Bungie Has Released The Entire Destiny 2 Soundtrack For Free

Now that Destiny 2 has launched for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and is set to arrive next month for PC, Bungie and Activision decided to do something extremely bold: the soundtrack for the sequel has been made available for free.

Yes, Bungie has given away the entire soundtrack for Destiny 2 for free by uploading all 44 of the game's original music tracks to the official Bungie Youtube channel.

The music for the game was composed by Michael Salvatori, Skye Lewin, C Paul Johnson, Rotem Moav, and Pieter Schlosser. Jesse W.D. James worked as a conductor on the project. The team has quite the resume, having worked on indie games, television and notable films like Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Friday the 13th, along with blockbusters such as The Sims and Gears of War.

While there are some big blockbuster titles in the respective portfolios, the interesting thing about the soundtrack for Destiny 2 is that there's a rather conspicuous overlaying theme that seems to pay homage to Marty O'Donnell's work for Bungie back when he was working for the studio. O'Donnell's work was first made quite known during the release of the Halo games on the Xbox game consoles, and he then carried that very recognizable combination of thematic heroism and Gregorian-style monk chanting from the Halo series into the Destiny franchise.

Salvatori, Schlosser and the rest of the crew seem to have adapted for Destiny 2 what O'Donnell started with the first Destiny, which you can oh-so-clearly hear with the first two tracks for the game. The use of the choir and the cinematic adagio really stand out in the early tracks.

The music consistently crescendos from restrained thoughtfulness into bombastic battaglias, which is sort of how Destiny 2 plays out in the actual game; there's a consistent ebb and flow in the pace between the tense and the calm. The game moves from the more slowed down moments where players have an opportunity to take in some of the more visually spectacular moments during short stints of reflection where the environment seems all-encompassing -- such as the giant waves that engulf the pillars holding up the living quarters on Titan, or the idyllic mountain settings situated in the distance on the Farm -- and transitions into the more action packed and explosive at the drop of a dime.

The music has a nice balance between the soft and melodic and the sharp and fitful. If you were a fan of Marty O'Donnell's work in the original Destiny, it would be hard to ignore the quality of music that was put together for the sequel.

There are also even a few moments throughout the soundtrack where you get variations of the leitmotif, from the mellow and contemplative, to the enthused and energetic. If you're into the musical themes present throughout the game series, you might enjoy the consistency in which the themes recur throughout the soundtrack.

If the YouTube playlist just isn't enough to quench your thirst for the auricular compositions of Destiny 2, Bungie also allows you to get your hands on the full digital soundtrack from the Bungie Store.