![\"Vessel](\"http:\/\/www.satrapov.net\/mysst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Vessel-of-hope.jpg\" "\\"Vessel")
<\/a>Mass Effect<\/em>\u2019s music is largely atmospheric, mostly there to set a mood rather than to draw attention to itself. In that, I have to say that Jack Wall has succeeded pretty admirably. The overall feel of the soundtrack is\u2026\u2018spacey\u2019, for lack of a better word. The sonorities are dark, featuring shimmers that feel like the distant glow of nebulae and brooding, ominous synth swells, but also some more mechanical rhythms, especially when combat or the Reapers are involved. The \u201cMass Effect Theme\u201d, which plays during the introductory cinematic to the game, showcases this perfectly, as it progresses from a pulsating background ambience to a more driving, heroic theme that just makes you want to salute. Parts of the ME Theme also find their way into other sections of the soundtrack, such as the twinkling, fluctuating \u201cUncharted Worlds\u201d, which plays on the Galaxy Map and features as an undercurrent in the majestic, slightly eerie theme of the Citadel. The ME Theme is also developed and revamped in \u201cSpectre Induction\u201d, which illustrates the corresponding occasion with a swelling crescendo, or the appropriately-named \u201cThe End (Reprise)\u201d, which plays during the final scene of the game, with its grandiose, conclusive sonorities. These are only a few examples, mind you: if you listen closely, you\u2019ll be able to hear echoes of the Theme in a few other tracks.<\/p>\nAnother recurrent theme is Saren\u2019s, a rather repetitive, hammering affair, which, coincidentally also serves as the \u201cGame Over\u201d or \u201cCritical Mission Failure\u201d music. However, it reappears in more palatable versions in every track associated with Virmire, notably the brassy, yet menacing \u201cBreeding Ground\u201d, which serves as the planet\u2019s theme, and the decidedly groovy \u201cVirmire Ride\u201d. You\u2019ll also hear it in all the combat themes associated with Saren, notably \u201cExit\u201d, which mixes anxious piano strains with more bombastic swells.<\/p>\n
Every other storyline planet also has its own theme, which is generally reprised as a battle score. Not all are successful: \u201cLiara\u2019s World\u201d is twangy and insinuating, \u201cIlos\u201d sounds like someone playing a mouth harp over a generic moody background noise, and \u201cFeros\u201d is all but inchoate, even though its furtive, creeping notes are actually quite fitting to its namesake planet. On the other hand, its reprise, named \u201cProtecting the Colony\u201d builds them into a coherent melody, which sounds like a rising wave. Noveria\u2019s eponymous theme sounds like a driving snowstorm and also fits its planet to a tee, while its reprise, \u201cThe Secret Labs\u201d gives it a nicely techy beat. Noveria features another noteworthy combat tune, \u201cFatal Confrontation\u201d, which accompanies the showdown with Matriarch Benezia and is a darkly insistent mix of strings and trumpets.<\/p>\n
My two favourite tracks are probably the soaring, aerial \u201cVigil\u201d, which accompanies a key storyline scene, and the haunting, cryptically named \u201cM4 Part 2\u201d, which plays over the end credits and is the only actual song on the soundtrack, courtesy of a band heretofore unknown to me called Faunts. On the other hand, you have far less successful endeavours, such as \u201cEden Prime\u201d, which resembles crickets chirping, or \u201cThe Wards\u201d, which just sounds like some beeping superimposed over a drunken synth-line.<\/p>\n
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