Pro Metal Guitarist REACTS: FFXIV "Who Brings Shadow" with Official Lyrics (Hades Theme)

Follow me on Twitch! / toxicxeternity
Check out my main channel where I make weekly metal covers of video game themes:
/ toxicxeternity
Support me on Patreon!
/ toxicxeternity
#finalfantasyxiv #reaction #ffxiv
Join the ToxicxEternity Discord Server:
/ discord
Follow me @ToxicxEternity!
TikTok: / toxicxeternity
Facebook: / toxicxeternity
Twitter: / toxicxeternity
Instagram: / toxicxeternity

[@Kasaaz]

When that song hits, during that cutscene in the video... I'm 41 years old. I've played MANY games. I don't think I've ever had a more hype moment in any game, ever.

[@adamcole6480]

Also 41 years old. Also played MANY games. Exact. Same. Reaction. The music in this game (continued in End Walker) just adds a level of emotion that makes the gameplay and story hit in such an impactful way. So good.

[@burgers641]

Same here, the trailer syncs up to the song so well it's a work of art. But then they hold back the song, by the time I got to the finale I'd forgotten we hadn't heard it yet. It comes in at the perfect moment to remind us.

[@Kasaaz]

@@burgers641 And they kill all the sound and music once you fade to white, til after you answer that question. It's so well done.

[@andiaradan]

As another rider on the 40s train, can confirm. No other game or story has ever put me through so much emotion. ShB is phenomenal and remains my favorite of the ffxiv content to date.

[@ApexGale]

Let expanse contract, eon become instant! Champions from beyond the rift, heed my call!

[@NumPad]

"I get the feeling when this song came out people lost their minds." You have no idea. About halfway through A Realm Reborn with Leviathan's and Ramuh's release is when Soken started grabbing people's attention. Heavensward is what truly gave him legitimacy as a composer. Stormblood cemented him as one of the greats. Shadowbringers, and this song specifically, elevated him to Legend status. And Endwalker has made him a God.

[@dumpsterfyre278]

The singer is also Raubahn's voice actor and the lead singer of godHEAD.

[@OathOblivio]

*Former VA of Raubahn. Nicholas Boulton voiced him from Heavensward to the current expansion, Endwalker

[@cweaver8518]

It’s hard to overstate how incredible this track is. As a previous commenter said, there are tons of leitmotifs sprinkled throughout Shadowbringers tunes and tracks, and the story leading up to this moment is an emotional rollercoaster. The antagonist is one of the best antagonists in anything ever, and the utter despair you feel as a player and a character in the story is overwhelming. Then, a friend extends his axe down to you and the tune starts playing. “Take it. *We fight as one*” and the scene STILL ISNT EVEN DONE MESSING WITH YOU. It keeps building up! The antagonist belittles you again, only to have the character you were attempting to rescue rejoin the fray and summon your companions to face the antagonist in the ultimate showdown. People think Endwalker is great, but in my mind there is very little that can ever compare to this moment in the game. It set the bar so high

[@fluffykitten077]

Endwalkers hits the same highs, but Shadowbringers brought it there. Endwalker is just continuing it.

[@CasualCoreK]

I love how you hit 80 in FFXIV and then the game pretty much just drops a killer album back to back between this and all the patch dungeons/raids/trials. Some of the best music in the game.

[@ShutterSnapped]

Honestly the devs were very thoughtful to have a game attached to their Endwalker album.

[@dnrorschach]

For me you hit level 1 in FFXIV and then the game drops a killer album nonstop, tbh.

[@CasualCoreK]

@@dnrorschach oh for sure, MarcoMeatball recently did an ARR soundtrack listening stream and there's so much that I don't think I had ever just sat and appreciated

[@Moowell2]

This song jammed in the trailer before the expansion was released. Motifs were sprinkled throughout the entire expansion, always giving you little reminders that it was there. And then, at the end of it all, when that dude holds out his axe to you and the song starts playing, the built up tension of the entire story gets released all at once and you know that it's the moment everything was leading to. The hype is POWERFUL in that moment and during the final fight. It was an incredible experience, and this banger of a song was the capstone.

[@Tiglath-Pileser3]

Soken loves leitmotifs. You'll run into them throughout an expansion, or raid series. But he works them into the themes in such a way that you never tire of them. Or at least, I don't.

[@alexiosblake9804]

Just like REVO of Sound Horizon. His piece "Serpent devouring the horizon" us a perfect example for that.

[@RasenCore]

This. This song and the SHB trailer is why i've started playing XIV back in 2020. What a friggin' banger.

[@TheTriforceDragon]

It was this moment that got me started as well, though indirectly. My brother was playing XIV and reached this point at which point he told me I had to play it and avoid spoilers at all cost. So I did and reached this point just before 5.3 dropped, so I was able to experience this and "To The Edge" back to back.

