Jobie Reviews Music 95: Half-Life (Original Game Soundtrack). Requested by F63.

Half-Life (Original Game Soundtrack) is a 1998 soundtrack album by Valve. It contains 27 tracks, spanning 35 minutes of music. The album’s musical tone is mostly dark and dreary, with mysterious and sci-fi-esque ambience making up the majority of the album. This makes for ambience which perfectly captures the tone of the game that it’s from (Half-Life). You should probably look into the plot of-Half Life to understand what I mean.

That being said, the album does have a few points where it diverges from this tone. Tracks like “Credits Closing Theme”, for example, are considerably less dark in tone than other tracks on the album. This is a good thing, as variety is always welcome in any circumstance!

With some tracks on the album, there’s really not much you can say about them. This applies to any of the tracks that are less than a minute or so in length - don’t get me wrong, they’re good, it’s just that there isn’t much to say about them, being that they’re short, of course. Most of these tracks still have good instrumentation and composition, such as “Sharp Fear Short”, which is musically interesting despite being only 7 seconds long.

Perhaps the most notable (and widely liked) part of this soundtrack are the moments when the album gets more upbeat, mentioned earlier in this review. “Nuclear Mission Jam”, to name a track, has more electronic elements in its composition than others, being noticeably different from other tracks on the album. I can certainly understand why people like these, as they’re the most “playlist-worthy”, so to speak. This is not without reason, as these tracks have interesting instrumentation and composition.

One of the strengths of the album (or weaknesses, depending on how you view it), is the relatively short length of the tracks on the album. Even the ones that don’t fall in the category of tracks like “Sharp Fear Short” length-wise aren’t all that lengthy; most are within the 1-2 minute range. This makes it relatively easy to get through the soundtrack, and the best part is, the soundtrack doesn’t need to have longer tracks, since it already delivers great instrumentation within its track’s relatively short run time.

I’d also like to take a moment to comment on the track “Heavy Technology Rock” in particular. Its overall sound reminds me of the sound that Linkin Park delivered on Living Things (which is a good thing), with its electric elements blended with electric sound. Definitely one of the most interesting tracks on the album.

My favorite tracks from this album include, “Klaxon Beat”, “Hurricane Strings”, “Nepal Monastery”, “Electric Guitar Ambience”, and “Credits Closing Theme”.

Overall, Half-Life (Original Game Soundtrack) is quite an interesting listen. With 20 years having elapsed since its release, the album holds up to this day as an album with intriguing composition and a handful of more upbeat tracks mixed in with it. Listen to this one if a dark, sci-fi-like listening experience is something that sounds good to you.

Overall rating:

9/10

LINK TO ALBUM:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1l1ZutYMCjx2AWHO6L2iMB?si=3XtKFMzESLWAWEcgTL6FtA