It's not all sunshine and rainbows in industrial rock. Some of you might know Powerman 5000, an industrial band best known for kickstarting the industrial rock sound that also made Static-X a staple of the genre. Powerman 5000 have now claimed that part of the soundtrack for Final Fantasy XIV composed by Masayoshi Soken ripped off one of their songs.

The specific bit they claim stole their sound is the second part in the Sephirot boss battle theme in Final Fantasy XIV. Which sounds like this (thank you to YouTuber Mekkah Dee for isolating the music!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdV_bzJgRxE

Powerman 5000 posted in a status update that this piece of music was way too close to comfort from their 1999 song 'When Worlds Collide', which sounds a little like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsV500W4BHU

Since Powerman 5000' yesterday posted the accusation in a status update on Facebook, Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida released a response refuting the band's claims.

Industrial rock is a popular genre that can be further divided into numerous sub-genres. Countless songs from these genres have been released worldwide, and I have been made aware of an allegation regarding similarities between an existing track and the track created for the 2nd phase of Containment Bay S1T7. However, track composer Masayoshi Soken, has also stated to me that he was unaware of the track in question while working on this FINAL FANTASY track.

Quick Take

As someone who loves Powerman 5000 a decent amount (Static-X has always been my personal favorite), I don't think I can agree with them here today. As far as I can hear, both tracks have a bog-standard structure found in many other industrial rock songs. Apart from the staples of the genre that make up the sound itself, The songs have completely different melodies and sections that all point towards the soundtrack being an original work through and through. Even if he was influenced by PM5K, that doesn't automatically mean he stole from them.

Do you think that Powerman 5000's claims are legitimate? Why do/don't you agree with their accusation? Let us know in the comments!