MUSIC DIRECTOR REACTS | Warframe | ‘For Narmer’

[@Valckryst]

For Narmer is the heartbreaking opposite of one of the songs you reacted to back then "We all lift together", the moment we saw happened to everyone we helped out before the New War, it made it personal.

[@sharlesdaviskendy2391]

Man, when I heard we were going to Fortuna I was like "Oh yeah, of course, Vox Solaris is probably like the last remaning rebels in Ballas' empire" and then you land there and this song starts playing and it broke my fucking heart. And then again when I saw they got the Ventkids!

[@volmie]

Yeah it really hammered home the "we lost" feeling

[@luck501]

This, basically is the dystopian version of the entire thing, "New War" was never about epic uprising, instead is about a breaking point in which the villains won and the world is taken by the Narmer and the Sentients

[@tailesque]

I actually wouldn't quite call it an opposite to We All Lift Together; rather, For Narmer is intentionally written as a twisted parallel. The former is about individuals supporting one another as a united community in the face of their horrendous working conditions, while the latter is also of a people "united", but under the control of a singular entity, and to such a nightmarish extreme that they are essentially no longer even individual people at all. United for the sake of compassion and survival through what little free will they have left, versus united to the point of losing all sense of self or autonomy. The way this is expressed almost paradoxically in For Narmer is really interesting. The lyrics espousing the ideal of working "alone" and yet also together as One, all coming from a solemn chorus of many in haunting unison.

[@nordvirus]

omg I was furious when I saw what happened in fortuna damn

[@sharlesdaviskendy2391]

I feel like the important context for this song is that this is sung by the same people (in game) who sang We All Lift Together after the main villain breaks them and takes over.

[@hangman4011]

Very important context. It really should be heard in the same thought of We All Lift Together to fully get why they went so slow and hypnotic.

[@TheNefastor]

"It's very hypnotic"... considering what's happening in the story, you have no idea how much of an understatement that is ^.^

[@whiterabbit4113]

Rofl very true

[@bloody4558]

More than a person, Narmer is a would-be "country", the unification of all colonies and planets under Narmer leadership, following the Orokin remnant Ballas and the Sentient faction under Erra, both united in an attempt to control he Origin System. As you could see in the lyrics they aren't fond of dissention or independent thought. The Narmer would use machines called Veils to mind control people using their dreams and aspirations agains them

[@SanguineDoe]

Narmer is also the name of the Pharaoh who first unified ancient Egypt. Ballas gave himself that name as it was his goal to be the new Narmer of a new age.

[@MarcoMeatball]

time to come to the dark side. Let me play through the entire story with you, if you dare.

[@shying69]

Super late, I know, but some quests like new war are single player only, sorry!

[@WorldGoods]

You can't on these quests

[@volmie]

You and Marco(meatball) should do a chat about Warframe's music sometime, since y'all both have pretty different musical backgrounds I think it could be a fun discussion

[@MarcoMeatball]

ya @drumrolltony - We can talk about warframe.

[@sweetdreams5454]

​@@MarcoMeatballbig man, love the streams and dicussions!

[@DrumRollTonyReacts]

That would be fun

[@DocHoloday44]

I always love Warframe music, ever since they started the cinematic quests, it's been great.

[@Xenotater]

One more Warframe song you gotta look at, a space sea shanty, "Sleeping in the Cold Below"

[@kinsan89]

Such a great song, was not expecting it when I first heard it lmao

[@murii_desu1436]

Yes! i hope he listens to it soon

[@LadySuilenroc]

Sleeping in the Cold Below sent me into a year-long sea shanty craze the first time I heard it. It plays on repeat in my ship. That song has me in such a choke hold.

[@aether_wisp]

When they sing "Here today we sing our story" you can hear the beginning notes of This is What You Are in the background

[@yiyex3971]

From the strong feeling and perserverance of "We all lift Together" to such a defeated tone and sad song as "For Narmer"...when i heard that first time it made it personal against Ballas.

[@ganjiblobflankis6581]

6:13 is the opening phrase from This Is What You Are and also features in the opening cinematic (probably elsewhere too). It serves as a motif for you being presented with a mystery or discovering something.

[@agooose]

As mentioned by a bunch of other people, these are the same people as in "We All Lift Together", after they had been taken over and turned into a hive mind, evidenced by the line "Virtue once was work together... but virtue now is lift alone" Its especially crushing after they fought to be free from their work that the first line is "healed the pain of independence" and later "Where once we dreamt of independence...Now we stand and dream alone"

[@WonderStarz]

Hearing them sing for Ballas and being almost hopeless against the war, man this part of the game gave me chills, I love how Warframe has improved with the story quests and they're banger after banger, and the music is superb! Also those "differences" you can hear at the second half of the song, are more like a "leitmotif" it appears during various OST from the game, as an example you can hear it at the beginning of This is What You Are. Thanks for the video!

