Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, C Paul Johnson - Halo 3 (Original Soundtrack) (3LP)

Halo 3 was the big curtain call for Bungie’s original trilogy, and its score still feels like the moment the studio’s musical language reached full bloom. The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack, credited to Martin O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori, and C Paul Johnson, arrived on November 20, 2007 through Sumthing Else Music Works, the label founded by Nile Rodgers. It landed as a two disc set, generous and purposeful, the kind of release that invites you to sit with the campaign’s sweep rather than cherry pick a single theme.

One smart choice was how the album is sequenced. After fans grumbled about the editing on the Halo 2 discs, O’Donnell leaned into a flow that tracks closer to the game’s journey. That choice makes a world of difference. You get the arc, not just the hits, and it lets smaller motifs breathe. The recordings were made in Seattle, with the Northwest Sinfonia and choir bringing muscle and sky to the pieces, work that shows in the way the famous monk chant and tribal drums bloom into full orchestral heft. O’Donnell and Salvatori have always balanced ancient and modern colors, and here they keep that balance while letting the writing feel bigger, more cinematic, and more final.

For many, the heart of the record is “Never Forget,” that piano led elegy that Halo fans carry around like a private memory. It is simple, then it sighs open into strings, then it sneaks in the chant you think you already know, and somehow it is new again. “One Final Effort” still sparks the same adrenaline it did during the last Warthog run, big brass lines and snare cracks pushing you forward. You can hear C Paul Johnson’s hand in some of the mood shifts too, cues that bridge the familiar choral gravitas with grittier battlefield textures.

I keep coming back to the mid album stretch around “The Ark” and “The Covenant.” There is a sense of horizons opening, a kind of hopeful dread that fit the missions and holds up on its own. The percussion is punchy, but not overbearing. Guitars sit back, a color rather than a stunt, which makes the orchestra feel larger. “Finish the Fight” carries the marketing mantra of the time, but on record it plays like a farewell toast, the chant stepping forward with patience, as if the composers knew that restraint would make the payoffs hit harder.

What makes this release special is how it folds the series’ DNA into a score that still surprises. The monk chant, the toms, the low male voices, the sudden quiet that opens into light, it is all here, but not on autopilot. The choir is recorded with space around it, the strings glide rather than shout, and the brass writing moves in lines rather than blocks, so the big moments feel earned. You can tell this was made with live players in rooms that bloom, places like Studio X and Bastyr University Chapel, halls that lend a halo of their own to the sound.

If you collect game music, this sits high on the shelf. Folks hunting for Martin O’Donnell vinyl will already know the chase, and you will hear Halo 3 Original Soundtrack vinyl mentioned in the same breath whenever people trade want lists. If you buy Martin O’Donnell records online, this soundtrack is a natural anchor for that cart, and it pairs well with other Martin O’Donnell albums on vinyl from the series. I have even overheard someone in a Melbourne record store asking about it, which tracks with how often it pops up in vinyl records Australia circles. The demand makes sense. This score is a touchstone, and it feels good to live with it on a turntable or in full on a quality digital setup.

Seventeen years on, the music still does that thing Halo music does, it makes you feel like you are standing at the edge of something ancient, about to take a step you cannot take back. O’Donnell, Salvatori, and Johnson gave the trilogy a send off that treats the story with respect and the audience with trust. Put the lights low, let the first chant roll in, and you will hear why this soundtrack took root in people, not just as a companion to a blockbuster, but as a piece of music that knows how to say goodbye and keep on echoing.