Pro Metal Guitarist REACTS: FFXIV OST "Scream" (Pandaemonium Abyssos Sixth/Seventh Circle Raid)

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[@FlappySeal]

Twitch chat being a bit misleading - Songs in XIV are worldwide. If they're sung in English, everyone gets English. If they're sung in Japanese, everyone gets Japanese. There's no localising when it comes to the music and the majority of the game's song are English globally. Only some of the Stormblood stuff was Japanese since it was set in the far east of the world and had a Japanese overall flavour. Also thanks for using my lyrics video again :D

[@louthinator]

will you be editing your video when the official lyrics come out? because I feel there's a few incorrect ones in there

[@duranmclemore8667]

It's not entirely relevant but there's also songs in fictional languages. Dragonsong is in dragontongue, which is similar to, but not the same as Latin, and Weight of the World is in Chaos Language, the Nier song "language"

[@rexex345]

​@@duranmclemore8667 not quite on the dragon tongue. It's actually more of a proper conlang with it's own unique rules and syntax. It's also a language that itself is heavy in slang as depending on the dragon you talk to there is varying amounts of word shortening or abbreviation, especially for those in heavenward which is also the variant we hear in music.

[@Varizen87]

So, your chat didn’t quite give you accurate information about if the music is different between locations. Because the game is officially localized in English, Japanese, French, and German, all the music is written in the language most people will be able to understand, so the lyrics are almost always English in all localizations. It would be too expensive to translate and hire a vocalist for each language. The only exception to music being written and sung in English is a few Stormblood tracks which mix English and Japanese vocals as they take place in the Japanese/Chinese equivalent location. The 4 lords themes and Tsukuyomi’s themes are the only tracks with Japanese vocals as it contextually makes more sense to be Japanese. Of the 4 lords, only Byakko and Suzaku have lyrics, so there are only 3 tracks with Japanese lyrics.

[@rexex345]

To add to the music being in English most if not all tracks will naturally be that considering the primals who will be recording the music will have Koji, the (formerly as of his promotion) lead English localiser being their lead singer and lyricist.

[@kinkarcana1293]

Actually the script is written in Japanese and then given/dubbed and localized in other languages by the companies that Square hires. The localizing companies have nothing to do with writing the narratives.

[@rexex345]

@@kinkarcana1293 CBU3 does have an internal team for localisation, and the team don't just translate after the fact but are part of the process. For example, the MSQ process as we now know it has Koji, yoshida, ishikawa and Oda lock themselves in a hotel for a week to put together the next expansion, then they all pitch in with ideas as ishikawa is writing the script. The scripts are actually written with japanese and English in mind from the start then handed off to the other language teams after, and there are often details that get added and removed and recontextualised due to this polyglotic method. Heck the reason we have Nald'Thal is because Koji wanted to have an in universe cuss and we got Thal's balls.

[@kinkarcana1293]

@@rexex345 Thats not what I have read about the script writing process? Can you point me to the interview that states that? From what I read its as you said about the hotel but the English aspect of things only occurs after the script is done in Japanese. The memes might be added here and there but the comprehensive English dub from the Japanese dosent happen until the script in Japanese is complete.

[@rexex345]

@@kinkarcana1293 I recall the detail about Nald'Thal from the noclip doc, I'd have to go looking where the script part comes in again.

[@TheShadowHatter]

What I love the most about these react videos is that its not just HIM reacting, but his guitar is reacting too with some sick ass accompaniment to an already amazing track. Like he feels the music and it compels him to collaborate with it on his own merits and I admire that a lot.

[@RasenCore]

I love that the vocal-less track is called Silent Scream meanwhile this one is just Scream

[@cherrydragon3120]

I love it. But its just as great :) i got both orchestrol scrolls in-game to listen too when i'm casualy crafting in my player owned house

[@neogearx3713]

6:25 to 6:48 is pure bliss

[@kaikojiro]

The section after is amazing too 🤘

[@AlishN7]

Progging raids hours on end, I usually tune out the music, but I end up singing along with this one all the time. It’s so good.

[@thuncerd1087]

I find it hard to concentrate because I’m too busy head banging.

[@kairitrioncerulean8502]

I've wiped the party several times in savage cause i zoned out while listening to the music and forget to move outta some aoes 😅

[@carneliansweetness]

I had to mute bgm in order to clear this tier as scholar healer because it was so distractingly good. I look forward to weekly normals so i can headbang and not cause too much deaths as i vibe along haha.

