Nine Out of Tension
| Artist | Octoplush |
| Game | Splatoon 3 |
| Heard in Splatoon 3 |
0101 Get to Know Alterna, Your Only Choice 0202 Absorbency and You 0301 Climbing the Corporate Splatter 0402 Octohoppers Don't Have a Sense of Humor (and They Hate Puns)! 0503 Uh-Oh! Too Many Snipers! 0504 Barriers! They've Got You Covered 0603 Torture Tour 0000 After Alterna (Section 2) |
| Featured in |  JukeboxSplatune 3 - disc 2, track 14 Nintendo Music – link |
| Genre | Electronic Breakbeat |
| BPM | 180 |
| Key signature | A minor |
| Time signature | Irregular |
| Length | 2:44 |
| Sample |
Nine Out of Tension is a song by Octoplush.
Description
Nine Out of Tension is a fast-paced electronic song making use of breakbeats, shifting time signatures, syncopation, and a variety of samples.
The song primarily makes use of three groups of 4/4 time plus one group of 3/4 time to make up a phrase (4+4+4+3). In the last section of the song, the groupings change to 4+3+4+4.
The bass in the song is similar to the 'octo' bass used in Crater Eighters Routine, sounding like a deep voice with a burpy tone to it. At the start of the song, the bass plays a fast moving ostinato pattern that repeats throughout the song over an explosive breakbeat. Overtime the bass experiences changes in its resonance, both increasing and decreasing at different set times. Various samples are inserted in the background, some musical and some not, similar to Tentacular Circus. During the 3/4 bar at the end of each phrase, the instrumentation plays some type of syncopated or triplet fill before returning back to its core bass and breakbeat combo for the subsequent 4/4 bar. At the 0:10 mark, a gated, stuttering synth plays a simple melody overtop the instrumentation with a light digital keyboard plays chords underneath. At the 0:20 mark, the stuttering synth is replaced with an 8-bit-esque synth playing a slightly faster melody. At the 0:30 mark, the instrumentation from the beginning of the song is brought back, this time with a thin synth playing chords underneath. 0:40 to 1:00 is similar to 0:10 to 0:30, with a slightly altered melody line and different synths. At the 1:00 mark, the groupings of the time signature are altered and the breakbeats are interrupted with multiple syncopated synth stabs with a cymbal hit on each instance. The song then loops back to the beginning at 1:10 with the only difference being that the introduction section features synths playing chords underneath.
Other versions
Nine Out of Tension (September 2021 Direct)
Nine Out of Tension was first heard in the reveal trailer for Splatoon 3's Hero Mode in the September 2021 Direct.[1] The song starts playing about 53 seconds in, after a static noise interrupting Clickbait. This version of the song is faster at a bpm of 190 compared to a bpm of 180 of the one heard in-game.
Trivia
- This song could be considered the main theme of Return of the Mammalians, as it plays in the mode's reveal trailer and in the first level of Alterna.
- This song samples parts of Tentacular Circus.
- This song, alongside Underwater Neon and Flop to It play exclusively in missions that let the player use their Hero Gear. As such, it only accompanies missions that use the white-walled flooded area as their background.
Etymology
The title is a pun on the phrase 'nine out of ten', which is generally used as a high-up level on a scale, with the highest generally being 'ten out of ten'. Additionally, while the first level themes by Turquoise October in both Splatoon, Splatoon 2, and Splatoon 3 incorporated 'eight' into their names, this song instead appears to intentionally avoid it, featuring 'nine' and 'ten' instead.
Names in other languages
The name of the song is the same in all languages. However, it is capitalized differently in the English localization of Splatoon 3, with the "O" in "Out" being uppercase, while it is lowercase in all other localizations, including in Splatune 3.
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Internal |
BGM_Mission_Stage_Alterna_01 |
