Album Review | Destiny Original Soundtrack (MusiCube)

The aforementioned Marty O'Donnell worked with composers Michael Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, and the legendary Paul McCartney, of the Beatles fame. The results of their labour permeate the Destiny experience; there's rarely a silent moment in the game, whether players are orbiting the solar system, engaged in combat, or dancing on whatever random in-game geometry they can position their characters on top of.

Ominous horns, melodic vocal harmonies, guttural guitar crunches—it's all here, and it's all arranged into an epic science fiction experience many would argue is better than the game it underlies. Destiny, like many Bungie games, is full of words, single groups of letters most English speakers come across every day, but used in a way that stops them dead in their tracks, suddenly giving them new meaning: Hope. Traveller. Collapse. Fallen.

The team behind the soundtrack has gracefully translated these into music themes; "The Hope" is a harp-laden, floating piece that evokes guardians in flight. "The Collapse" puts violas and cellos to use, reminiscing of times forgotten. "The World's Grave" conjures images of crawling, tunnelling creatures, perhaps made of bone and terror itself, while "The Hive" uses pumping, dance-inspired beats and electrical screeches to bring those creatures to the forefront.

Finally, at the end of this 139-minute journey, the soundtrack proudly and hopefully proclaims that "All Endings Are Beginnings," moving along to march-style drums, while the string sections take flight, providing an ending more beautiful and more hopeful than the game's story was able to produce.

9/10

Exceptional - Gold Award

For all the criticism and controversy levelled at and surrounding Destiny, music is one area it passes with flying colours. Both in-game and as its own entity, fans of ambient/orchestral music will find magnificent work in this soundtrack, and while it's hard to imagine anyone humming along the way they do with tunes like the "Super Mario Bros. Theme" or "One-Winged Angel," the tracks on the Destiny OST are legendary in their own right. The soundtrack was designed to convey a story through raw emotion, and many—including some of Destiny's biggest fans—would argue it does so in ways the game never will.