Library of Ruina - Binah Battle Theme // Reaction & Analysis

[@Vergil247]

The theme the enemies hears with fighting the literal Souls-like boss

[@doomslayer7670]

@@Vergil247 The BEAST.

[@axeltheinternetsweeper8082]

MISTER BEASTTTTT

[@enricocoochie3113]

@@doomslayer7670mist, or beast?

[@ncbeesmile9252]

@@enricocoochie3113 YOU MEAN THE LEGENDARY GRADE FIXER THE RED MIST!?!??!?!?!?!

[@sneaky1497]

Audite Pauper & Vovete Miserias is also from Studio EIM but came out very recently, it's definitely worth a listen, for what this comment is worth

[@thatkerbalguy8242]

Nice to see that someone already suggested this, I too thought it's a good one! I personally would have also wanted to mention that the previous three Refraction Railway bosses also had unique music, but it was quite ambient in contrast to this one. EDIT: Oh, and the second phase of this track has been noted by some to be similar to the story track "Erlkönig" that plays right before the final boss fight in Canto 6 of Limbus.

[@deep_sea_creature99999]

tremble before the king in binds

[@NMC213]

There's a bunch of people suggesting a (fairly new) limbus track I'm here to be a contrarian and suggest that NOW that you have both Gebura and Binah battle fresh in mind and ear, you should hear their sister tracks, "Red Mist" and "Head Eye Claw" respectively I said it on the last reaction already but both are sort of alternative 3rd phases, Red Mist was made with that intent, when the titular legendary mercenary goes serious mode all music halts to play HER theme... While Head Eye Claw was the original 3rd phase of Binah Battle, but creative desitions led to the theme being expanded and repurposed to spoiler territory, let's say both Binah and the holder of the sister track are equally terrifying persons :3

[@lowes7734]

I saw a comment that desrcibed it perfectly. If Gebura is Doom, Binah is Dark Souls.

[@ultimateblade1252]

My apolocheese but Chesed would be cheesed to meet you.

[@nikolaysitnikov796]

Probably my top favorite of the Floor Battle Themes.

[@thedabisme61]

Technically it’s actually pronounced hesed, but chesed it is

[@Cheesed301]

@@ultimateblade1252 I'm cheesed to meet you all

[@gamowa9690]

We need Chesed theme here!) It's very good them, me favourit

[@a-red_digit6644]

Omg its ​@@Cheesed301

[@luminiteore]

Each of the 3 "phases" in each floor theme of the game loop back to the beginning, and in-game you only switch to the next phase when your librarians and guests reach a high enough emotion level for it.

[@mathewgoquesan3322]

Context-wise, Binah actually used to go by name of "Garion" and was an Arbiter of the head. Arbiters, in PM's lore iirc, are considered to be the strongest and most feared in the city. (I think above the level of color fixers) That's why her floor's theme, Floor of Philosophy, sounds like a goddamn cinematic movie trailer. *Because what you're essentially hearing is not the enemies' boss theme, it's hers; what seemed as a battle for rewards has now turned into a struggle for survival in the enemies' POV.* And this is considering that they're fighting a _nerfed_ version of her.

[@capoda9373]

@@mathewgoquesan3322 I'm assuming Grade 1 Fixers~Colored Fixers =< Claws < Red Mist < Arbiter

[@Lorekeeperhaos]

@@capoda9373 We don't really have a good comparison point for Claws, but Red Mist is pretty high on the scale of Colored Fixers from what we know. There could be others at her level that don't have as bright or known a reputation or she could be the peak of Colored Fixers, even a decade after her passing. Between her, Black Silence, Blue Reverb and Red Gaze, probably goes Arbiters > Red Mist > Black Silence/Blue Reverb > Red Gaze (pre-Leviathan/Limbus) > Grade 1 Fixers, with Claws being somewhere before or after Red Mist, but not lesser than Black Silence or Blue Reverberation. When EGO comes into the picture, alongside personal growth, the scale becomes a lot harder to gauge, but we still know that Roland had trouble with a Claw and he's fairly high on the Grade 1 Fixer/Color scale given his actions pre-Ruina and during Ruina. That could be because of his exhaustion from dealing with the distorted Reverberation Ensemble or that Baral, the Claw he fought, was just very strong, even before Serum silliness. We also know that Red Gaze is terrifying when he decides to get involved in a fight, especially if he activates his EGO. Pre-Leviathan, he probably was still strong but not as strong, given his reluctance to deal with Roland as an enemy towards the end. Between Leviathan and Limbus, he definitely grew more and we know that other color fixers are wary of fighting beside him-Azure Elder is at least.