[@Eiensakura]

The singer is AKINO, most famously known for Sousei no Aquarion.

[@user-ch7pp8gm4n]

OMG, didnt recognized. That why how sweat the tone is in high pitch !

[@serinahighcomasi2248]

Huh. She sung A Chance to Shine as well

[@fighterroah]

OOOH i knew it sounded familiar

[@cherrydragon3120]

No idea who that is but i might have to check that out

[@ryancurtis5425]

DOUBLE...MUGEN!!! PUUUUUNCH!!!

[@darkwulf2k]

I cannot wait for the Primals to perform this one live. It is going to slay!

[@udiar]

the song it reminds you is Hic Svnt Leones (here be lions) which it should! they are from the same raid series with here be lions being for the 4th circle of pandaemoium and this song comes as an instrumental in the 5th circle and lyrics are added in the 6th and 7th circle. I love this raid series feeling of vampires in the music specifically this song and Hic Svnt Leones i wonder if its hinting at something besides boss designs

[@kuronaialtani]

First tier was Castlevania, second tier was Resident Evil

[@DoppelgangerTH]

@@kuronaialtani afraid to ask what's gonna be in the final tier

[@coolyeh1017]

Also that melody is the motif for Pandemonium in general. You heard that melody at the Pandemonium waiting area, in Ancient Shackles, Hic Svnt Leones, a Silent Scream amd Scream. I guess Embers and White Stone Black are the only ones who don't have that melody blasting, but have all the themes associated woth Lahabrea (Within Shadow, With Shadow, and Thunderer).

[@ErraticAssasin0]

hic svnt leones is fourth circle

[@udiar]

@@ErraticAssasin0 gdi ty i even counted to 4 when thinking which circle it was but went wit 5 idk why lol

[@eduardojuliolasso9344]

Holy crap from 5:55 onward is pure perfection. Please make a full cover of the song someday

[@sheikaitheblueberryelf4938]

The fact this song hits so hard makes hearing it while doing the boss fights such a huge motivator.

[@omfgbbqlol]

The way you pick up these tracks so quick is so impressive, do you have a well developed relative pitch or do you have perfect pitch?

[@guishadowjailson5212]

If I remember correctly, he said that he has relative pitch.

[@keyofdeliverance]

The leitmotifs are the same from the previous raid's final boss, the song is called Hic Svnt Leones (roughly translates to "here be lions" which is a literal lyric from Scream now. certainly related)

[@tciddados]

fwiw, "here be lions" was also a lyric in Hic Svnt Leones too, it's not just now a lyric because of Scream.

[@Mewla_Aliapoh]

Hic Svnt Leones literally translates to "Here be lions"

[@cherrydragon3120]

I mean kinda has to be. Cause its the same Raid series.

[@lumivalkea]

The songs have only one version, it's not localized for all languages, but it varies whether the song is in Japanese or English. So far they haven't had any songs in German or French that I can remember.

[@jakebrown173]

there was the colab with Nier last expansion that had some french songs

[@gbtygfvyg]

@@jakebrown173 Nier is chaos language, it is neither French, English, German, or Japanese

[@WeirdSketcher]

@@jakebrown173 its not French, just Gibberish that combined multiple Languages.

[@UCvow2TUIH0d2Ax2vik9ILzg]

@@WeirdSketcher Sounds like French to me :3c

[@pedroscoponi4905]

@@UCvow2TUIH0d2Ax2vik9ILzg That's intentionally the case! Chaos Language is made to sound like existing languages. The idea is it's an imagined evolution of what real world languages would become after thousands of years

[@Syanlii]

I LOVE this song!! While progging raids its like on repeat for hours and hours and you know, with this one thats ok!

[@M1strE]

The fact that It’s genre is Prog Metal is absolutely amazing

[@Chelsea_Danger]

I live for you reacting to FF14 music. It always amazes me how quickly you pick up the music and jam along with the songs.

[@MnstrMthd]

seeing professional musicians react to ffxiv music gives me so much serotonin this game's music goes so hard, especially endwalker onwards

[@Daecoth]

So hyped when this came out! And for some unknown reason, Evanescence hit Spotify number one spot the week this came out. Coincidence!?!??

[@Lrbearclaw]

I feel like them adding a Fender for the Bards to play in game was a clue for how hard the music was about to go in Endwalker.