[@RaviVemula2]

I don't think there was ever any song in a game that made me just seethe with anger as this one during the elevator sequence down into Fortuna during the quest. Everyone disliked Ballas, but damn this song properly enraged me 😅 All hail Keith, played us like a damn fiddle

[@jetman2045.]

This was a good one. Feel free to geek out over it.

[@haganeEdwardElric]

People already gave you some context in the comment, but didn't see anyone pointing out yet that this song is almost 'identical' with We All Lift Together (as other comments explained, this is sung by same people who sing We All Lift Together). You can sing this song's lyrics with We All Lift Together's music and vice versa and it was intentional. I suggest listening both back to back for full experience while paying attention to lyrics too! Because both lyrics and how the songs are sung are also telling the story of who sing it; Solaris United was a group of people wanting independence from Corpus and always worked together towards that personal freedom. It also shows in the first song; they don't sing in sync, song is kinda 'all over the place' etc. they are individuals working for the same goal and For Narmer is sung by these same people, brainwashed with 'Veils' by Ballas to the idea of 'All As One' (so no individualism exist, they all praise only Ballas) and it's reflected in the song; they all sing in sync, no personal quirks, only one harmony 'All As One' - which is exactly what made this song really hit in the feels when we came across it on the quest.

[@ctavi]

More than just nearly identical, if you play them both at the same time the verses sound like they're trying to sing over each other whilst the choruses turn into a competitive duet singing back and forth, as the silences in one song directly correspond to the lines in the other, making the new choruses: For we're all one And we all lift And the work's begun And we're all adrift Together (For Narmer) And we all run Through the cold mist To our golden sun 'Til we're lifeless For Narmer (Together) It lines up so perfectly that I'm of the mind that this was fully intentional. With the instrumentals sounding so close as well, and the Solaris lines acting to entirely contradict the Narmer ones, twisting their meaning into a song about how living under Narmer is slowly killing them, playing both at once sounds exactly like the Narmer and the Solaris both fighting for control. It's almost identical to listening to what's going on in the head of a Solaris worker, still fighting for freedom even from within the veil, just barely holding onto who they are. If this is intentional, as I suspect, then that adds such a powerful aspect to the Solaris - they've been fighting for freedom their whole lives, so when Narmer came (even if they couldn't physically prevent themselves from being taken over), some tiny part of them was still screaming out and withstanding it

[@DroneQuadcopter]

The fact that first we got We all lift together and than there is a Fortuna converted under Narmer control makes it more creepy...

[@jameslafand2718]

A super cool thing about the new war quest is that its a near parallel of the unification of egypt, when the king Narmer like in warframe brought egypt together under one religion of the sun god Horus. Though it was suggested that he did this peacefully there where depictions of narmer smiting lower Egypts religion. (Fun fact : narmer written down means painful catfish)

[@Devine2712]

"i dont know who narmer is but damn they have done something great for this character" ohh if only he knew🤐

[@viridibusoccult115]

I love how the music gives the feeling that it is over, they are lifting together still but no longer for their freedom. It really made me want to free them and at the same time get back at Ballas

[@Rhodynit]

Basically, Its a Callback of "We All Lift Together", Fortuna is a Colony in Debts with The Corpus, and They Singed that like a work song, Narmer is a Faction leaded by Ballas who took Lotus, Sended the tenno to idk where though a portal, and then conquered the others places, like the Grineers and Corpus, and the Peoples from Cetus and Fortuna (Deimos was left alone bruh) And He Brainwashed Everyone, thats really fuc up Cause you can Still hear "We All Lift Together" in "For Narmer"

[@ArtemisAlphaling]

Now imagine slowly going down an elevator watching the freedom fighters you had worked with to help them escape bondage and slaver, who when you first met them they sung a song about fighting together and being one. And now the entire place is under the thrall of this games BBEG after YEARS of build up and the utter hopelessness of realizing, you don’t just lose a mission when you “died” at the start of the quest, you lose a damn war.

[@courtneykinney4686]

This song is absolutely heartbreaking in context. I implore you to listen to We All Lift Together, compare these two. The impact of this song in game was so incredibly heavy. I was in tears, it was a cold agonizing descent into the immediate aftermath of the defeat you just suffered and Keith Powers really drags you in viciously, and by your heartstrings with this one. It was really amazing watching your reaction to this song, it really is a stellar piece of music.

[@yusukenanaho6587]

Warframe production has definitely raised the bar for gaming content

[@angelicone1]

its cool how this and we all lift are arranged the same way

[@Reelix]

Before: We All Lift Together! \o/ A song of hope! Now - 6:23 - Virtue once was work together - But virtue now is lift alone... (The hope... Is gone.)

