It's an incredibly melancholic track for the Violence layer, I was expecting it to go hard as diamonds like the Prologue tracks

It's not even finished, and Marco's already reacts to it Good lord

Prelude is uncontrollable violence, Act one is deep sadness and emptiness, Act two is tormenting rage It sounds like act three is shaping up to be realization of one's own acts

8:49 This is an opinion I've had but never voiced! The music in ULTRAKILL has emotional meaning behind it, the sound has PURPOSE. It's not just combat music, it's a symphony to the story. The more violent and intense tracks highlighting the unstoppable force that is V1, and the more somber, melancholic tracks like this highlighting the grim consequences of said unstoppable force.

in dante's inferno ( if i remember correctly) the layer of violence that this theme is going to be for is a giant forest where all the souls who committed the sin of violence were turned into trees. where they cannot move and cannot let out their anger. makes perfect sense with the muted, silent anger feel of the music you were talking about

I wish we could eventually get a whole stream for the ultrakill ost. Because something you'll notice is Hakita growing as a composer the deeper you go into the soundtrack. Obviously this is mostly because the game is coming out in parts, but i also think Hakita has to be one of the composers with the fastest growth rate i've seen. This isnt to say his older tracks are bad, because they are all mostly certified head-boppers, but his newer songs have a lot more depth to them.

Kind of hilarious how a lot of fan made osts for the violent layer are fast paced and brutal (mirroring the layer's name) and yet the official ost for it is the complete opposite of it. Like a lot of people said in the comment of the ost, if this is what the theme of the first song in the third and final act of this game sounds like then this game is most definitely not going to have a happy ending

This is probably an early preview, so the finished track is probably going to be 100x better than this, which I'm beyond excited about

The World Looks White, The World Looks Red. But the skies are forever blue...

I think this song is meant to illustrate the "purity" one may find in violence. The (ironic) tranquility in the heart of an entity that lives for the fight itself. It's a notion that machines like V1 as well as Hell (the lifeform itself) understand the best as core values. Edit: also the duality between white and red is supposed to be like the relationship between a blank canvas covering all of creation and an artist that just aches to paint it RED, for that is its one purpose.

Based off of the teaser for 7-1, the community sort of predicted the setting of the Violence layer based off of the music. Very interesting how Hakita made the violence layer seem like all the wrath and anger has passed, and the only thing that remains is the leftovers of war.

I more than anything hope that Hakita finds your videos and takes what you say to heart and continues to produce such unreal pieces of music.

It's very interesting that you used "introspective" twice. The arrangement of the first half, "The World Looks White" resembles a bit the music of a cutscene that is called "Silence. Introspection.", and we're not sure if the character of this scene will show up in 7-1 or layer 7, but everything you said with the anger and sandness and suffering checks out for this character too! Also a huge change happened in the plot before 7-1 and we're not sure if we'll experience the effects of this said change. So your first thoughts were eerily interesting! This one is going to be the music of Violence layer's first level (probably), I was thinking if we'll see a batterfield of some sort. To me "The World Looks Red" screams "I'm not ready to go!" which checks out with the "counting down" and the slowly built up tension from the first half, and also it would check out with the character of "Silence. Introspection." again, so... yeah. Damn Marco, I won't sleep tonight. Thanks for your analysis!

I was fully expecting the opening song for the layer of Violence to go as hard as Tenebre Rosso Sangue. In Dante's Inferno, the layer of Violence houses those who took their own lives, forced to exist forever as thorny trees that are in endless agony, tortured by harpies. I get the feeling Act 3 is going to take things in a serious and heavy tone, and I'm looking forward to it.

The fact that this is very likely an early preview of the track is what makes me super excited for the full thing.

THE WORLD IS YOUR CANVAS SO TAKE UP YOUR BRUSH AND PAINT THE WORLD R E D

I'd happily visit a concert hall with this and so much other video game music. The depth from real instruments and professional musicians is an incredible thing. And really, video games aren't so different from opera and symphonies musically speaking. They're meant to tell stories and I can't wait to see what story this will tell.

