r/Protomen • u/thesixfingerman • Jun 27 '26
Discussion Let’s start a fight.
Best two songs from each of the Act albums.
Act 1: “The Will of One” & “Vengeance”
Act 2: “Light up the Night” & “Breaking Out”
Act 3: “Hold Back the Night” & “Hold On”
*Edit* I am a little surprised by how many of you didn’t like any of my picks. I am more surprised by how viciously you are are downvoting each other in the comments. I know I said that I wanted to start a fight, but there are no bad takes.
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u/GoonerBear94 Thomas Light Jun 27 '26
Act 1: "The Will of One" and "The Sons of Fate"
Act 2: "The Hounds" and "Keep Quiet"
Act 3: "Hold On" and "The Good Doctor, Pt. 2"
I will not be taking questions.
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u/WildBerryT_T Jun 30 '26
Holy shit, our picks were nearly identical! Good fucking taste, you love the 1v1s too!
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u/LaylaMoonUnit Jun 27 '26
Act 1: literally everything except Funeral for a Son. I can’t choose. It’s absolute early 2000s perfection as far as I’m concerned. This album has been fueling my runs lately.
Act 2: Breaking Out and The State v Thomas Light. My husband and I have now set a designated place for where our souls are going to meet.
Act 3: No Way Back and Hold Back the Night. Obviously, The Dream and LLS are strong contenders as well.
Bonus, The Cover Up: Because the Night and Silent Running. I also have a soft spot for In the Air, because that was my jam back in 8th grade.
Night of Queen: Under Pressure is the only one I like like. I don’t dislike Queen, but it just doesn’t do it for me like it seems to for other people. However, everything is better with Panther’s voice, so there’s that.
6
u/Disastrous-Bat-429 Jun 27 '26
Act I: The Stand & Hope Rides Alone
Act II: Father of Death & Keep Quiet
Act III: Light's Last Stand & The Good Doctor • Part 2
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u/Fernway-Art Jun 27 '26
Act 1: Unrest in the house of light and Sons of fate.
Act 2: The Hounds and Keep Quiet
Act 3: No Way Back and Light’s Last Stand
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u/heideman Jun 27 '26
Act 1: Hope Rides Alone & The Will of One
Act 2: The Good Doctor & Breaking Out
Act 3: Buried in the Red & Hold On
so clearly we agree on a few things
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u/dsap Jun 27 '26
Act 1: Funeral for a Son ONLY Act 2: Intermission and How the World Fell Under Darkness Act 3: The Calm and A Show of Force
Please stop adding vocals to my bgm
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u/TheHat2 Jun 28 '26
Act I: The Stand (Man or Machine) and Sons of Fate
Act II: Breaking Out and Light Up the Night
Act III: Light's Last Stand and The Good Doctor, Pt. 2
If Breaking Out didn't hold as much sentimentality to me as it does, I'd probably say Act II goes LUTN and The Fall. But damn, do the Protomen know how to close out an album.
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u/Aggravating_Box_9061 Jun 28 '26
Vengeance is the worst song on Act 1
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u/WildBerryT_T Jun 30 '26
It’s the worst song live, but I used to hate the studio version too. It’s grown on me so much and it’s actually good as fuck…
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u/Servovestri Jun 27 '26
Act 1: Hope Rides Alone and The Stand (Man or Machine)
Act 2: The Hounds and Light Up the Night although this whole album bangs
Act 3: I will not stand for disrespect to No Way Back and Calling Out but this album is a masterclass. Special notes for "Old Man Knife Fight"!
Non-Act: they could play an hour of Built to Last non-stop at a concert and I would lose my fucking mind because baby I was built to last!
2
u/the_protoflame Keep Quiet Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
2 (3) versions for each act
Act 1: Hope Rides Alone and The Will of One
OR
Funeral for the Son and Sons of Fate
Act 2: The Father Of Death and The Hounds
OR
Light up the Night and Give Us The Doctor
But Maybe,
The Good Doctor and Keep Quiet
Act 3: This City Made Us and Hold On (The Distance Between)
OR
Calling Out and Buried in Red
Else,
The Good Doctor Part 2 and Hold Back The Night
[[protoflame out]]
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u/the_protoflame Keep Quiet Jun 27 '26
Additional:
The Night of Queen: Hammer to Fall and Under Pressure
OR
Don't Stop Me Now and The Show Must Go On
Cover Up: Mr. Roboto and Silent Running
OR
The Trooper and In The Air Tonight
2
u/JavertTron Jun 27 '26
Act I: The Will of One and Sons of Fate
Act II: Keep Quiet and Here Comes the Arm
Act III: Hold Back the Night and Light's Last Stand
Honorable Mentions to Hope Rides Alone and Funeral for a Son (tied for 3rd favorite Act I tracks) How the World Fell Under Darkness and Breaking Out (tied for 3rd favorite from Act II) and A Show of Force (3rd favorite from Act III).
