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Earlier last night I wrote about Volume One of the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack. Last I left you, I was slaving away during a long night of work, re-acquainting myself with a handful of long-neglected video game soundtracks. Being that it is a long night and modern MP3 playback technology lets us queue up entire playlists of albums, needless to say I've been listening to quite a bit of music tonight. And so, I have for you my thoughts on the second half of the Halo 2 soundtrack, Volume Two, after the jump.

If Volume One was the single-oriented version of the Halo 2 score, then Volume Two is the concept album that is not meant to be listened to in any chunk smaller than the album's length. Picture, if you will, comparing Pink Floyd's Meddle to its legendary follow up, Dark Side of the Moon. Whereas Meddle's tracks could be listened to in any order in any amount, Dark Side was meant to be listened to in one straight shot. And though you could most certainly listen to it's chunks (as demonstrated by radio stations that insist on playing "Money" several times a day) it was an unfulfilling experience. Comparing Volume One and Volume Two of the Halo 2 score is much the same situation.

Rather than arranged like a series of tracks, the cuts on Volume Two are arranged into a series of "Suites," each representing particular chapters of the game. Oftentimes these suites have multiple cuts from the game's score, all arranged in the order you'd hear them in the game. In essence, Volume Two is the musical representation of actually playing Halo 2, start to finish.

When I reviewed Halo 2 oh-so-long ago (Editor's note: The "publication date" of 2008 is erroneous, all dates on articles written prior to July 2008 were reset when we switched our publishing platform from Vortex Portal to Movable Type.) I praised the game for its epic, sweeping soundtrack. However, while it did a tremendous job of tying together the game's atmosphere into a beautiful, cohesive package, it also stands well on its own. Combining sweeping orchestral arrangements and haunting choirs with carefully arranged electronic beats and ambient noises, the Halo 2 soundtrack is a complete aural delight, and Volume Two captures it perfectly.

Unlike Volume One, Volume Two takes its time at a more brooding pace, easing into the album with "Prologue." After a few minutes, "Cairo Suite" kicks in with a foreboding string set, gradually adding more percussion and brass to the mix, before cutting to a haunting, yet calming, ambiance.

Before you know it you're 15 minutes in and your ears are being greeted with the bombastic assault of "Mombasa Suite's" heavy percussion against an electronic beat, peppered lightly with strings, a choir and a sprinkling of electric guitar.

Despite containing a wide assortment of highly varied tracks, each of them comes together to form a very cohesive whole. Oftentimes one cut will fade into the next, or they'll be adjoined with sets of codas and intros. Rarely do the transitions between cuts feel harsh or forced, which says a lot given how much ground the score covers, ranging from intense battle orchestrations to slow and haunting beats. On that note, one of my personal favorite tracks is "Masoleum Suite," (Part One, Part Two) which is exactly that: Slow, brooding, haunting... if music could somehow capture the essence of fear, this one would be it.

Overall, Volume Two is the definitive Halo 2 soundtrack. If you're a diehard Halo fan, and hell even if you aren't but just happen to like modern-day takes on orchestral music, Volume Two will not leave you disappointed.

10	Accurately captures the entirety of the Halo 2 score in all its beauty.
	Virtually nothing.

- Buy Halo 2 OST, Volume Two on Amazon.com