Nightreign Nightlord Boss Themes Ranked Worst to Best

Fromsoftware is obviously known for their brutal and spectacular boss encounters, and one of the crucial aspects that brings these bouts to life is the music. And, thankfully, Elden Ring: Nightreign is no exception to this rule. Let’s rank these amazing themes from good to best!

8. Gladius, Beast of Night (Tai Tomisawa)

The first excursion into Limveld is a memorable one, and capped off by a boss that you assume is going to be near the pinnacle of the game. The soundtrack is memorable and iconic, and you’re probably going to hear it more than a few times as you learn how to play a new Fromsoftware title.

However, as you dive deeper into the game, you realize that almost everything Gladius had to offer was a teaser for something even better later on in the game. There is an infectious and driving rhythm that keeps this song engaging throughout, and it’s capped off by an even cooler rhythm change in phase 2.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite stand up to those that carve a more unique space in the catalog of Soulslikes. It’s a solid entry but doesn’t do anything particularly unique or special to make it stand out.

7. Maris, Fathom of Night (Shoi Miyazawa)

While you can see me roast this guy for his “quality” in my YouTube ranking of the bosses, we’re not talking boss quality here. Just musical quality. And while this song doesn’t blow me away, it is very effective at creating a mystical and ethereal atmosphere.

It’s nice throughout, although I wish the ending was a bit longer. This is because once the twinkling pianos make way for a slightly more pulsing string part, the song elevates to a whole new level. It is a nice accompaniment for the boss, but in its current state, I would only really return for the second half. Still a very solid track.

6. Adel, Baron of Night (Soma Tanizaki)

This song is vile, brooding, and dark – yet manages to stay melodic and powerful. The highlights here definitely include the varied uses of detuning. Moments where the strings suddenly wiggle out of pitch to create a sense of unease.

Another is the moment around 1:31 of the song where we get this melodic and memorable line. Finally, it’s exciting to hear a variety of instruments utilized. Throughout the second half you can hear teases of electric guitar, which create such a cool, visceral, metal sound that we rarely get from a Fromsoftware title. On first listen-through I was convinced this would place in the top half, but little did I know what Nightreign had in store for us…

5. Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow (Tai Tomisawa)

While you could easily make an argument that Adel is a more unique even a better written track in some respects, I feel that there are intangibles to a musical experience. Especially when it’s paired with the boss itself. Is it possible for the love of a boss to give a boost to the love of the soundtrack?

Of course, and I think Fulghor is a better bout than Adel. So there may be some bias coming in there, however, this song might be the single one that gets me the most hyped in the entire OST. And paired with the personality of the boss – bulldozing through the arena like an uncaged animal – it is simply too good. I’d love to see how you all rank the soundtracks because I don’t think there could be an element of a boss that is more subjective.

This one evokes masculine chanting in a God of War-esque heroic romp that I found myself screaming about mid-run. Just listening to it as I write this makes me want to go to war!

4. Gnoster, Wisdom of Night (Tai Tomisawa)

Tai Tomisawa returns for the most unique soundtrack of the entire game. Beautiful, elegant strings and flutes dance up and down the scales in a rare evocative, inspirational and triumphant piece. It’s so often that Fromsoftware wants to take us to the depths of pure despair and decay, only to bring a sliver of hope through.

This piece feels entirely different, leaning fully into a magical and beautiful sound. It almost feels like it’s out of the wrong game, but in an entirely positive way. This experience has started to help me expand my definition of what a Fromsoft experience can be. I just hope that next time the boss is a little less annoying so I can enjoy the music and experience even more.

3. Libra, Creature of Night (Shoi Miyazawa)

What I love so much about the boss music of Souls and Souls adjacent games is their ability to inspire such a love of classical music and sounds. What I love in addition to that is their ability to throw in little twists of their own to give a new flair to a fully explored genre.

Libra, Creature of Night brings a purely insane, chaotic and disturbing sound to life through the use of what sounds like Mongolian throat singing, and out of tune glockenspiels. Yeah, you heard that right, and it’s awesome. I have a full cheek to cheek smile on right now as I listen to the pure insanity of chaos that perfectly matches this insane boss fight.

While many of the songs in this game don’t quite reach the heights of let’s say, Elden Ring proper, Dark Souls 3, or Bloodborne, there are moments in all of these top 3 that are at least vying to be in the discussion, and Libra is no exception.

2. Heolstor the Nightlord (Shoi Miyazawa)

Heolstor, the Nightlord, has the most classic Fromsoftware soundtrack. From the start you immediately know you’re in for an all-time classic, and it pulls the best card of constantly getting better throughout the runtime. The slow introduction of harp, the crescendo of strings, the consistent establishing of rhythm.

Most of these songs don’t really have a melody that you can just get locked in your head to sing on repeat, but this one is an exception. You could easily make the argument that this song isn’t doing anything “new”, and that was a comment I had to the detriment of Gladius. However, Gladius wasn’t executed to this level of quality.

The distinct phases give a different energy level and vibe, constantly upping the ante but all posing a different reason to stay. The beautiful and forlorn vibe of phase 1 is hauntingly memorable. Phase 2 starts to feel like we’re ascending to the heavens to battle a god. And phase 3 takes us into battle itself, evoking the prancing strings of Slave Knight Gael.

Of course, it’s not quite as good as the Gael OST (Yuka Kitamura will be missed) but it’s damn good in its own right. If we can get more songs like this out of Fromsoftware side projects, I will continue to advocate for more of them to be created!

1. Caligo, Miasma of Night (Soma Tanizaki)

Surely it wasn’t possible for a soundtrack to place above Heolstor…Surely…

Well, it happened. Somehow. This boss has me swell with emotion and power every single time I fight him, largely because of the presentation, but mostly because of the music. When I think of Nightreign OSTs, I think of Caligo, and for good reason. There are huge, sweeping string sections powering over delicate prancing pianos.

They constantly go up and down the scale giving a sense of scale and beauty and grandeur in a way that few bosses can. It makes me just ache to go back and face Caligo for the first time again, but for now, I’ll have to cope by reliving that experience through the OST again and again.