Burn My Dread is a brilliant theme

So if you couldn’t tell, I really like Persona 3. A lot. And while there is so much I still want to say, so badly, I wanna pull back, and start at the very beginning. Specifically, the first thing you’ll hear upon booting the game up. Burn My Dread is a brilliant opening theme, and I want to go through the entire thing. Song here so you can listen along:

The song opens with the the twang of some guitar chords, with the shake of a hi hat in the background. This is a super effective way to open it, as it gives off an ominous vibe while also setting up a nice tempo and beat for the entire song to follow. Adding in a drum kick halfway through this segment (0:10) is a nice way to slowly ramp things up without it being sudden or jarring.

As the lyrics start up, we get pauses after the first two phrases in music and vocals. This is a nice way to keep the song varied by taking away, not adding, as it’s a noticeable shift when the pauses stop afterwards. It’s also another example of nice, smooth build up, as it feels like the song is being “filled in” more so than stuff is just being added. It’s also notable that the abrupt pausing is still present in the vocals, so you get a nice ebb and flow while not breaking the pacing of the entire song.

Partway in (0:38) we get a shaker sound effect in the background, replacing the hi hat from before with something more distinct and that blends together more. We also get some synths in the background filling out the song once again, lending it some more variety and more importantly, the last bit of musical buildup. The vocals and what’s being said are left to raise it up before the climax of the song. That’s one of the best parts of this entire thing, how well it flows. When something musical is added it flows in very naturally and is never jarring and it knows that lyrics can build something up just as well.

The snare drum beats several times, and the song is name dropped right after as all that buildup is released at once (0:58). The drums aren’t a soft backing beat anymore, and instead are being played as loud and piercingly as possible. Crash cymbals (the loudest cymbals you can use) are now in full use alongside this. The vocals are practically being shouted now, and the lyrics have shifted to a more desperate tone and subject matter, compared to the more descriptive words from before.

The song then takes it down a notch for the final verse, while still keeping that intense feeling in the lyrics and instruments. Rather than have the song slow down at all for the ending, it eventually just suddenly cuts to one guitar chord, and lets that fade out, leaving a very strong final impression of the lyrical and musical intensity on you.

One final note: the lyrics are very evocative, and don’t even try to be subtle at all, which I like. It lets the song be super impactful and meaningful to everyone on even their first listen to it. In the first part, they’re quite literal, describing what happens in the game and the setting. See “dreamless dorm”, “windless night”, “nightly dance of bleeding swords”, etc. It lends it a ghostly and otherworldly feel, especially with how cut apart they are, and once you know how literal it really is, that feeling is only intensified. Finally, the last part of the song wails about the general themes of the game. This is one of those “it gets meaningful once you’ve played the game” things, but it’s carried so confidently that even before that you get chills just listening to it. They know what they wanted to do and executed on it with no reservations.

Burn My Dread is undoubtedly one of the greatest themes I have ever heard. It weaves it’s music perfectly. The vocals are on point in tone, context, and timing. And most importantly, it will stick in your head for how unique and confident it is. Shoji Meguro, man.