More than a week ahead of the release of the game's release, developer 343 Industries releases the entire Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack online for all to listen.

If there’s one thing Halo is known for just as much as its top-notch shooting mechanics and sandbox gameplay, it’s the franchise’s soundtrack. The Gregorian chant, the sweeping orchestral strings, and the driving percussion all add up to a sound that has become distinctly Halo over the past 15 years. For those wanting to listen to the music to which they’ll be blasting away Covenant and Forerunner in the next entry in the beloved series, Halo 5: Guardians, developer 343 Industries has published the game’s entire soundtrack on Soundcloud.

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The soundtrack begins with a familiar sound in its first track, ‘Halo Canticles’. The Halo chant (which was missing in Halo 4) will no doubt make the wait for the game’s launch feel much longer for avid fans. And for those who haven’t played Halo for a while, it might just be enough to get sucked back into that universe.

Past the opening suite, the soundtrack continues exactly how one might expect—in a good way—with epic scores, powerful battle movements, and electronic touches. It all comes together to form a musical science-fiction canvas for Master Chief’s next adventure.

Kazuma Jinnouchi, best known for his work composing the soundtracks for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, composed the soundtrack. But this isn’t the first time he’s done music for Halo, as he also contributed to Halo 4’s soundtrack.

Jinnouchi told news.com.au, “We spent 10 days recording at Abbey Road studios with a 96-piece orchestra, on top of electronic instruments that I programmed.” Jinnouchi, who was involved very early in the development process at 343, says he worked hard to make sure that Halo 5’s music fits in with the music from the rest of the series.

In 343’s first game in the franchise, Halo 4, the soundtrack (composed by Neil Davidge) didn’t garner the greatest reception. Most fans felt is was "fine," but the music never achieved the memorable status and high acclaim that many of the franchise’s earlier soundtracks composed by Marty O’Donnell did. Some would argue that with Halo 4, 343 may have strayed too far away from the classic Halo music in attempt to do something different with the game’s soundtrack.

Thankfully, it appears that the development team took note of that, because Halo 5’s soundtrack is a much better mix of new and old (check out track 29 "The Trials" for another example). Only time will tell, but there may be some tracks that become fan favorites.

For those who would like to purchase the soundtrack, it will be available October 30 digitally, on CD, and on vinyl. It can be currently pre-ordered through Amazon.

What is your favorite track on the Halo 5: Guardians soundtrack?

Halo 5: Guardians launches exclusively for Xbox One on October 27. For those in need of a recap before then, XboxUK just posted a video recapping the entire Halo story so far in 117 seconds