It's an interesting choice to listen to a WIP song before listening to already finished soundtracks.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that “the world looks red” kind of sounds like the kind of anger when you’re crying

My man neeeeeeeeds to hear the Lust layer. The sadness and futility of it got me into videos like this that delve into it. The whole thing is a testament to what Minos tried, and failed, to do for his people. Bridgeburner, Level 2-1 "Cold Winds". That is the song you need to hear. It introduces Mino's motif, then blasts you into the sky off of a jump-pad right as the music comes in.

Who is here after Violence Layer release?

I did not expect you to listen to the WIP MIDI version of this track way before the full version is released, nice! Hopefully you will react to the full soundtrack for Layer 7 when it's out in some months

This track may not be done yet, but damn does does it already get across the feeling the Violence layer is going to have. I’m so hype for it to eventually come out.

Oh god, I can almost visualize the opening part where at first it's white but then slowly turns red, then it distorts, going back and forth until it turns black. The white part slowly reappears, however it's becoming scary, it slowly kinds of mixed with the red now. Eventually sh*t happens, we see what happened Nice explanation Marco, also since you can't do Umineko, try SINoAlices' ost, particularly Battle Anthem and Cry, it's composed by Keiichi Okabe.

The first song of each layer has always been more story themed and introduction to the environment

Someone made a theory, about how the layers of hell are more panic and anxiety inducing to those who are sentenced there, that they look more monstrous to those who have committed those sins. Gluttony and Violence are the two sins committed constantly by the machines, especially V1, Gluttony didn't work to panic them because they thrive in chaos and gore, but violence, it's practically tailor made, it's quiet, it's not chaotic it's orderly, it's empty feeling. The machines are delving into hell to fuel themselves on blood, and Violence feels empty. And when you're starving, when you need to consume blood, that inability to inflict violence due to the emptiness is terrifying. It's slow, it's calm, it's a special hell for the fast-paced, blood-fueled machines. Hell is sentient, and in the teaser for the first level it actively closes a door on V1, imagine the panic of realizing at any moment, it could end the machines by starving them out, keeping them from moving forward. The anger, the panic, the fear. All specially tailored for the machines who commit the sin of violence like their lives depend on it, because they very much do.

It's super interesting that the game starts off with such a badass line like "Mankind is dead, hell is full, blood is fuel" with music to accompany that and as the game progresses you start to see the tragedy of a world like that. At the start I saw V1 as the protagonist in some way, an unstoppable machine capable of killing demon and angel alike but ultimately I feel like the game has known from the beginning that he is the antagonist and now that the final levels are coming out I think we're gonna see the consequences of everything he has done to an already dying world. Safe to say I don't think we'll get a happy ending lol

songs usually just CANT make my weep...this song makes me cry imidiately.....maybe because i can see the dark and sad end of the game in the horizon

These tracks gives me project zomboid vibes: intense melancholy, paranoia, and loneliness. And then it call comes crashing in, waves of enemies and the horrors of the world. But for what? Is surviving the fight even worth it? What is there to fight for? An empty world?

Since the Violence came out, you should definitely check out "War without reason". Probably the best Ultrakill soundtrack piece so far

I'm really digging this ultra kill track and all the ultra kill tracks you've covered lately. Thank you. Added to my playlist.

6-1 alters of apostasy is a really good track probably one of my favorites in the whole game and there could be a lot of meaning hidden in it also

It seems like the violence layer music may be a lot more post rock in it's inspiration which greatly excites me as one of hakita solo projects "Satan's Tango" is a post rock album which is one of my favorite musical projects ever so to see him tap into more of that in ultrakill is very very exciting

To me , this song paints a vast landscape of ash buried war torn landscapes with graves as far as the eye can see, and then when it turns to red, blood begins to seep from the ground and pour from the walls, and everything becomes saturated in a deep endless red. EDIT: And thinking more on that, given that the player character V1 is a warmachine, and it came from an earth that was absolutely destroyed by war, there is an almost incredibly melancholic and incredibly morose coming home sentiment to that.

