Sonic Frontiers' Ending Theme Revealed: "Vandalize" by One Ok Rock

5 minutes ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

Never in a million years did I think I'd see ONE OK ROCK music appearing in a Sonic game... SEGA is going hard on capturing Japanese players for Frontiers.

This song wasn't exclusively made for Frontiers, SEGA simply got permission to use it in the game. Still, it's cool and crazy enough, and I'm still kinda reeling from this news because I've been listening to this band for ages now. And they're really popular in Japan, so it's easy to figure out why they're here.

I get the exclusitivity isn't the same as Sonic songs usually are, but are we sure there wasn't any overlap between the two creatively?

It'd be a bit of a bummer if there wasn't but I don't think anyone is outright confirming that it wasn't originally made for the game here

Mmm das good J-rock. 

If I'm not mistaken, this band did some music for one of the Yakuza games? Makes sense, they would already have a foot in the door.

Nice music here. Feels..... right for an end theme. I like this approach more than something akin to Live Life; which was fine but way out of left field compared to the rest of the soundtrack. 

6 minutes ago, The Deleter said:

I get the exclusitivity isn't the same as Sonic songs usually are, but are we sure there wasn't any overlap between the two creatively?

It'd be a bit of a bummer if there wasn't but I don't think anyone is outright confirming that it wasn't originally made for the game here

I did notice the similar melody, and the album that the song is from did just come out yesterday. I'd like to believe that it was made for Frontiers, which would be wild, but I'm really unsure. Especially because the lyrical content is wildly out of place for Sonic.

While it's common for music artists to attach songs to another media, it's usually just to promote the song, rather than the other way. But Sonic hasn't really done that sort of promotion (other than the movies)

As I said before, I just love this track for Sonic Frontiers! It has that feel of modern rock in it, which I love so much!

On 9/7/2022 at 1:18 AM, Rock Name said:

“One Ok Rock has posted both the Japanese and English versions of the song on Youtube.”

…and they’re gone. Instead listen them here:
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU5X-9wKspU
Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_xell1SQr0 

nvm, new links were added afterwards, though the english link is in fact the official one outside frontiers that also uses f-bombs like japanese one so

Oh hell yeah, this is pretty rad. 

Showing off the the ending theme is unusual, but I must admit it's got me curious about what happens in the story to elicit these lyrics.  

Posted By: Troy

On 9/7/2022 at 1:18 AM, Rock Name said:

“One Ok Rock has posted both the Japanese and English versions of the song on Youtube.”

…and they’re gone. Instead listen them here:
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU5X-9wKspU
Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_xell1SQr0 

Try Spotify

Unlike Fist Bump which took a VERY long time to grow on me this just hits right away, love the song love that it’s in the game. Wanna actually start listening to this band’s other stuff now

This is neither here nor there... but the video on Sega's Youtube channel can be set to an absurd quality level.

I can honestly say that the voice in the back of my head for a split second thought this game could challenge Unleashed in terms of visual supremacy. If they iron out the pop up and get it running at a smooth 60 FPS, it can be downright gorgeous. Some of those gameplay cut ups had me feeling things I haven't felt since Unleashed was dropping those stunning level theme trailers.

5 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

When I saw the band name "ONE OK ROCK" I was like "That sounds like the name of a band they'd get for an anime opening". Turns out they're a Japanese band and the song is anime as hell.

PERFECT.

 Can you explain to someone who has zero interest in anime what makes a song anime? Lol

Energetic electric guitar, piano, and a singer who sounds like he's about to burst into tears

This track isn't really doing it for me but I definitely can't call it bad, just something I feel neutral for. It doesn't come close to what Crush 40 made in the past or tracks like Endless Possibilities, but it's alright. It might grow on me more with time. 

The vocal track is already so much better than fist bump (and by extension most forces vocals) it's amazing. Good to see sega learned what didn't work from forces.

But now I wonder, if they went to a non-crush 40 band for music I wonder if the theory/rumor of Pierce The Veil doing the main theme has some legitimacy to it now.

This is unironically one of the best vocal tracks in the series in decades and it wasn't even created for the game

Oh thank god we're actually getting a good ending song, was sorely missing that since I want to say Live Life in Sonic and the Black Knight. Loving it. Also loving people doing AMVs with this track already lmao.

Starting music showcases with the ending theme seems kinda crazy, but it's not entirely unheard of? Iirc the similar thing happened with KH3 where they released the ending theme first, then the opening theme.

After listening to the uncensored version for so much, going back to the Frontiers version is a bit annoying in how "head" doesn't really fit where "bed" was used before. It's fine enough for the first two times, but the third time you can tell the singer is leading into a b sound, only for the audio to immediately switch to head instead lol.

Also kinda weird that they changed those two lines but not the "need you in my veins"; it almost seemed like they committed to changing the meaning of the song entirely alongside the censor, until that one specifically was left untouched. Maybe it can relate to the game as well somehow but who knows lol

Sonic Frontiers but if it was made in 2007

4 minutes ago, Indigo Rush said:

Sonic Frontiers but if it was made in 2007

6 hours ago, Cosmos Rogue said:

Song is good I guess, but I'm disappointed that it wasn't actually made for the game.

Iirc this is in similar fashion to how Utada’s songs are licensed out for Kingdom Hearts games, vs made specifically FOR KH.

Posted By: Greatsong1

Eh, sounds quite alright I guess.

17 hours ago, SticksSuperFan14 said:

It's a fine song on it it's own, but it doesn't feel like Sonic to me. Call me old-fashioned, but I just want Crush 40 back.

Same here. The song is pretty good but I prefer Crush 40.

I'm actually okay with this theme, seems to fit the darker tone that the game seems to be aiming for. I'm just a bit confused as to why we got to hear the ending theme 1st, and not the overall main theme.

Regardless, I does seem to fit more than just Sonic tho. In addition to that Transformers post above, I did add it to the Ratchet & Clank Movie's ending. And...yeah, I think it works better than the films actual theme.

Either way, my hopes for Frontiers' soundtrack are raised! Which isn't much of a surprise, given Sonic music is almost always guaranteed to be good. Heck, the piano melodies we've heard in the game so far, are actually growing on me.

I wonder if crush 40 will do a remix?

21 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

Japanese version, including actual F-bombs

This song is fantastic. I just can't believe the Japanese version actually included the lines "the fucking pain" and "you're fucking crazy", amongst others. 

Seriously, this song is absolutely brilliant. I don't know why SEGA chose to release case the ending theme of all things. My only guess would be that they knew just how fire it was, and how much it would be overlooked if you had to bear the game to hear it. It's marketing, I guess. This song is great and they had to get it out there. 

Japan has a different relationship with swearing in kids shows than western countries.

Song slaps.