[@generalgarchomp333]

​@@Lorekeeperhaos pretty sure part of why they waited was so Roland was tired out, as they straight up said that even him after all the fighting he did can't 1v2 a claw and an Arbiter. Cause bro fought Argalia, the entire library, then the distorted Ensemble and Distorted Argalia the latter for an entire week. And as for The Red Mist, Kali killed 3 claws and downed a bunch of abnos while also nearly killing Garion. She is absolutely above claws and it isn't even funny.

[@Lorekeeperhaos]

@@generalgarchomp333 Kali killed five Index Proxies in short order and defeated two Claws rather than three while dealing with Abnos. She was then manhandled by Garion before she got off her killing blow by getting Garion to give her an honorable death. Note, this is assuming that the Claws with Garion are of the same power as Baral, which we don't have confirmation on. Given part of his objective was to retrieve Binah/Garion, we can only assume he's a higher performer than the Claws encountered in LobCorp's story and final ordeal. Roland being exhausted did contribute to the Baral + Zena fight being rough, but they straight up say if Angela had become human they would have let the library be as a part of the city. Angela not becoming human or dissolving into the light forced their hand because now there's a powerful and sentient humanoid robot in the city and that's a taboo so the only recourse is to either kill her or expel the library and its occupants, whichever happens first. Grabbing Binah is also important, but secondary to the death of Angela and removal of the Library. In regard to Roland v a Claw, we do not have that match up. Roland could be able to face one just fine when not exhausted or he could pale in comparison to one in a straight fight at his peak. We don't exactly know how powerful he really is by the end of Ruina, only that he can best the Distortion Ensemble and hold them off for an extended period of time. That is certainly strong, but we dunno if the Head doesn't have people that could just pick him apart regardless of that. Similarly, we don't really know if his power in the library would remain outside the library(i.e. bringing him back to his base before Angela removed his limbs and any augments he had at the start or past that). For all we know, the Claws sent with Garion were jobbers while Baral is just Average, which makes comparing them harder still. Regardless, we know that Roland is very much not invincible given his bad end. He could be stronger than the average Claw, only to get cleaved in two by a Serum W equivalent.

[@BlowBow2]

This is my favourite theme because it perferctly encapsulates the feeling that you, the player, is the boss and people that came into the library are the challengers. They are here to overcome YOU. Not the other way around.

[@AklyonX]

Binah has boss music not for you, but for your poor opponents.

[@PeteandRepeat1]

Love that when you unlock her floor in Ruina, she considers actually helping you receive guests to be menial tasks beneath her station, so she goes off to drink tear or whatever it is she does while letting her subordinates deal with the enemies by themselves

[@areszeudion5153]

@@PeteandRepeat1 I get that she used to be ruthless and cold, but I don't think she's that inhumane to drink someone's tear. P.S: I get it's a typo, but nice joke.

[@thatkerbalguy8242]

Someone already recommended the new Limbus tracks Audite Pauper & Vovete Miserias, so then I'd suggest either Hod Battle or Malkuth Battle to see more of the music variety in Library of Ruina floor themes.

[@AlterFear]

Malkuth's is so pretty

[@LevtoChannel]

Can't wait to get kether, angela, and roland bgm. The piano is killing it in those 3 bgms

[@ChaolaoFueChi]

​@AlterFear It's so chill and jazzy, like the beginning of something in the room.

[@JannetFenix]

In LoR, as you combat enemies, your team pushes from the right side, and enemy team - from left. As your emotion grows in combat and you unlock stronger skill combos, the music and dance intensifies - and none like Binah is so good at reminding you, that you're not fighting a video game boss. You are one, that enemies struggle against.

[@relja6838]

Definitely the floor theme that struck me as most beautiful, I just sat there vibing for a bit upon first unlocking the floor, very glad you got to hear it For some answers to your questions/general statements: The pronunciation of Binah, to my best knowledge, is with both vowels being "flat", so the i like in "mint" and the a like in "shortage". If that is difficult, most people pronounce it with more emphasis on the a anyways lmao With the thing you said about it being "fantasy-core" is actually pretty on point, the character of Binah and arbiters (the job title/status she used to have) in general have some weirdly fantastical themes, one of the statuses she inflicts in the game is even called "Fairy". It's very interesting how these tech-powered basically dystopian government ultracops at the same time invoke the look and feel of magic way more than technology, especially because they have workers like 2 levels below them that are also tech-juice powered government workers and they look way more like cyborg abominations in suits. I would go on a 50 page Project Moon brain rot induced essay as to why that is now, but we straightup do not know pretty much anything about the Arbiter's workings, so you are on the same level of lost as we are on this one One thing I personally love about this particular theme's scaling through the phases is also that, more than just the energy increasing, the aggression increases much more also. The first phase is almost serene, to the point it doesn't really feel like fight music. Compare to Gebura's theme, where even the first phase is most definitely "ok time to brawl" music. It fits the characters incredibly well, since Gebura is by profession a fighter, it's her whole thing and that's what she is gonna do the moment you come to fight her on her floor, whereas Binah is much more likely to still be holding a cup of tea and start questioning you about your philosophy before you start fighting, but beneath that still absolutely has that "will launch a piller through your upper body" power and straightup sadism. Both of their themes evoke battle and conflict in the latter phases, but Binah's evokes doom much more