I agree with the recent comment below me, the finished version of The World Looks Red and Suffering Leaves Suffering Leaves are such bangers

"creepy crawly" bro predicted the new enemy in 7-1 with just the yhe intro of the song, huge props

"Creepy crawly" literally.

I would 100% go to an ULTRAKILL concert.

I've always found the music box-style of tune to be perfect for creating a sense of unease for the exact reasons you give. It being used for the Violence layer of all things is perfect.

I love how you sound like a dentist here. Bubbling build-up, causes tension, louder louder louder, pulled all the way back. Eight is intact, got minor staining on 7, there's some damage on six. (Dunno how a dentist speaks in English, but this is roughly the translation of what mine sounds like)

The songs this guy reacts to are making me want to make my own game so I can see people enjoy stuff like this

Towards the end there's a really familiar melody there. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that the same one in Gabriel's theme in act 2? If so, that contextualizes the sorrow and quiet rage prevalent throughout this entire track. His theme in act 2 was that of pure obsession and insanity, but this gives off a feeling of a dark enlightenment. Like he finally accepted himself, but in a way that will surely spell our doom.

Keep doing what you love, you really deserves more attention. You can describe the feeling that these musics feel to me Suggestion of the things I want to you to see and react: Liminal music/dream core music - (windows96 - deep swim is my favorite) More ULTRAKILL (Cyber Grind, HATEFUL, 5-3 music that I don’t remember the name)

Requiem is a song from 2-2 that gets a leitmotif in King Minos’s theme, and has a similar mood. Another similar sound would be the transition of 5-2’s music, “He is the light in my darkness,” and Altar of Apostasy.

These tracks along with the rest of the Layer 7 OST are now fully finished and they might be the best work Hakita has done for this game yet, I'd love to see you react to them.

anyone feels the drum/percussion sounds at 5:00 change into heartbeat?

The feelings from this track are so overwhelming and plenty I can't begin to describe it with my knowledge of the english language. The eerieness of the thumbnail with the inverted face, the intrigue of a new WIP track, and that is what I listen to? Act 3 is probably going to be one of my favourite video game moments of all time. I eagerly await whatever's in store.

Absolutely love how you managed to guess exactly how the mannequins are: Just mute, silent malice and anger, with also a hint of sadness, definitely fits in with their lore. I HIGHLY recommend hearing the rest of the layer 7 ost, especially Suffering Leaves, Danse Macabre and War Without Reason!

To me it sounds like a royal tragedy, which would make sense because gabriel killed the council and sealed his fate to die within hours on the last level. It seems like gabriel is the true main character

Dude, you should react to the new and fresh Ultrakill Layer 7 soundtrack. It's a banger!

You have basically become everything i love to see in musical analysis, and for that I love your content, my praise for what you do cannot be possibly higher and i just want you to know how grateful I am for this and everything else you usually do, bravo to you Marco, for being such a wonderful content creator

I'm so excited for this to come out! I always feel as though the music box style is underappreciated and can really impact some songs for the better. By the way, you should react to the full Act 1 and Act 2 soundtracks! It would be really cool to see how you unpack the emotions in the music and notice the motifs present in the songs you've already listened to (of which there are plenty). I love how you're able to almost always able to paint a surprisingly accurate picture of ULTRAKILL's story from the music alone, so it'd be awesome to see you do the same for the rest of it!

Crossing our fingers and hoping he listens to the full violence ost

Since you've taken a dive into Ultrakill's normal level themes, I suggest listening to other normal level themes like Death Odyssey and Altars of Apostasy. Definitely Altars of Apostasy.

Something I love about Ultrakill is the character you play as, V1, an emotionless AI robot that was designed for war and found it’s way into hell after humanity’s death. The game makes you FEEL like V1 because in most shooter games, you don’t have the emotion that comes with killing in real life, which in some ways can break immersion depending on the case, and of course in Ultrakill, you are supposed to feel that lack of empathy, that mercilessness, the in ending hunger for more blood, to fuel your machine body so you can get more blood. And this song makes me feel like V1 is gaining some sort of sentience, and possible emotion, I just imagine V1 sitting there idle with her computer brain wurring thinking about something, she’s not designed to.

