With "A Ruthless Truth", I wanted to take a relatively low-key, low-intensity track and go as far in the opposite direction as possible.  The original has two major sections, an introductory chordal statement in the harpsichord, and a winding, chromatically twisting section of long, ascending lines and unexpected harmonic turns.  The effect was a somewhat somber, mysterious piece that took some effectively unnerving shifts in the middle before arriving back home to repeat.  Something in that winding, shifting middle section spoke to me, and I decided to give it some teeth, reimagining the entire cue as a desperately tense boss battle track.  I turned the initial chordal statement into a bold brass fanfare, a call to arms, if you will, and set about making the rest of the piece follow suit.  In the final arrangement, driving accompanimental figures and aggressive low brass weave their way through the melodic and harmonic motions of the original, building to a sudden interruption.  The interrupt gives way to a musical side-quest into the mysterious textures of the original, this time highlighted by the string trio of Michaela Nachtigall and the ethereally beautiful voice of Laura Intravia.  After some direct homages to the original, the massive fanfare returns, and the main melodic theme appears in a heroic form, culminating in a piano-driven finale, and a delicate, ethereal, coda.

Appears on SUCCESSOR: Final Fantasy VIII Remixed