[@ElrosWoodlandRealm]

It's pronounced with a long i sound actually, the correct pronunciation is the hebrew one due to its links to kabbalah

[@relja6838]

@@ElrosWoodlandRealm I know it's from hebrew, my explanation comes from how I was taught it by a friend that actually speaks it, though it is put through the filters of a) my memory and b) trying to describe sounds over text so take it with those two grains of salt

[@lifeisnotokiedokie7243]

@@relja6838 I thought it was Bee-nah????

[@ElrosWoodlandRealm]

@@relja6838 fair enough

[@Merotryz]

Always liked about Ruina is that, these songs were your "team" themes. Binnah lorewise was a total monster, in the lore she belonged to a group that is in the upper echelon of the city. That's why this theme feels majestic, almost godlike, she almost always fight holding back.

[@ketereissmore3967]

Since you've done Binah, I would heavily recommend you to review Head Eye Claw too. Head Eye Claw was originally the phase 3 of Binah, but later transferred to the more younger-sister-like, smug arbiter called Zena. It would be great if that song is compared to Binah's current phase 3 in its arrangement and story-telling, and what it does on characterisation

[@dersylvio3088]

And now imagin Binah and Gebura fighting each other for maximum epicness.

[@DistressedCrab]

Hyyyyped, Binah’s theme is so good! Excited to see future PM reacts :)

[@loganhowe9496]

There was one dude who uploaded these themes and they did a sort of finger snap sound effect to more smoothly transition between phases since these phases don't transition into each other.

[@CatharsisYT]

According to the comments on the upload i used, it was the same guy but he uploaded this one without the snaps

[@loganhowe9496]

@@CatharsisYT Ah oki, cheers. Hope to see the other Battle themes and maybe the Suppression themes soon.

[@akinari6870]

​@@CatharsisYT Most of Library of Ruina ost was uploaded really early on by some korean YT channel by the name of @sanu_channel . Their versions are recorded straight from the game I think. Finger snaps are an in-game transitions, and that person has it built in his uploads. The other creator, who popped out later on is @Lunartique07 and he has made a massive contribution to PM community by digging up a lot of assets and uploading OSTs to YT without the fingersnaps. I think his uploads are preferable for this kind of content, since the snapping kinda disturbs the overall flow of the songs. It's fine in-game, as it is the sound of starting a turn and under right conditions the songs also progress into their next phase, but it doesn't really do it when just listening.

[@AklyonX]

Yeah, Lunartique07 has the cleaner tracks

[@nikolaysitnikov796]

​@@akinari6870Fun? Fact: Sanu has announced that he has been called to the mandatory military service, and he does not plan to return to KZbin afterwards.

[@aemystery5782]

with your reception(get it) of the Binah theme, I think Tiphereth battle theme might become your favourite of the floor battle themes

[@Llamanator_]

I absolutely love this soundtrack.

[@NeksiCola]

Bait is used to be...- HOLY SHIT IS THAT BINAH THE ARBITER?

[@Bland_Spaghetti]

Something that you could do to tell how the songs are supposed to loop in game if they don’t in the video is to search up for just the phase specifically (like searching up Binah Battle 3 instead of just Binah battle) since uploaders will include multiple loops of the phases in those videos. I also think that the trend of smoothly transitioning in the phases started and continued after Tiphereth battle, since keter, malkuth, yesod, netzach, hod, and early battle have phases which are both shorter and don’t transition as smoothly into each other.

[@LevtoChannel]

One more song from the library! I'm excited to see how you'd do the other songs from library, there's still so many to be covered

[@gabrielboeno6971]

Love this one!