[@mgfox]

The moment being shown in the video was, up to that point, the most hype thing I think most of had experienced during FF14, which is still so memorable.

[@TheIndigoEclipse]

This track always hits so hard. Especially if you've played through the story. The attachment of scenes to music just sticks with you.

[@andiaradan]

YES. And I still cannot keep from smiling hugely every time I hear that opening guitar riff. All the emotion comes right back to punch me in the face.

[@TheIndigoEclipse]

@@andiaradan "We fight as one" *Determination fills you*

[@tiohunt6788]

My friend showed me the trailer for Shadowbringers in 2020 and I lost my mind! I’ve never played any mmo games before and I wasn’t a big fan of japanese games but now FF14 is my favorite game, I learned some of the songs on guitar. The music is so good that I even bought a piano to play these songs

[@muddyscot]

There's something just so... powerful about setting up with that guitar riff and then the vocals coming at a whisper during the intro. Sends shivers right down my spine every time.

[@chizthebomb]

That moment at 4:26 when you snuck in the Shadowbringers leitmotif was INCREDIBLE, man

[@oatmealftw]

Shadowbringers is really what set ff14 on a pedestal above the rest in the mmo pantheon, and this being the theme is one of those reasons

[@Sorenthaz]

Shadowbringers was really the first time where FFXIV felt like less of an MMO and more of an actual mainline Final Fantasy game.

[@anyacarlson5219]

If you haven't had the chance yet, look up the version of this song that's on the 'SCIONS & SINNERS: FINAL FANTASY XIV ～ ARRANGEMENT ALBUM ～" album, it goes even harder than the original version. The drums are absolutely relentless on the arrangement version and it just makes it that much better.

[@theunsungone2507]

We fall, *UNTO THE EEEEEND* Yup, you're very accurate when you say that people lost their sh*t when it first came out. I can tell since I'm one of'em after all. Sadly won't go back to playing the game until I find an actual reason to do so, but the soundtracks are pretty much never disappointing.

[@Kasaaz]

And that's Soken himself doing the whispered parts.

[@NakuruKouChannel]

wait really?? i never knew this!

[@Kasaaz]

@@NakuruKouChannel I think it was an interview with the guy (Jason Miller?) who actually sang the loud parts who mentioned it. I am trying to find the original link but SEO ruins searching anything these days.

[@KotRFFXIV]

Honestly I am surprised nobody has requested "Embers" yet, it's got a pretty killer solo in it

[@Froggsroxx]

This song hits so hard at the perfect moment in the story. Goosebumps every time

[@zeroblade9800]

Oh wow I'm surprised this wasn't recommended sooner after all the other XIV tracks. We started get teased of this track back in early 2019 and original annoucement had people replaying the video until the next version (there was the original annoucement, a longer teaser and then the final). I think there's like 4 versions, the Trailer with the eternal wind insert, this one, the primals and I think a Jazz version on Square Enix's music youtube page.

[@Rc3651]

Hard to believe that you hadn't already done this track!

[@sijrichters]

Thanks for reviewing this. Love the music!

[@Toksyuryel]

Not *exactly* the main theme, this is the version that plays during the first phase of the final boss fight.The main theme is called Shadowbringers and includes a couple extra sections that incorporate other songs into it, while this version is only the parts that are exclusively new.

[@chancegamesone]

“We fight as one”

[@aslanameret]

Another FFXIV cover? Yes please?

[@TheTriforceDragon]

I pretty much started playing FFXIV due to this song and the main scene it plays in, though not because I heard it. My brother was playing FFXIV and when he hit this moment he urged me to play the game without spoiling anything, telling me I had to experience this moment. I was not disappointed.

[@MultiClittle]

amazing shit!

[@nytmaire74]

5:30 all yes and i am surprised this is your first time playing this

[@fluffykitten077]

If Endwalker is King, then Shadowbringers is the Saint who brought forth the Golden Age.

[@solidshepard7812]

Wait with all the FFXIV songs he's done, he's only now just doing this?!?!

[@xiaocheng6643]

I think he did the ShB trailer quite a while ago, so the song is not really new to him, just never the full stand-alone version

[@EvilSlothsTony]

This song sound like Iron Maiden style especially that repetitive riff at the intro.

[@zofotoziggy]

your guitar tuning at first sounded very Tool worthy

[@MultiClittle]

nah we just tossed our knives and guns in a bin. very american style

[@TheHiroCameron]

then it comes to story, I amazingly Like Arr, Heavenward was okay for me, Storm blood was my least favorite story, and Shb is my favorite story! Endwalker is also really good waiting for more of the after story to see how ew feels in the end.

[@mlemlemmlemmlem]

Wait you already did this one lol