This sounds very much like the way king Minos and his theme 'order' are intertwined. As when Minos dies he apologises with a melancholic melody that sounds like Minos knew more than the lust layer would fall. This is just a little thing I noticed

Well now we know why this track has those creepy vibes. The new demon enemy is basically belonging in the horror genre. Plus the layer of Violence seems to be more about the tragedy of the consequence of Violence rather than just pure intensity.

To me, of all the layers so far, this theme feels the most like true hell to me.

You should totally stream a raction to the whole soundtrack, it's so good

i’m not sure what to expect out of the violence layer, but this track very much feels like a war in a very sad way

love your videos! I'm so glad you found this game and its music!

Ok, now I certainly have to play Ultrakill

I've spotted it in other soundtracks from Ultrakill, but I think it's most obvious here. The mechanical and electrical noises are the machine's motif. In "The Death of God's Will" you can hear V1 rise against Gabriel and defeat his motif. You can hear it at the end of this one where the machine is trying to break through the somber tones. I bet the layer is going to try to restrain V1.

Fell asleep watching a nexpo video, only for autoplay to get to this video, with me becoming lucid at around the 5 minute mark, wondering what is this greek tragedy turned into sound and waking up full of chills in the most beautiful way possible to this majestic insanity

I'm very excited to hear the finished version of this song. This plays somewhere during the first layer of the final ACT of the game and it honestly might end up being my favorite layer. The music just perfectly displays everything that's happening at this point. This layer will supposedly be snowy so this somber and very introspective music for the calm track is great because it reflects not only the frozen still death and lifelessness that snow in a hostile environment already provides but it also makes us realize that hell is literally freezing over (on this layer at least) and soon just like this layer there will be no signs of life. Even in the combat track it's more grandiose since you are still fighting enemies in high level regions, but it still plays into the theme of the soon to be death of everything.

beardless marco

first time i listened to the world looks i white i cried there is just so much emotion behind it and it has become a song i listen to regularly as it is both calming but also feels like something is looming over me while i listen to it

i am literally frothing at the mouth for the finished version of this song, praying we get a pre-update release of it like we did with deep blue from the wrath layer. it’s so cool how much character and story is told through the music in this game, and i find its themes and tragedies such a refreshing twist on the ‘retro-styled ultra violent fps’ type of games we have so many of now.

Marco! The story of ultrakill is a blood fueled machine's journey through hell, and the later the track is, the deeper into hell he is. The tracks describe the suffering of hell, that has been turned a blind eye on since god's death in the ultrakill universe. You also kick the angel that's in charge of hell's ass twice already, and after him murdering the holy council, he no longer has "the father's light" in him, and his life is going down in quick decay as he's dying.

If you're looking for more somber music, there's a good bit of that in the music from the Lust layer's OST Keep up the good work!

I'm honestly surprised you took the time to check out this track! Very nice surprise to see on a pretty empty day! These analysis videos you make really bring a light to my day when they come out, and today was definitely not an exception!

The soundtrack just released and here we are!

i was looking for someone's thoughts on this because i already love it, i was NOT expecting you to have already reacted to it thank you

This, for being WIP, is one of my favorites. Specifically The World Looks White. It has that malice, and seriousness. It's also like Silence. Introspection. At the start. I can't wait for Layer 7, as Hakita just keeps getting better at expressing the music.

dude, i didn't even know hakita put out a preview for 7-1 and yet here you are reacting to it like jeez man lol (but i do respect that)

The end of the song around 8:40 sounds like a part of Death of God's will

It's so awesome to see you reacting to my favorite track in the entire game thus far! I'd love to see you listen to some of the remaining themes of violence (especially "Danse Macabre") and dissect them! Even relistening to the complete version of "The World Looks Red" with all of the guitars and extra polish. It's just so amazing!

If you want something kind of like the first part of this, you might want to check out Wintermute from The Long Dark.

100% agree that hakitas songs should be played in a symphony, they would fit so well.

