So this has been a Warframe week for me, for understandable reason, and to cap things off I want to mirror something I did a while back for another title by ranking some music. However, much like that prior column, the reality is that Warframe has a lot of really great music. So much great music, in fact, that I can’t really effectively cover it in a column with ten entries. I probably couldn’t cover it in several columns, either.
What I can do is cover the game’s vocal theme music, since that is at least somewhat less abundant… and it still leaves a lot of vocal songs on the cutting room floor, so this is really a ranking of the top ten when there’s a longer list. While this is absolutely a ranking, I am also going to be saying nice things about all of these tracks, so please keep this in mind. None of these are bad, it’s just a top ten list, and someone has to be tenth. Also, for “vocal” theme here I am specifically referring to songs that have lyrics in an intelligible human language.
10. The Call
The Call is, frankly, what I see as the weakest entry on this list… and it’s absolutely a stomping, driving piece that would be a standout from a lot of other games. I think it’s telling that it isn’t a centerpiece of the entire 1999 soundtrack, but it’s both era-appropriate and a really high-energy piece. It’s got the appropriately grainy mix, it’s got that post-punk energy, and it has a good spirit to it. Its biggest weakness is that it feels a little generic in a field of otherwise standout and unique pieces, and as weaknesses go that’s not really a big one.
9. What Is My Fate?
There’s a reason I specified a comprehensible human language instead of English. What Is My Fate? ranks on the lower side simply because the ethereal tones of it honestly feel closest to hearing the music from Sanctum Anatomica, which is wholly unconnected to Koumei in any fashion; it’s a case where the vibe feels like it doesn’t completely fit with the frame that it’s highlighting. But it also shows off some of the musical flexibility that makes the game such an audio treat.
8. For Narmer
I may be the last person on the planet who still really enjoys major/minor key remixes of songs, but I like even more that Warframe did it as a canonical song that’s a good villain song on its own but becomes chilling when you realize the song that it’s mirroring. That’s the main reason this song is as low as it is; it becomes so much stronger if you specifically know what it’s referencing, but otherwise it doesn’t land the same way. That being said, if it does land… wow, that one has a punch.
7. Waverider
I do not know why the release of Yareli Prime got a specific song for her that perfectly captures the anarchic pop-punk feel of the skateboard pixie frame. Seriously, I could not begin to guess. What I can tell you is that it rules, and it makes me wish there were some big content drop that went along with this because what a great pull. You hear this track and you want to kickflip a board into someone’s face.
6. The Great Despair
The wonderful thing about The Great Despair is playing it for people who don’t play Warframe because people hear it and it sounds right. A lot of attempts to imitate the late ’90s boy band sound winds up slipping into parody or satire, intentionally or otherwise, but The Great Despair is absolutely just a proper boy band track. It sounds exactly the way it’s supposed to. I’m ranking it in the lower half only because the lyrics are actually nonsense. “They say love is time” is a phrase I have never heard anyone say, ever, outside of this specific song. And sure, nonsensical lyrics that sound good when sung but make no sense is entirely on-brand, but it’s still worth noting.
5. View From the Top
Yes, our new song comes in right here, and it’s quite a track. It’s a noir-style torch song with a smooth, jazzy feel to it, and I feel like this and The Great Despair show off the fact that the game is willing to go where the soundscape suggests rather than trying to stay inside a narrow channel. I honestly love it. Feels a bit on the nose from what we’ve seen of the quest around it at this time, but I’m still looking forward to hearing it in-game.
4. Sleeping in the Cold Below
Here’s the fun thing about this track: It’s easy to lose track of because the shanty is so good, but this is actually a villain song. Like, this is a classic Disney villain track, on par with “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Be Prepared” in that it’s a chance for the villain to sing about their reason for doing evil stuff. The fact that it also matches the tone of what is ultimately a pretty bleak quest helps immensely. I remember rushing to this quest when I started playing in earnest because I needed Sevagoth specifically, but it’s impossible to rush this quest itself because it’s just so good.
3. Lamenting the Days
I love this track. Honestly, I feel like it’s intensely underrated and slept on, partly because it doesn’t line up with a huge story beat (it’s mostly heard in-game when you’re taking part in this defense mission to get your Temple parts) and partly because it might be a little off in terms of era. (It reminds me a lot of my college listening diet, so that’s a couple years after 1999.) But it’s got a really solid vibe to it, a solid mix of sounds, and it feels haunting and invigorating at the same time. It’s a song for and about Flare and it’s also a song that feels like it has even bigger implications.
2. We All Lift Together
This is the quintessential Warframe song. I know that This Is What You Are is the main musical leitmotif for the Tenno, I’m not arguing that, but I think that if you are someone who does not play the game and has a knowledge of video game music, you probably know this one in the same way you probably know Bury The Light even if you’ve never played Devil May Cry 5 or Snake Eater if you’ve never played Metal Gear Solid 3. And it’s with good cause! It’s a great track.
1. Lullaby of the Manifold (Piano Version)
You might be surprised that I’m ranking this one at the top, but while I don’t think this song is or can be as quintessential as the prior entry, I think it might be the apex of what makes this game and its music so memorable. It’s a dirge, a mournful tune about a journey that none of its participants expect to return from, and it feels like the sort of old and resonant music that is nursed and cared for through generations… in a history we, as the audience, have only secondhand experience with. I adore it.
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