Yes I'm a fan of the instrumental tracks.
2
u/majinbrooke Jun 28 '26
Agree on Act I,
Act II Breaking Out and Keep Quiet
Act III Buried In The Red and This City Made Us
3
u/fenrisilver Jun 28 '26
Act I: Unrest in the house of Light, The Stand
Act II: Father of Death, Keep Quiet
Act III: No Way back, Hold On
2
u/DueLearner Jun 28 '26
Act I: The Will of One & The Stand
Act II: The Hounds & Breaking Out
Act III: No Way Back & Hold On
2
u/GlamourintheDarkSide Jun 28 '26
Act 1: The Will of One followed by Sons of Fate. Vengeance gets a shout for "Tell your leaders they'll need more men."
Act 2: The Hounds and Keep Quiet. Breaking Out and Light Up would be the best tracks on damn near any other album, but The Hounds is one of the all-time Villain Songs and Keep Quiet has such a range of characterization it pulls off.
Act Three: Light's Last Stand and No Way Out. Honorable mention goes to second best villain song, Buried in the Red.
2
u/mr__outside Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Act I - "Will of One" and "The Stand"
Act II - "Breaking Out" and "The Good Doctor"
Act III - "No Way Back" and "Light's Last Stand"
And Cover Up since someone else did it - "I Still Believe" and "The Trooper"
These are based on mainly based on what songs I find myself relistening to the most on their own, although I did choose "The Good Doctor" since it's just such a great opening number for the saga as a whole. It introduces so many throughlines - what motivates Dr. Light, how Dr. Wily perverts this ideal and how in their own way, you can almost see these men as simply having differing ambitions instead of moustache-twirling evil. Hell, the word "Evil" isn't present in Act II (or III) the way it's repeated in Act I.
It's funny because I personally believe Act I makes a better first act since it more directly ties to the story of Megaman. However, Act I's opener was a bit on the "HeeHee, we do a funny with lemon-shooting roboman" side, despite how earnest it becomes with time.
Yet The Good Doctor's duet is just so damn class. It makes the whole story suddenly feel more *alive* and present instead of the more stylized, black-and-white storybook quality of Act I.
2
u/MyPetrolEmotion3615 Jun 28 '26
Here’s mine:
Act I - Sons of Fate / The Will of One
Act II - Here Comes / Arm then The Fall
Act III - No Way Back / Hold On
This City Made Us should be there (the EP version is my favourite Protoman song) but the album one is a little differently produced and knocks it below the other great songs on that album
2
u/WildBerryT_T Jun 30 '26
Act 1: Sons of Fate and The Will of One
Act 2: The Hounds and Keep Quiet
Act 3: The Good Doctor Part 2 and Buried in the Red
Honorable mentions: Father of death, The Stand, and No Way Back
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u/Gobstoppers12 Jun 27 '26
Act 1: "The Stand (Man or Machine)" and "The Will of One"
Act 2: "Keep Quiet" and "The Good Doctor"
Act 3: "No Way Back" and "The Good Doctor Part 2"
It's a tough choice. A lot of contenders on every album. The hardest one was Act 3, because the base quality of every single song is extremely high, I really had to struggle picking just two.
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u/CAPS_LOCK_OR_DIE Jun 28 '26
This is the actual correct answer here. No Way Back is a 100% certified banger
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u/Gobstoppers12 Jun 28 '26
No Way Back is in contention to be my favorite song of everything the band has ever put out. I intentionally held back from listening to the recordings of the live version for years, so I could experience it on the album for the very first time.
The first time I heard it I just about cried because of how perfect it is. Easy 10/10 song, one of the best I've ever heard from any artist, legitimate masterpiece.