[@luinily]

Same vocals in Japan usually I don’t think they don’t change the vocals for the songs. By the way the singer is Akino who is a J-POP singer

[@Kitkat5335]

Have to say, out of all the reaction vids I see of FFXIV music, I like yours the best. You have a little commentary, but the fact that you jump in and jam along so easily is pretty awesome too.

[@roberts7873]

It sounds like it could of been on the Queen of the Damned ost. There's even a track with a vocalist singing in a similar style. Love it. Brings back high-school memories

[@Scuffed_Cirno]

this song was already hard. Your guitar addition made it even better

[@Dreded100]

That bass line though. This song is awesome, but that bass line driving through the whole song just vibrates the headphones just right.

[@GreyFox23]

Yeah Soken often keeps the singer in mind when writing. A lot of the songs are done with the specific singer in mind when he composes. So you will get your mix of English, Japanese and whatever native language that singer sings. Lately a couple of his favorite singers have been English speakers so we got songs like Scream, Footfalls, Flow etc. Man 8 years in this one game as the lead and this guy just creates gems of all kinds of genres. You can tell the man is having fun.

[@AltruisticWarrior]

I was reluctant when FFXIV got away from Uematsu with ARR but I'm damn glad they did. This game wouldn't be nearly the same with Uematsu as it's composer. I truly wish Soken a long career as a composer for FF games. He's perhaps the most talented composer in video game history as he's able to branch out in so many genre's or themes successfully. Uematsu is great with orchestrated tracks but getting away from that has really served XIV well.

[@UrbanCohort]

Uematsu to Soken: "Remember... Remember that we once composed."

[@cherrydragon3120]

He is having fun, and we get godlike music pieces to enjoy and keep the game alive so he has a job. Win - win

[@willa1018]

Afaik, this one was actually composed by another person, Soken only did the music for P8 and P8S

[@khangle6872]

​@@AltruisticWarrioryou forget about One-Winged Angel, the man is capable of much more than orchestra It's just that he is too old for all the deadline of a whole game

[@sweepingtime]

It's truly bliss to listen to you harmonize with the song with your playing.

[@Hexepresso]

This song has literally been stuck in my head since the patch came out. I have been so into the music that I've DIED while doing the raid. And I'm not sorry.

[@Raziek]

So thrilled they got you to do this one, I literally thought of you the instant I heard it in game

[@js-ro5jk]

We need a full cover, this was just too good

[@humbledexrian]

I feel like this is a proper react, someone putting their own thought and passion into it

[@Rc3651]

I was looking forward to seeing you cover this song! The FF team is just killing it, the range of music they're putting out is nuts

[@NakuruKouChannel]

i've been waiting for this one from you!!! great work as always

[@TheIndigoEclipse]

The song sounds a lot like the old early 00's stuff like Evanescence and Nightwish. Really a banger. It's amazing how many different style the music god Soken can hit us with.

[@takumiyamamiya8877]

It nails that early 00's sound really well! Evanescence especially; this one made me feel so nostalgic I had to listen to them after over a decade without!

[@rogthepirate4593]

Someone actually made a mashup of this track and Going Under, as they're almost exactly the same tempo. It fits perfectly.

[@snaffu1]

I felt like I was back in '04 listening to After Forever. Sonic whiplash hahaha

[@Fumbolover]

Bruh it was such a pleasure to hear additional guitar 🎸 with the original song. So good ya first tried it so goood

[@demacherius1]

Oh boy that jam was sick!

[@tankdadffxiv]

Someone mashed this up with Going Under by Evanescence, and it lines up well since they're only a few bpm off. Glad you loved the song Jack!

[@StairFacts]

They're also in the same key for the most part! This song's gotta be a reference to Evanescence and it's cool to see FFXIV's OST doing more stylistic references to metal bands (like with Sephirot's theme sounding like Powerman 5000's "When Worlds Collide")

[@shineko79]

@@StairFacts The similarities in Sephirot's theme were incidental, famously with the response of "who are they?"

[@ikeaira8701]

I love how you make your guitar sing along with the song. Subscribed

[@oatkungar]

Yo! your jam along was sick as fuck. Really love it, holyshit!

[@SephirothSpirit]

This song is so hype when running Pandaemonium!

[@andiaradan]

This video and the Emerald Weapon video made me sub your channel. Thanks for your music, it's awesome.

[@eddnav]

Holy shit man, your grasp of music is unbelieveable, the way you can by ear replicate and even add to the song.