[@ChthonicDepths]

when the FBI is at my door (context: binah, prior to when the plot of ruina begins, was essentially an FBI agent. in a setting consisting of a massive city split into 25 districts, where each of the different megacorps that govern said districts have at least one proprietary technology that functions on a level basically indistinguishable from magic. so the FBI equivalent is closer to a one-woman SWAT team kitted out with bonkers amounts of supertech)

[@AWrySmile]

More like… A hydrogen bomb and a supernova in a trench coat pretending to be an ATF agent…

[@OfficeKuina]

Cartel bombing

[@narkle9723]

They're less the FBI and more the IRS. Literally like 90% of the work they do is punish people for not paying taxes, cuz not that many people break the other laws.

[@LittleRedRidingHoodedMercenary]

Basically it's a multiple-times-usable tactical nuke in a form of a beautiful woman who uses megatechnology itself as a weapon

[@x-3688]

@@narkle9723 the head sending an arbiter to kill some nerds in the outskirts because they wanted to build a robot

[@1echuga]

this song is sponsored by The Shadow Government

[@simonsis1321]

All the Floor Battle Themes are meant to loop, maybe that's what you heard at the end of the track

[@AklyonX]

Yesssss, Binah!

[@sashagornostay2188]

I call it "Dark sky of black stars" Binah [b' i n a] is composed, patient and enigmatic. She has a lot of stories should she desire to share, but she most surely will prefer to keep to herself and quietly observe. Maybe to have your story to remember as well. From what we know, Binah had done a lot of questionable things - even judging by The City's antics. She manipulated abused children, slaughtered hundreds, before having been captured and tortured physically and emotionally for a few hundreds of years. Yet she holds no grudge. I think she finds genuine beauty in overcoming fears and pains of life, deeds both she and everyone she sees have done a lot of. We as a community still don't know her full story.

[@may-tine]

I am now begging for Hod Battle theme i love it so much

[@retraceyourvods]

Binah is my favorite Sephora even with how weird of a person she generally is i just like her so much

[@Slozhnaaaaaa]

It's pronounces like Bee-nah, with accent on bee

[@neoralis8987]

We need to go back to Limbus and look at Canto VI, especially Boss 2, Battle D, Battle F, (interconnected parts)

[@explosivebaguettes9326]

Binah's theme makes me feel like I interrupted the final boss's tea party, the door has just locked behind me, and the boss is slowly approaching me with nothing but pure malice.

[@EmeraldGlacier867]

I was JUST thinking about how you needed to listen to the Binah theme after your last video! Also, consider listening to the Sephirah core suppression themes from Lobotomy Corporation - Gebura and Binah both have themes there too (I really like Binah's). Not as movement-based as Ruina's, but still cool, I think.

[@quirkyperson125]

You said you're no expert music theorist or musician, but you dive deeper into the music compared to those I've seen who are professional musicians. Also, it's kinda funny that Lobotomy Corporation has 115 songs, yet only neutral1-4 and the three warning are in the soundtrack folder for the game

[@panzerldr5724]

I myself pronounce it "Bean-uh." I believe that the community's kinda split between that and "Bine-ah."

[@Un_Named05]

Pretty bucket woman 🥰🥰🥰

[@gorn5264]

Nice video. You should listen to Angela and Roland battle themes, they are very good and emotional

[@Virzaci]

All the topics on the philosophy floor are the topics of the battle with the real boss, but the bottom line is that YOU are the boss.

[@unapersona6371]

Now do the reverberation ensemble, just a bit of a heads up, it's a 12 minute track

[@DenkiinArt]

Ganna have to review the 8 o'clock circus theme next

[@TheRoosterBucket]

I recommend listening to the LoR Angela and Roland themes

[@AltiusMax]

Fun fact, Binah 3 and The Final reception ( Head) were swaped at some point

[@Slimeuru]

Where's Roland Keter Floor

[@delirare]

I honestly need the Netzach battle theme

[@daimpthing]

Now, I hope you do Tipherth's battle theme

[@akinari6870]

Pauper & Vovette Miserias next please. Then maybe Tiphereth Battle Theme?

[@AlterFear]

Hey, Limbus/EIM dropped another banger for a Boss called The King in Binds, it's called Audite Pauper & Vovete Miserias you should react to it!

[@cat_the_e]

Next up audite pauper and vovete miserias

[@er5114]

Her name is pronounced like be-nah

[@joeviczko]

Hokma battle theme for the next PM reaction please!!!

[@FaiAstriel]

Hokma next please

[@marclaw9479]

its pronounced "bingus"

[@lt.kitkat]

Mommy.😊

[@Shelly70780]

😨

[@Aaokke0]

i hate binah but the battle theme goes hard

[@yayen.92]

Binah feet 🗣🙏

[@Gameboy-kl8br]

Reminder that this is _your_ theme, not the enemy's.

[@Gameboy-kl8br]

Yippee!