Armor-clad Faith [With Lyrics] (Potemkin Theme) - Guilty Gear Strive OST

Armor-clad Faith (Potemkin's Theme)
Vocal: Naoki Hashimoto
Composer: Daisuke Ishiwatari

Lyrics:
Armor-clad Faith!

Noise fills the burning sky
They struggle to testify
Justice brings more corpses
A disappointing verdict torches
They smile for their last stand
It cuts through something so bland
Every single breath you take is a
COUNT. DOWN. TO. YOUR. DEATH.

Nirvana

Discord presides
In Society
Your Society
Vantage - Creeps into
Society - Your society

I'm a fool
I know nothing
I may sound like a silly clown
But I won't turn my back on life
One day, all will rot away
(But) All. I. Do. Is. Embrace, the, wounded, soul!

Armor-clad Faith!

Cruel Inequality
(Paves way for our future)
A black and grey system
Always dressed to impress
People drown in delusion
Without reaching out for truth
(With) thorned shield in the hand the troops
MARCH TO OPPRESS THE YOUTH!

Nirvana

Discord - Presides
In society - Your society
Vantege - Creeps into
Society - Your society
I'm a fool, I know nothing
I take the role of a silly clown
But I won't turn my back on life

One day, all will rot away
(But) All. I. Do. Is. Embrace, the, wounded, soul!

Discord - Presides
In society - Your society
Vantage - Creeps into
Society - Your society

I'm a fool, I know nothing
I take the role of a silly clown
But I won't turn my back on life
I'm a fool, maybe I'm worthless
But this world created my faith
So all I can do is stay hopeful and pray

[dafroakie]

No song that contains the phrase "silly clown" should ever be able to go this hard.

[FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs]

Former slave. Freedom fighter. A humble warrior. A soldier defending the innocent like a valiant knight. A mentor figure who evokes the image of a bodhisattva, yet is held back by his own lack of conviction, doubts and insecurities. A pacifist & artist, equally held back by a lack of pencils who are able to withstand 4 tons of pressure.

Potemkin is fucking awesome.

[rfs]

Potemkin knew that he couldn't change the beasts, so he reflected on himself and blamed society.

[TheDancerMacabre]

"Do you think it's funny killing Chipp in 2 command grabs?!"
"Yes I do, and I'm tired of pretending it's not"

[TheMrOkamiden]

Thank you Potempkin for curing my brain of associating "society" with The Joker every time I hear that word. Now I only associate it with this awesome banger.

[wazzupsters]

Man this gets more and more depressing when the lyrics shown he's increasingly gets beat down by his situation, from the beginning that sounds excessively patriotic and invincible makes me felt like he's marching onwards but increasingly he tells himself not to give up on living, eventually conceding that he's a joke to himself and his superiors.
God this goes so hard.

[temetrex]

So Hypothetically Potemkin grabs you at full health.

[sirpiss]

Imagine going through a violent rebellion with many people dying and once you finally win you put fucking Waluigi in charge

[otakamerd]

To obtain true inner peace, you must simply piledrive everything that causes you stress

[crimsonpotemkin]

"I'm a fool, maybe I'm worthless
But this world created my faith
So all I can do is stay hopeful and pray"
This part alone is enough to hit me in the feels stronger than a HPB

[Eleven]

First Listen: ʰᵉʰᵉ ˢᵒᶜᶦᵉᵗʸ
Now: *_SO ALL I CAN DO IS STAY HOPEFUL~ AND

[greekpestnyc]

It's cool how Arc gave us a legendary 60$ ost that comes with a free game too!

[DoctorKingWeegee]

With this song and Heavenly Potemkin Buster taking people to the very gods in a literal sense before the metaphorical one, one could interpret that Potemkin is a bodhisattva: someone that achieved Nirvana but turned it down to try to save others still suffering on Earth. Which is absolutely in his character, and if you don't think that's the tightest shit then get the hell out of my game you filthy Chipp player--

[maxmanchik]

"I take a role of a silly clown"
Man, Potemkin knows that his in-game character fights like a monkey grappler, so its reflected in his theme...