[@andiaradan]

Came back to watch this again just for fun cause the rest of Pandaemonium is out now and still get FUCKING GOOSEBUMPS dude, your jam is so good. Please do a cover of this someday. We need it so much.

[@chaosringen]

Being able to pull out that jam in just one listening is super sick!!! You’re amazing!

[@the_essalim]

This is insane, I was excited to see if you'd hear this

[@gaelstromproductions]

Commenting for the algorithm. Nothing much I can say except I'm grateful for every play along you do.

[@jpnmystic5208]

Holy jesus, this is what I have been wait for

[@oystel]

Yesss ive been waiting for this!!

[@hikaru_takumi]

Just wanted to say, this song is most likely more of an Imamura composition than Soken's, not that Soken didn't help. It just has the feel of Black Wolf Strikes Again, which is also Imamura.

[@debrucey]

People often forget that more than one composer works on FFXIV

[@kuronaialtani]

Yeah, definitely sounded more black wolf stalks again than other rock songs in the game

[@RavenL1337]

so were is your proof that is imamura composition and not soken? untill we actualy see who composed the song

[@nuvolasia]

It's Soken. Both him and akino the vocalist tweeted about it.

[@mlemlemmlemmlem]

Yep, people always give soken then credit when there's more composers lol soken is good but it's irritating that they don't get their credit

[@ZectorV1]

i cant promise you you'll get something this up your alley in a few months, but the raid series this is from isnt over yet. Be on the lookout around halfway through next year

[@jpnmystic5208]

Cant wait he can make his own pandaemonium cover list

[@ChrisMajors]

Replying from the present: "The Tireless One" is what you're looking for. It incorporates "Hic Svnt Leones" and "Scream" along with a new theme that brings all three of them together to tell the story of a would-be god in the making. Really ties the whole room together, as it were.

[@eversonfernandes9909]

YOUR INTERPRETATION WAS IMPECCABLE. More guitars! Yes please!

[@louthinator]

"Scream all you like your gods can't hear you" favourite lyric from that song.

[@biggestboss]

Been waitin for this

[@Zidakuh]

When I heard this first time, my first thought was "this slaps!". Second thought was "but now drop it an octave with a 8 or 9 string, and a FOP kit" To the lab we go!

[@mynameismissingbutitsokmym9911]

This song reminds me of my emo evanescence days, must be why I love it so much

[@anonymoususer69420]

Dude fr this is there heaviest song out rn. When I heard this start up, I was like OH YES TICKLE MY METAL BONE MORE SOKEN (the instrumental version is the first time you hear this, facing against a beast that comes out of nowhere, just like the that first riff)

[@shinoharakuro]

I don't know what it is, other than to say the homie is a good content creator, but i keep coming back to watch this video. Maybe it's the riffs over an already banging song?

[@BlazeBuds]

This song fits in perfect for that pace of the fight, rock to the beat and the fight seems to be more smooth

[@Xerethane]

The Primals vocalist Michael-Christopher Koji Fox is the co-lead lore and world developer for FFXIV, as well as the main localizer for FFXIV into English. He writes most of the English lyrics for the music along with Soken. His influence is one reason why the game translates so well between the two cultures; in a lot of ways the game and music are not "translated" into English in the traditional sense because it's intended for both audiences right from the get go.

[@OldManInternet]

I love how after he gave the song half a playthrough and decided to jump in, he started out sounding like someone who was playing Guitar Hero on too high of a difficulty, and by the end it sounded like he was invited to play with the band in a jam session. Pretty impressive!

[@AgentRedShirt]

Fuck yeah dude. Immediately when I heard this one I was like I can’t wait till he reacts to this. And yeah you were right it is a central theme of the whole raid series. Just cranked up to 11.

[@janedoe885]

This video is the first of yours I've seen, and first thing I did afterward for real was check if you've heard the song Fiend from FFXIV. I don't know if it's technically metal or not, but it is a banger. Added layer is--I'm a (mostly writing) analyst. Fiend was sneakily tied to the same character as Scream in-game much earlier, and uses similar fight imagery/lyric themes. Would be interested in your thoughts if you feel like it!

[@HarleyGuioGuitar]

So cool watching you break it down. This one was made for you, hahaha. ^^

[@Autofire80]

Always fucking killin' my man! This song is so goddamn good!

