I’ve noticed a few things, and I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts.

The first is the infestation in the song: not only are there repeated callbacks to the “Infested strings” motif, including during the verse “There is no way out”; but the final verse is the repeated chant of “The corruption infesting your lands” with a pitched-down voice responding “Infestation” (along with the Infested strings motif coming back low in the mix). In keeping with this, the promotional art we have depicts Cetus, which I think is a deliberate choice to invoke the Infestation era of Earth in the setting’s history.

The final musical thing I noticed is the three-way presence of Tenno/Orokin polyrhythm motif, the bulk Koumei theming in the music, and the Infested strings. Given the polyrhythm lapses out I wonder if this is setting up that Koumei is a fallen or corrupted frame in some way, like Chroma or Revenant.

As a side comment, I’m loving the implied Infestation theming. I think it’s going to serve as a prelude to the strong Infested presence in 1999. Here’s hoping for a very creepy crawly Naberus!

What do you all think?