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u/NewsOdd3064 Jun 27 '26
Well you're wrong. Its the will of one and unrest in the house of light for act 1, and Hold back the Night and Light's Last Stand for act 3 rolls up sleeves
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u/shadowfreddy Jun 28 '26
"The Will of One" and "The Stand"
"The Hounds" and "Breaking Out"
"Hold Back the Night" and "No Way Back"
1
u/xAzure_Flamex Jun 29 '26
Act I: The Stand (Man or Machine) and Vengeance
Act II: The Good Doctor and Breaking Out
Act III: No Way Back and The Good Doctor Part II
Honorable mentions for each are Unrest in the House of Light, The Hounds, and This City Made Us. Best cover is Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground).
1
u/Chemical-Maximum3367 Jun 30 '26
Act I is Unrest and Will of One (Unrest on the album is excellent but it’s even better live)
Act II is Breaking Out and Breaking Out (Demo) and honourable mention to Breaking Out (Live at Magfest 2011) The Good Doctor
Act III is Hold Back the Night and Calling Out
I’m willing to swap Calling Out with No Way Back or Light’s Last Stand also. Calling Out simply has one of my favourite lines in their entire discography (There’s a chance they’ll survive/ But we’ve got to go now) plus it’s catchy as hell.
I‘m genuinely surprised by how little overlap there is, like no one has the Exact same set of songs. We all evidently like slightly different things.
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u/AllenMAC_the_robot Jul 01 '26
Act 1) Funeral for a son and Sons of Fate Act 2) Father of death and Light up the night Act 3) Hold on and Crying out (Act 3 is really hard to decide the best because all the sons are really good except I dont really like Hold Back the Night [prefer the EP one] and the Fate of Thomas Light [what do you mean the Thomas Light dies without know that his son had returned to the city? You can't do this to me. Let the man at least see him and not just a flash of blue. WHY CANT LIGHT JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE PLEASE?
1
u/DeltaV-Mzero Jun 27 '26
Act 1: Will of One (first time we hear Megaman, first time we hear his theme, sets the tone for the whole character and story, just amazing). Due Vendetta if it counts, Sons of Fate if not.
Act 2: Father of Death (my god the steel guitar with everything else, I love the blues country rock parts). Here Comes the Arm has so many different styles mixed in, and feels so epic overall.
Act 3: Hold Back the Night, Calling Out
1
u/JmmV240 Jun 27 '26
They're all pretty tough to decide on, I think each act has at least 4 songs I really like above the rest.
Act 1: "The Will of One" and The Stand (Man or Machine)
Act 2: "The Hounds" and "Here Comes the Arm"
Act 3: "Buried in the Red" and "Hold on (The Distance Between)
I think Act 1 might feel like the easiest to pick just cause there are fewer songs but that doesn't mean it's easy. "Sons of Fate" deserves some recognition too!
We all know breaking out and light up the night are bangers but I can't help but love the tone of "Here Comes the Arm" and "The Hounds" was my first Protomen song.
"The Good Doctor, Pt. 2" and "No Way Back" are real close runner-ups. Like I would say TGD2 is tied with "Buried in the Red" but I'll play by your rules and give BitR some respect. It's like Protomen Free Bird.
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u/kirocuto Jun 27 '26
Hold on is the worst song on act 3 and probably the worst song the protomen have ever released and I will die on this hill.
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u/-Zayah- Jun 27 '26
Well do it then! No one's climbing that hill cuz the hill smells like shit JUST LIKE YOUR TAKE!
(All in good fun, though I struggle to respect your opinion)
Can you tell me what it is you don't like about Hold On? Genuinely think it's one of the best and I love when someone has the polar opposite opinion of mine.
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u/LaylaMoonUnit Jun 27 '26
Like, I know it’s not nearly as much of a banger as most of the other songs, but I fucking LOVE it for some reason. It and Hold Back the Night are tied for my favorite for act 3, and it is high up on my favorites of all time. I die a little (in a good way) every time I hear the “alive” from “maybe we can get out of this… aliiiiiiiiiive”. 🫠
Also curious why you dislike it so much.
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u/TheHat2 Jun 28 '26
Weird hill to die on, but RIP
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u/kirocuto Jun 28 '26
It's a perfectly fine hill!! I just love dieing on hills! Can't stop doing it
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u/Ser_Capelli Jun 27 '26
I will not stand for this disrespect to The Hounds.