[monfra]

I remember the thread about how this song hits like a truck, just to be corrected by 'no, this song hits like a TANK, fitting since Potemkin is supposed to look like one' or something like that, and I agree

[Nixeni]

I have no idea what this is or what Guilty Gear is, but this song is an absolute fucking banger

[Iz_zy]

I like how both Potemkin and Leo’s themes are 2 sides of the same coin

Potemkin is him finding out how the world really works as a soldier and the government

Leo’s is survivors guilt and knowing that he has to live with that shame and guilt till his times up too

Yet both are admitting that they’re both soldiers just trying to do the right thing

[fatpikachu]

interesting lyrics.

Every single breath you take is a countdown to your death. while this is just a straightup fact, its also an extremely depressing outlook on life, thinking only of the inevitable darkness with each breath you take.
This, followed by the relaxing interlude with "nirvana" makes for an interesting observation. the definition of Nirvana in buddhism is to achieve a release from suffering & all afflictions, actions and any consequences of said actions. In buddhism this is something to strive for in a positive sense, however such extreme levels of apathy is also a sign of depression, as you lose all care for everything around you.

Then the chorus hits.

"Discord presides in society, your society" and "vantage creeps into society, your society". These mean two distinct things. The first is saying that disagreements rule over society, and the other is saying that Being in a well off position makes you better off in society. Note that the lyrics are "society, Your society", implying that potempkin (im assuming hes the author here) doesnt agree with how the way works, and says thats how you guys work, not me. following this is quite a sad moment.

"Im a fool, i know nothing, i may sound like a silly clown, but i wont turn my back on life." this actually has two meanings. He's lamenting that as a soldier he doesnt know how the world works, and although he may sound like a fool he wont give up on his way of thinking, and at the same time hes saddened at the fact that he needs to speak in a way that helps the society he hates so much. note also how the song becomes softer as he says this, before taking on a much more agressive tone in the following section.

he further leans into the pointlessness of it all with the following lyrics "One day all will rot away. All i do is embrace the wounded soul". Yes, at the end of the day, nothing does matter, but all i can do is embrace my wounded heart, and protect the one thing i know.

"Armour clad Faith."

the next section is looking deeper into how messed up society is.
"cruel inequality paves way for our future" Low pay workers forced to work in grueling conditions for the betterment of the whole. "a black and grey system always dressed to impress" black and grey here is talking about good and evil, implying he sees no good in the way things are being run, and its all being done to look as good as possible, without any care for the people actually working towards it.
"people drown in delusion without reaching out for the truth" the majority just accept what is told to them by news sources or people in power without looking into anything themselves, and when people do, "thorned shield in hand the troops march to oppress the youth." when you do dare to go against what is being fed to you you get silenced with force.

lastly, upon self reflection again, rather than saying he sounds like a clown, he states "I take the role of a silly clown" he isnt just saying it anymore, he has to act in the ways he hates. As well as this, even though he hates what he is doing at his core, he still acts upon it. even though he has lost all care for the world, he grips onto and protects the one thing he holds most important, his faith in that what he is doing is for the betterment of his country.

and the final moments of the song, he finally cracks. "im a fool, maybe i'm worhtless, but this world created my faith, so all i can do is stay hopeful and pray.

Its a sad song about a man who has lost all semblance of self and is acting solely as a machine for his country, even though he knows its wrong, and hope that what he is doing will be done for good, even though the actions are evil.

[jaketheva]

Potemkin is gentle giant who doesn’t wanna hurt anyone. Then, why the fuck does he do so much damage, oh my god-
Potemkin’s character is pretty sad. He just wants everyone to be in peace, but is just a slave where he fights in the frontline. He has to do what he’s ordered or he gets punished. Very sad, just like his theme. But, his theme sounds amazing while being very sad. It also hits very hard, just like the Grappler. Certified bop.

[TvyAV]

This song made the indomitable human spirit kick hard