Listen To The ‘Halo 5: Guardians’ Full Soundtrack As You Prep For Launch


For fans of the Halo series, the music has always been iconic, and Halo 5: Guardians seeks to carry on that tradition. Microsoft announced today that the Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack was available, and for those looking to get a glimpse into the musical backdrop of the newest entry in the series don’t have to look far. In addition to being available for sale, Microsoft has made the entire soundtrack available for free on SoundCloud.

One of the major criticisms of Halo 4 was that 343 Industries did not stick with any of the established Halo themes, and while that can be seen as 343 trying to stand on their own apart from the story Bungie told, it’s also refreshing to hear the opening number of the Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack greet us with the familiar Gregorian chant every Xbox fan has come to love. The soundtrack, while available on SoundCloud, is also available for sale on October 30 in four different formats, as detailed by Xbox Wire.

“Composing a Halo soundtrack is an incredible challenge for many reasons, such as the pressure to deliver on fan expectations for a franchise so well-known for its music and the unique technical challenges of video game music composition. This is only amplified by developer 343 Industries’ vision to build the biggest and most ambitious Halo game ever in Halo 5: Guardians.”

Digital Edition ($15.99):

  • Pre-orders are up now at iTunes and Amazon.com
  • All pre-orders get instant access to five tracks: “Halo Canticles,” “Light Is Green,” “Kamchatka,” “The Trials,” and “Osiris Suite, Act 1”

Standard CD/LP ($24.99):

  • Comes with MP3 download card

Clear Vinyl ($24.99 – only available at Hastings!):

  • Limited run of only 1,000 copies
  • Comes with MP3 download card

Limited Edition ($49.99):

  • 2 compact discs
  • Vinyl double album
  • Blu-ray with 5.1 Surround-Sound edition soundtrack and cinematic exclusive, “The Sprint – Making Halo 5: Guardians”
  • Orchestral sheet music of “Jameson Locke” from the recording session at Abby Roads Studios
  • Digital download card featuring exclusive bonus tracks

Halo 5: Guardians is bringing back composer Kazuma Jinnouchi (who previously worked on some of Halo 4’s music) and the composer known for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots and Peace Walker is bringing Halo back to its musical roots. From the Halo chants to the iconic music from Halos past, Jinnouchi combines the old with the new Guardians themes. The new track “Blue Team” helps especially to evoke the emotional state of Chief and his fireteam after the events of Halo 4, as showcased in Halo 5: Guardians’ “making of” series on YouTube called “The Sprint.”

Halo 5: Guardians has already started to trickle out coverage since the early preview emabrgo was lifted last week. However, if you’ve not played the previous titles or even looked into the expanded Halo universe, you might want to pull up Forbes’ article by Jason Evangelho with some great recommendations to get you into the Halo universe at the start of Halo 5: Guardians. Also, in addition, playing through Halo 4’s “Spartan Ops” missions wouldn’t be a bad move either, as it helps to set up the opening sequences of the next game.

Also, for those looking to get some friends together and try out the new Warzone mode when the game launches, you might want to check out 343’s new Spartan Companies, as reported earlier by the Inquisitr. This gives new meaning to the clan tags we’ve all used in Halo games previously and gives clans a hub to coordinate games of Halo 5: Guardians with each other.

What are your thoughts on the new Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack? Enjoy the homages it pays to Halos past as well as ushering the new themes set to give Halo 5 its own audio footprint? Sound off in the comments below.

[Image via Microsoft, 343 Industries]

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