroism is still very much present, to exquisitely thunderous results overall.

The twelve minute “Long Night Of Solace” opens with solemn, moody strings and brass referencing “Winter Contingency” in style, with reprisals of both the two note motif and the Halo theme. An electric guitar then rises into dramatic prominence from the three minute mark until solemn vocals overtake, playing a sorrowful rendition of the heroic theme that then builds into a louder brass and percussion focus before simmering back down into solemnity for a finishing rendition. Vocal and string-based sorrow opens “Exodus”, referencing “In Amber Clad” from Halo 2 in doing so before moving into percussive and electronic ambience for a few minutes. The Halo theme then reprises amongst quietly mournful strings from around four minutes in in a manner much akin to that of the final minutes of “ONI: Sword Base” from earlier. A gently forlorn rendition of the Reach theme from the “Overture” then opens “New Alexandria”, playing for two minutes on quiet, downtrodden strings before tense percussive and electronic ambience with occasional ghostly vocal interspersions then overtake. Towards the end of the cue the mournful Ashes theme from the “Overture” then also reprises, this time on wistful piano notes.

“The Package” introduces a brand new theme on strings – which we’ll call the “Ghosts And Glass” theme given its later album appearances – and it plays in quiet and rather solemn style throughout the first minute of this six minute cue. Sinister electronic ambience then takes over for a short while before action starts to kick back into gear with pounding drums, brass and rapid strings, with the track overall then ending with a much gentler piano and string-based ambience. “The Pillar Of Autumn” evokes “Winter Contingency” in its tensely brass-heavy opening before the atmospheric two-note motif reprises alongside the heroic theme on some rather wistful vocals. Percussion and brass then increase the pace from the ninety second mark with continued echoes of the heroic theme rising in intensity, which then leads to additional dramatic orchestral action for the next few minutes with reprisals of further material from “Winter Contingency”. Things then slow significantly down for “Epilogue”, one of the most rawly emotional tracks on the album. The “Ghosts And Glass” theme plays at first on mournful piano notes before the theme for Reach then steps harrowingly into frame on slow, downtrodden strings and vocals, playing longingly and solemnly right up until this rather bittersweet track’s noble end.

Tense drums open “From The Vault” with electronic ambience settling in for much of the rest of the track, with the three minute subsequent “Ashes” reprising the titular sorrowful theme on echoingly tranquil vocals, wistful piano notes and strings. The short “Fortress” then delves back into imposing orchestral action with crashing drums before the similarly minute-long “We’re Not Going Anywhere” then reprises the Halo theme on solemn strings and brass. With the album starting to near its conclusion, “At Any Cost” reprises the frenetic action from the beginning of earlier cue “ONI: Sword Base” before “Both Ways – Remix” then remarks musically back to Halo 3: ODST in its atmospherically upbeat piano and electric guitar stylings. Militaristic drums and noble brass then occupy much of “Walking Away”, referencing the traditionally tranquil “Walk In The Woods” motif from Halo: Combat Evolved throughout before “Ghosts And Glass” then reprises the titular new theme one final time for a particularly emotional playthrough on swelling strings and pensive woodwinds. Final track “We Remember” then brings back the theme for Reach to essentially bookend the album, reprising the thoughtful and noble motif on wary strings at first before a much more thunderous electric guitar then enters the fray, elevating the theme to soaringly fist-pumping heights to end the score overall on a dramatic high.

Overall, Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori’s much tenser and more downtrodden score for Halo: Reach might seem a little less thematically complex than the other soundtrack entries in the franchise at first glance, but there’s actually a dramatic depth to this score – stemming primarily from narrative in the game’s solemn telling of the fall of Reach – that makes it utterly captivating to listen to, at least for me. The opening and standout “Overture” cue introduces most of the album’s thematic ideas, and what a spellbinding collection it is. From the iconic Halo theme itself, the dramatic vocals of the heroic theme (01:20) and the wary ambience of the two-note atmospheric motif (02:00), all the way up to the quiet nobility of the theme for Reach (03:20) and the solemnity of the Ashes motif (03:50), it’s a masterclass of an orchestral setpiece for the similarly excellent game from start to finish, and the way each of the aforementioned motifs alongside the “Ghosts And Glass” piece and many others all then weave together through fist-pumpingly epic highs (“ONI: Sword Base” and “Tip Of The Spear” to name but two) and quietly sorrowful lows (“New Alexandria” or indeed the standout “Epilogue” throughout this twenty-track album is simply a soundtrack experience to truly behold. Honestly – while each and every Halo score is genuinely fantastic, Reach‘s captured my attention probably the most of all the music for the Master Chief Collection. That’s how brilliant it is.

That’s not to say more Halo reviews aren’t on the way though, because they most certainly are. Stay tuned!

Score: 8.5/10

Standout Cues: Overture/Epilogue

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