What I find very interesting about this track is that The World Looks White uses instrumentation from "Silence, Introspection" -- the track that plays after Gabriel is defeated for the 2nd time and has to undergo a crisis of faith. Likewise, The World Looks Red uses instrumentation from Gabriel's fight themes -- "Divine Intervention" and "The Death of God's Will". This makes sense considering the third act is called "Godfist Suicide", and that Gabriel just went through a lot of character development the level prior. Great video as always, Marco :D

It finished the Violence update! You should try hearing the complete version of The world looks red, it's magnificent

Marco, as always you trying to voice the melody is always a unique and amazing thing that helps with noticing how the progression is going on the song, so amazing. Also, since you reacted to Signalis a bit already, could we get Die Toteninsel Emptiness too? Your commentary about the themes of The World is Red/White reminded me of it

Hi! I wonder if we can see you reacting to EVE Online soundtrack. It's incredibly beautiful and so underrated. If you once will listen to it, I suggest you "But still we go on...", "I saw your ship", "Times of sanguinity", "Below the asteroids", "Jovian riddle", "Theme from Jita", "Shifting the balance of power", "Defenders of the orphic world" and "Path of the cursed"

You gotta check out the full songs, of 7-1, to 7-4 it's AMAZING.

You should listen to the Library of Ruina or Limbus Company OST!! Despite it being sort of a medium sized game with a medium sized community, it still reaches out to an english fanbase! I heavily suggest it!

Beauty within a soundscape of anger, what a wonderful expression! I don't know much about music, so could've never said something like this myself, but this is the exact reason why a like or dislike more agressive rock songs.

I bet once the full finishes version releases I will cry for two weeks straight

from level preview, it will start with a puzzle, and as level progresses, we'll paint it red

I haven't played Ultrakill (I'm looking forward to it) and I don't know very much about the story, but as soon as the real ost started and the pain was unleashed, my mind immediately went to "The Death of God's Will". I'm expecting this to be the theme we're hearing when we're gonna fight once more Gabriel (maybe for the last time?). I might be completely out of the road with this speculation, but we know we already beat Gabriel twice, and that he's still alive, but he's not doing well. He's going mad, full of hatred, depression, and he lost everything. Your analysis really could fit what Gabriel has become now: a decaying character. I got goosebumps hearing this, both for the pain and the expectations about the character I previously mentioned. Thanks for the vid, Marco. Edit: also, I would suggest to listen to UltraChurch, Altar of Apostasy, and Castle Vein.

5:50 It takes elements of "Silence. Introspection." from the outro of Act 2. Maybe we'll see what Gabriel has been up to since.

The World Looks White gives me the feeling of, uncanniness. Like, we're not supposed to be here, and yet, here we are. The World Looks Red gives me the feeling of panic, bubbling and boiling, rising and rising, not quite ready to burst, but still gathering in that pit of unease.

I love this game and I'm so glad you reacted to this song even as a work in progress! I'm not sure if ULTRAKILL itself would be the kind of game you'd be interested in playing, but I'd love to watch your reactions to one of the full album videos for either Act 1 or Act 2.

I can’t wait to hear your reactions to 7-4 and 7-3 !!

The layer is out, And here are it's tracks: The world looks white The world looks red Bull of Hell Do robots dream of eternal sleep? Hear! The siren call of death Suffering Leaves Suffering Leaves Danse Macabre War without Reason

people are asking marco to listen to this so that they can make theorys in what its going to be lol

The reason (to me) as to why it feels melancholic is because V1 is rapidly approaching the bottom of Hell. It and it's lesser machine brethren have been sucking the place dry of blood to survive, slaughtering everything in their path and even killing each other to get just a bit nore fuel, and now, after all the crazy good times and action of the previous two acts, everything is finally beginning to spiral towards the inevitable conclusion. The End of Hell. Death.

I love that beat that sounds like a heartbeat. speeding up as the song goes on (the world looks red)

**THE WORLD IS YOUR CANVAS** **SO TAKE UP YOUR BRUSH** **AND** **PAINT** **IT** **R E D**

More of the violence layer! (And what about wrath? That has some good songs, mainly "he is the light in my darkness" and "the abyss and the serpent"!)

holy crap, he's even doing wip reactions of this wonderful game