[@xGoodOldSmurfehx]

The devs wanted to make players feel like they have lost everything and all the people saved and everything achieved has been annihilated This is usually the point where you realise you are really going to war with the game's story and are not coming out of it for literal hours The song also hit really hard like a thousand needles considering the story, in a way its crushing and very oppressive but somehow it does it without being aggressive

[@yvaincallipso84]

It's honestly a really jarring contrast to We All Lift Together. Genuinely makes you so mad/sad once you encounter it in the playthrough

[@Ariadim]

When the second time the song repeats, after the first "For narmer, for Narmer" I hope someone else notices the 3 musical notes from "This is what you are" late motive, representig the echoes of Lotus/Natah, liek saying Ballas can't get over it and he stills missing her.

[@ScootyThunder]

@DrumRollTony Reacts I don't see any else mentioning it, @6:12 you notice "some differences" but you don't quite know what to do with them. Those differences are actually the intro/theme/motif (literally the opening line) from "This is What You Are" which you also reacted to. They (the notes) are there because the "bad thing that happened" has also happened to the singer of "This is What You Are". Which means we have leitmotifs in Warframe.

[@DrumRollTonyReacts]

Sweet

[@BugsydorPrime]

A fun thing to do with this song is to mash it up with its equal and opposite "We All Lift Together". I think you can play both songs at the same time and it sounds pretty cool.

[@Goku-1912]

I listened to it and I can’t express how dark and twisted the song is,first when you say it sounds hypnotic,all of them are under control by ballas,hence why they are praising him,next when they say virtue was work together but now it’s work alone,it’s them remembering when they ‘all lift together’ but now under ballas’s control,they all now work alone,when they dream and stand alone,ballas had made it so they don’t do anything together,and narmer is a unified country/the star system under ballas’s control,then when they say they were all for one,they are talking about how they were once Solaris united but now they are under ballas’s control

[@DrumRollTonyReacts]

So you have context bias. That makes sense. This is a first time listening for me with no context of what it's from.

[@Goku-1912]

@ same here I haven’t heard of this but I looked at the cut scene for the song and I connected all the dots

[@DrumRollTonyReacts]

@@Goku-1912 Lol NEAT 👍

[@Goku-1912]

@ it becomes all clear when you play you should try warframe some time

[@infinityvetrox8120]

There is another song called ,,Sleeping in the cold below". It is the introduction of an dark and lonely Warframe, which is searching for survivors in the void. I really recommend this one man.

[@khirek5335]

The song itself: 🏴‍☠️🧔🦜⛵

[@sleightt2664]

get chills every time i listen to this

[@Zefra_Sol]

this video just doesnt meant much when he only pays attention to the melody. The lyrics and the fact that its a twisted version of Fortunas Theme is what really makes it significant

[@holysecret2]

Narmer did something great, for sure, but also something terrible. You hear the praise and admiration in the choir, but also an underlying dread (esp. that piece of disharmony (not sure that's the correct word for it) in the second "For Narmer" that you geeked out over). Put simply, Ballas is the leader of a growing power / empire called Narmer, and forged mind controlling veils which he subjugated large parts of the solar system with. Those veils take away free will, creating a false sense of satisfaction and belonging in the individuals, so my interpretation is that that's where the praise and admiration are coming from, but they are hollow and discordant in character, which is so neatly expressed by the music (or more specifically by the harmony).

[@2Rice]

To add to this, We all Lift Together had a folk-song quality, where all the singers weren't perfectly in unison or perfectly in tune. Versus For Narmer, where all the people sing in perfect harmony and time, and the uplifting quality of WaLT was replaced with an undercurrent of dread and hollowness, like the life (and individuality) had been sucked out.

[@MajorLeeAwesome]

Warframe's one of those games that keeps expanding, soundtrack included. Whispers In the Walls soundtrack is gutteral and worth a listen!

[@noggyplays2822]

After absolutely loving "We all life together", this song almost brings a tear to my eye. =(

[@spenkerdetanker9067]

the rythm of the first part of the song reminds me a lot of the intro to eminem's "till I collapse"

[@gunziro169]

A song of a crushed rebellion they have been crushed and now they are all one under the banner of narner

[@Zeephon]

It's surprising none of his patrons has asked for Sleeping in the Cold Below yet...

