Editing Black Tower

{{Era|RW}}

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'''Black Tower''' is the seventeenth track included in ''[[Halo 3: Original Soundtrack]]'', and plays in the ''[[Halo 3]]'' [[campaign]] level ''[[The Covenant (level)|The Covenant]]''. It is composed of ''Black Tower'' (0:00-2:35) and ''Heroes Also Fall'' (2:35-6:03).

''Black Tower'' (2:35) contains four sections. The first section begins with tribal percussion before ambient synth notes enter and then take over the piece completely. The percussion plays when [[John-117]] and the Sangheili forces encounters a [[Jiralhanae]] [[pack]] in the back hallway of the third [[barrier tower]]. The ambient synth notes play when John-117 takes the elevator to the top of the third barrier tower. The second section of the piece features a reversed message over the synth notes. This section plays when John-117 battles the Flood forms that have breached the barrier tower. In the third section, low strings plays a somber melody, followed by the choir singing eerily in different variations. This section plays during the cutscene in which ''High charity'' arrives at Installation 00, and sends [[Flood dispersal pod]]s to the area surrounding [[Installation 00 Citadel]]. In the final section, static ambiance take over until the end. This section plays when John-117 and the Sangheili forces return to the exterior of the third barrier tower.

''Heroes Also Fall'' (3:28) begins with low strings playing in ambiance before choir enters singing in soft ambiance. High strings and choir transition into a reorchestration of ''Rue and Woe'' (from ''[[High Charity Suite]]''), featuring a larger focus on low strings and choir parts. The piece plays in the cutscene before the chapter "Revelation", and the title alludes to [[Miranda Keyes]]' death.

Just like ''Destroyer's Invocation'' from ''[[Mausoleum Suite]]'' and ''[[Dread Intrusion]]'', when ''Black Tower'' is played backwards, a voice similar to the [[Gravemind]] can be heard. The message references the second and third stanza of the poem ''[[wikipedia:The Hollow Men|The Hollow Men]]'' by [[wikipedia:T. S. Eliot|T. S. Eliot]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjSs0-NhZhQ ''YouTube'': The Covenant: The Black Tower Reversed]</ref>