Released in 2007, the Halo 3: Original Soundtrack, composed and produced by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, is a two-disc set much like the Halo 2: Original Soundtrack. The Halo 3: Original Soundtrack was released in one set rather than separate volumes like its predecessor. The Halo 2: "OST" deviated from the Halo 2: Original Soundtrack, and reverted back to the structure used in the Halo: Original Soundtrack. Comprised of melodies, chants, and trumpets, the Halo 3: Original Soundtrack is broken up into chapters which correspond to in-game levels.
Disc one is broken up into into the beginning levels of the game, and splits at about midway though the campaign. Consisting of 15 songs of longer length, disc one runs slightly longer than disc two. Consequently, disc two is broken up into the latter levels of the game, while including four bonus tracks. One of these bonus tracks is the music present in the E3 2006 Trailer with the exception of the dialog. Composed of music entirely in-game, from start to finish, the story of Halo 3 is played out in musical form.
Disc One
Arrival
- Luck - 3:25
Sierra 117
- Released - 5:20
- Infiltrate - 3:50
Crow's Nest
- Honorable Intentions - 2:46
- Last of the Brave - 3:58
- Brutes - 5:07
Tsavo Highway
- Out of Shadow - 4:37
- To Kill a Demon - 3:44
The Storm
- This is Our Land - 4:00
- This is the Hour - 2:08
Floodgate
- Dread Intrusion - 5:25
- Follow Our Brothers - 3:25
The Ark
- Farthest Outpost - 5:14
- Behold a Pale Horse - 5:38
- Edge Closer - 3:03
Disc Two
The Covenant
- Three Gates - 4:34
- Black Tower - 6:03
- One Final Effort - 3:41
- Gravemind - 5:22
Cortana
- No More Dead Heroes - 5:01
- Keep What You Steal - 2:36
Halo
- Halo Reborn - 3:59
- Greatest Journey - 4:52
Ending
- Tribute - 2:52
- Roll Call - 5:58
- Wake Me When You Need Me - 2:19
- Legend - 0:40
Bonus Tracks
- Choose Wisely - 1:19
- Movement - 0:27
- Never Forget - 3:07
- Finish the Fight - 2:27
- LvUrFR3NZ - 2:18 (Hidden song by Princeton)
Additional information
- Original composition: Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori
- Sound design: Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori
- Arrangement: Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori
- Label: Sumthing Else Musicworks
- Performance: Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, Princeton, the Northwest Sinfonia
Remixed Tracks
Quite a few songs on the soundtrack are re-mixed and re-mastered versions of songs that appeared in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.
Halo 1 Remixes
Songs from Halo 1 that were remixed are:
- "On a Pale Horse" redone as "Behold a Pale Horse".
- "Brothers in Arms" redone as "Follow Our Brothers".
- "Enough Dead Heroes" redone as "No More Dead Heroes" and "Brutes".
- "Perchance to Dream" redone as "Dream Again".
- "A Walk in the Woods" redone as "Another Walk".
- The beginning of "Truth and Reconciliation Suite" redone as "Reconciled".
- The ending of "Truth and Reconciliation Suite" has been remade into "Movement".
- "Under Cover of Night" redone in "Greatest Journey", "Halo Reborn", "Follow Our Brothers", and "Dream Again".
Halo 2 Remixes
Songs from Halo 2 that were remixed are:
- "Leonidas", from the "Delta Halo Suite", redone as "Leonidas Returns", the third part of "Three Gates".
- The Delta Halo leitmotif also appears in "We're Done Here"
- "Unforgotten" redone as "Never Forget".
- The beginning of "High Charity Suite" redone in "Black Tower".
- A part of "Broken Gates" redone in "Out of Shadow".
- Another part of "Broken Gates" redone in a part of "Dread Intrusion".
- A portion of "Roll Call" is a remix of "In Amber Clad" and "Under Cover of Night".
- The last part of "Ghost Of Reach" and the beginning of "Sacred Icon Suite" is mixed together in "Dread Intrusion".
- "Impend" is redone in "Wild Life"(the first half of "Released").
Trivia
- To hear more about this album listen to the September 20th Bungie Podcast.
- When played in reverse, Black Tower on Disc 2 plays a cryptic message from the Gravemind, different than the one heard on the Halo 2: Original Soundtrack.[1]. The quotes reflect several lines from T.S. Elliot's poem, The Hollow Men[2]; which is the original source of Cortana's famous words; "This is the way the world ends."
- On the song Gravemind, the size is often 117.7 KB. This is a reference to John-117 and Bungie's favorite number, 7.
- There is a hidden track at the end of disc 2.