Mass Effect 3 (Original Soundtrack)

Mass Effect 3 is the third and final chapter of the well-established cross-platform series that plots Commander Shepard against an alien robotic race known as the "Reapers" who are determined to destroy all organic life in the universe. Jack Wall did much of the heavy lifting on the first two soundtracks, but his presence is absent on the finale (though music from the first two soundtracks does appear on the game itself). Instead, Mass Effect 3 taps Sam Hulick, Christopher Lennertz, Sascha Dikiciyan, Cris Velasco, and Clint Mansell, the last of which must surely stand out to longtime readers of TSB. Mansell is the only one making his debut on the Mass Effect series, but he is also the one that seems to be heavily pushed as contributing to the soundtrack, perhaps because of his Hollywood credentials. His work on Moon surely landed him this gig pretty easily, as there are some obvious comparisons between that film and Mass Effect, but unfortunately only two tracks are credited to Mansell - one a collaboration with Hulick, and one a solo piece. Unsurprisingly, these two pieces are arguably the soundtrack's highlights, and they are easily the most poignant among the tracks. Leave it to Mansell to pull at the heartstrings. The rest of the album cycles through mixtures of electronic, ambient, and orchestral music, falling in line with past scores that drew influence from old sci-fi films like Tron and Dune. Unlike the past scores, Mass Effect 3 lacks a leading composer - no single musician composed more than one-third of the released soundtrack - but the tracks are well selected and ordered to give the appearance of a unified effort. Fans of sci-fi/futuristic/space soundtracks should certainly look into Mass Effect 3, Mansell diehards may want to wait for his next work.