[@JordanGreen-yc8vv]

Omg this gives me chills after i finished the new war and then hearing this song 😮😊

[@alexrose5830]

Narmer did good (has no clue how accurate he was with hypnotizing tones)

[@endless031]

With most of Warframe music and same with this one context is important

[@Maglis-i3m]

"New war" is something different. This is the first time we have lost. Completely and without a chance. And the developers, knowing this very well, reinforced these sentiments. When I heard that we were flying to Fortuna, I was glad, because I expected that if not all of Fortuna, then at least Vox Solaris would resist. But when the loading was complete and I heard the song, the joy disappeared in seconds. Scene with the Ventkids finally finished me off. This is not a story of heroic rebellion and resistance. This is a story about how a series of accidents and events beyond our control saved our System from the most terrible end.

[@julia_fitz]

This music gives a monstrous feeling of defeat in the game.

[@Uraemrys]

"For Narmer" was...probably the point where I decided ultra-violence was too soft an option.

[@KenzinStormpaw]

i heard somewhere that For Narmer was either a progression flip or chord flip of We All Lift Together. don't know how true that is. but if it is, that's cool

[@TheodorTheDragonSlayer]

There are some truths in the game about the real history of this galaxy, there were wars between Orion and the other constellations like Star Wars and Star Trek

[@Alepap.]

1:49 i never noticed that, so cool

[@Uthael_Kileanea]

Spoiler alert for anyone wanting to play. To put is simply - Narmer, when we first encountered them, are all who survived the war. Enslaved and mind-controled by Ballas (one person). This song is what introduced to us this war being lost. It's supposed to sound creepy, wrong and also represent the peace of mind of those under control. It's not a hive mind. Each is alone and doesn't care about anyone. Not even themselves. They just happily do the work that needs to be done.

[@Maerofan2]

War frame is one of my favorite games 🥰

[@couchbear6108]

The new war is a major story quest

[@BrideOfTheDawn]

TONY! SLEEPING IN THE COLD BELOW! Also from Warframe!

[@ThiriamiThiriami]

This music is so great i love it

[@thedisappointedoptimist6916]

Ah, the sound of defeat

[@DarkScreamGames]

no when you nerd out that's the best part

[@radiofloyd2359]

Fr fr, love the nerding out. As an aspiring composer with little in ways of music theory (specifically I lack knowledge of modes and formal chord constructions and progressions), it's super interesting to hear someone just nerd out about an aspect I neither had the vocabulary to describe nor the knowledge to realize. Legitimately educational to hear from people in the know, and of course, to listen to the work of those people as well.

[@tanner3270]

has he done a sleeping in the cold below reaction ?

[@Parcs]

dude, holy fuck it's too good.

[@Parcs]

also, please check out the lotus eaters music, it's incredibly good, man. maybe not the most interesting composition wise, but it gets me differently than anything I've heard before, honestly, and I feel you'd appreciate it.

[@IDirtyMangoI]

Praise the moon of mene is such an incredibly similar song

[@Ashen-One1]

Man, you need to react to Sleeping in the Cold Below if you haven't already. It's also a Warframe song-- a space/sea shanty, if you will.

[@tieardragon4919]

Now he got to react to The Cold Bellow from warframe. It’s a space sea shanti.

[@kennethriddle433]

This game has phenomenal music direction. They really know how to evoke emotion in the moment and given the context. FFXIV has great music, but a lot of it doesn't really FIT the context at times. Warframe is a perfect unity of all the elements.

[@Overlycomplicatedswede]

This song is epic, MASSIVE SPOILERS especially considering ballas is dead by the end of the war. I remember hearing this and just being blown away by how powerful this song is.

[@NiftyGam3r]

Idk why the beginning reminds me of the melody intro of Eminem’s “Till i Collapse”

[@devili7y585]

Am i the only one to think that the first few piano notes are similar to the beginning of the song Lose Yourself from Eminem ?

[@thelastgear8972]

how come nobody recommeded take away its pain?

[@UmarBaig-g7v]

Day 4 of asking: Can you pls do Naruto shipudden opening 6 and 16???

[@khirek5335]

Fr just some naruto in general. No matter if it's character themes, the typical sad songs, openings/endings or some rather unknown stuff from some of the movies like the blood prison renegade ost, that's just 😩😩

[@Space-dust9]

Please do 4:00am by Taeko onuki

[@Man_Of_Logic]

Their singing for Narmer, Ballas’ kingdom/empire

[@rondallrae9789]

the song is basically a propaganda piece to get u to give up ur hope, home and free will

[@quino25]

Mashle op2

[@Patterner]

man, i miss the old warframe :( good video as always

[@kindadim]

Bro this was barely two years ago

[@Patterner]

@@kindadim that's a lot of time for a mayfly but barely anything for a clam. and 2yrs is a long time for some games.

[@Echosemporium]

I really like the very small hint of a bass Can be heard under All the high pitched singing Where you have to really probably focus to hear it. But it just hits if you do hear it