343 announced earlier today that Neil Davidge (probably best known for his contributions to Massive Attack) will be composing the official soundtrack for Halo 4. They also released a short sample of the game's music:

Thoughts? I had never heard of this guy before today and I don't envy anyone who has to follow in Marty O'Donnell's footsteps, but that sample sounded great. Different from the tone and style of previous Halo music, but it still fits the franchise well IMO.

Seems like good news from what I could hear in the video.

I think it fits the bill enough that most people, including myself, would not know the difference.

Yeah, it's not bad at all. It's... appropriate, and different than what we've heard from past Halo games. It's too bad I never heard of this guy either.

I am so fucking into this it's not funny. Hopefully the soundtrack will sound a lot less like Halo and a whole lot more like Massive Attack.

For those who don't understand why this is a good thing:

That sounds epic, and indeed different. Man, I hope this game is both good and different. I'm cautiously excited, but if I'm still shooting elites at the end of the day, then I'm out.

Oh wow, that sounds pretty great.

Needs more monks.

That's pretty impressive. I like the idea of this Halo having more of a different feel/style, so hopefully that's something that carries through more than just in the music.

I have been waiting for this.

Sounds like your generic big budget OST. No different than Crysis 2, Transformers 3, or some other random product that wants to sound more epic.

The musician has talent, I have to give him that.

Massive Attack is awesome, so hopefully this turns out awesome too. In fact they should just make the whole Halo 4 soundtrack Massive Attack songs.

While I certainly love Marty - I must say that I enjoyed Halo Wars' soundtrack a lot too. Oh, and I do trust 343i, especially after listening to their podcasts and, of course, with Frankie O'Connor as one of the head-honchos over there, it can't go all wrong.

EDIT: Listening to it, it isn't quite there yet, especially when comparing it to the classic chanting themes from Combat Evolved and Halo 3, and the more diverse soundtrack from Halo 2.

Sounds a bit generic compared to what Marty has made - maybe taking a few cues from the other games and add a little chanting (though I'm sure there'll be some in the game).

EDIT 2: Listening to some more of Martys music makes me a bit sad, the classic Halo themes are much more powerful than the sample - hopefully there will be other - better - tracks in the final game.

EDIT 3: Hah, I didn't realize how many videos I posted - Well, time to find the old soundtrack discs till I can get my Halo games on tomorrow.

@iAmJohn said:

I am so fucking into this it's not funny. Hopefully the soundtrack will sound a lot less like Halo and a whole lot more like Massive Attack.

For those who don't understand why this is a good thing:

That's the theme song from House. Cool, I like that particular sound. Not hugely fond of it but I believe it could fit well into the Halo universe.

And this@big_jon said:

sounds fantastic.

Still, not much of anything has ever gotten me more excited than this:

My favourite Halo soundtracks are Halo 2, and Reach.

Also, just because I love to do this I'll leave these here.

Halo sound dudes!

Wow, i'm pretty pumped after listening to that.

Probably my favorite piece of video game music.

@zombie2011: That is one of the best, but it makes me remember getting sniped by Jackals, then chased down by Drones on Legendary.

Sounds good. Thanks for the link.

Sounds good. Has that Halo feel but also feels very different at the same time, which I like.