The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe

The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe is a piece included in the Halo: Original Soundtrack.

Appearances

It is heard in almost every level of Halo: Combat Evolved, starting with the level Halo. In Halo, the song is played near the underground Forerunner structure. In Template:Levelname, it plays when the player comes to the Silent Cartographer building for the first time. In the Template:Levelname level, it plays for a few seconds when you first enter a Scorpion, it plays when you encounter the tunnel entrance guarded by two Wraiths, and it also plays when you battle the Plasma Rifle-wielding Zealot Elite.

In the Template:Levelname level, it plays when you are defending the Forerunner building. In Template:Levelname, it plays at the start of the "Final Run" chapter. In the Template:Levelname level, it plays when you first enter the shuttle bay immediately after Captain Keyes orders you to pull out. And in Template:Levelname level, it plays while the Master Chief blows up the engines of the Pillar of Autumn.

Overview

It is composed nearly entirely of percussion, only having a deep bass note towards the middle of the piece and some vocals at the end of the piece. The rest of the sound is produced by a combination of drums, auxiliary percussion and hand-clapping, which is usually unheard of in many tracks written for Halo.

Trivia

• The name of the song is most likely in reference to the Halo Installations, or the "Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe".
• The name is also a chapter at the start of the level Two Betrayals in Halo: Combat Evolved.
• This song was remixed into part of Heretic, Hero in the Halo 2: Original Soundtrack.
• This song is quite similar to Drumrun also on the Halo: Original Soundtrack.
• This song is also remixed in the Halo 3: ODST Original Soundtrack song More Than His Share at the part Into the Breach.