[@SummonerGER]

Ah i was waiting for this video, i knew you'd really enjoy this one :'D A good reason why you're instantly reminded of the other Endwalker song is because they are from the same raid, but different raid tiers Cool that you picked up ok that! :D Also that raid revolves around the player diving deeper and deeper into Pandaemonium (aka the capital of hell in greek mythology), hense its darker and heavier vibes probably

[@Rassiel13]

One of Soken's hallmarks is the use (and sometimes abuse) of Leitmotif, those underlying melody strings you're hearing will show up in a LOT of other tracks in the expansion, sometimes in unexpected ways.

[@hildy1]

Sometimes in FF14 leitmotifs are abused but boy does it feel nice when you're experiencing the story.

[@geletrode]

I am hooked on the song, people are doing amazing covers of it already. This is a boss song too man thats just insane to me coming from games like wow where music wasnt a big focus.

[@BlazeBuds]

Got that 90s grunge feel to it. Love the variety of music in this game, from classic to metal

[@Kladthekiller]

You can listen to "Silent Scream" that is the theme for P5. It's the instrumental version :)

[@MD-ee2fq]

This is fire

[@isthiscereallife]

Someone in the chat said Soken is a legend during this song--he *is* a legend, but it wasn't him who did the composing of this song. I can't remember their name, but I believe it was a protege/understudy/coworker of his who did this one and Hic Svnt Leones? I think. I know they did two Endwalker raid songs

[@shd_samurai9676]

This track was a Nat 20.

[@mukulvdhiman]

You were thinking about "Hic Svnt Leons", Scream is in a way a continuationn of that song as both are sequentially in the same raid series.

[@dixiebellau]

Same melody as Hic Svnt Leones, the Pandaemonium 4 floor boos theme. Hes taken the final boss of first tier and evolved the song throughout the first 3 bosses of the second tier, then a new song on P8 (that still has small references to P4)

[@July-gj1st]

Yay!

[@StellaKagami]

AWESOME!!!!!!

[@YuubiTimberwolf]

The song title is on point because everytime i do it i am screaming and rocking

[@GuyOnTheRiverStyx]

I'm getting some Nightwish vibes and its great

[@karelposedi]

POG

[@cerebralisk]

So on the lyrics being dark, the song is pretty much about being involuntarily experimented on and turned into a monster.

[@freeflare6338]

2 other songs from FFXIV you might enjoy (didn't see them in search, sorry if you've already checked them out) are Oblivion and Fiend. Fiend especially. Anyways, fun video thanks much!

[@CianaCorto]

The Leitmotif you mean is Hic Svnt Leones from the last raid tier.

[@kiiturii]

I don't think ffxiv ever does separate lyrics for different languages

[@toriestrella]

Oh yeah baby! This one's a banger. Instant click on this vid.

[@Fancy_Raptor]

Easy subscribe after listening, damn. Awesome!

[@PogausorusRex]

Love your FF14 posts very much but overall your channel rules man. Ty!

[@jameswhite3043]

Holy shit!!!

[@619cross]

Im in love with this song, spamming it all day long lol

[@StratusJumper]

You freaked it! 👀

[@jeremiahduggan3529]

The most common feature I’ve found with all the FFXIV tracks that slap is how the bass is mixed and the depth of the bass part.

[@SgtIronbeak]

My favorite lyric is *"Oh scream all you like; your gods can't hear you."*

[@FinalDragoon]

Would love to hear his take on the P8S exclusive theme 'White Stone Black'.

[@pj_ama2359]

Deadass

[@omegavirus2094]

Bad ass man… song kinda reminds me of Lacuna Coil..

[@ladyms7840]

You might be thinking of Jenova. That melody is a lil jenova theme esque

[@anonymoususer69420]

All hail rock songs and legends who cover rock songs well

[@XenosFFBE]

Yah!!!!

[@spthetoker]

Shiva theme was just as hard as scream. It was the other only song that had really hard metal rifts. Part 2 Shiva from arr, when she snaps her finger and steps on someone with her heels.

[@anothertoast77]

i was distracted doing this fight for the first time thinking about how great it would be if this response happened

[@Sorenthaz]

Only other song I can think of that goes hard like this is "Fiend", Sephirot's phase 2 theme, which is industrial rock and is riddled with edgy lyrics. But Scream is just on a whole nother level, and this is essentially for a pair of mid-bosses in the raid series.

[@cronoknight]

Man...full cover when?