Old Composer Reacts to Elden Ring OST - Godrick the Grafted 

This song goes to a boss fight against Godrick the Grafted, a demi-god lord monstrosity who took to cutting off peoples limbs and using alchemy to graft them to his own body to increase his size and strength, at the halfway point when the music takes a break is when he stops the fight to cut off his arm and graft the head of a dragon to himself. The clear almost horror motifs with the violin fit perfectly and the panicked feeling accurately portrays the tone of trying to avoid being crushed by this Frankenstein beast. Hope the context helps!

I'm Japanese, but in Japan, there is no one to explain Eldenling's ost like you, so I'm very grateful to you. (I'm using Translate)

I must have technically heard this 20+ times but this is the first time I have listened to it. Too stressed to notice it 😂 Awesome track!

By far one of my favourite tracks from the game, as it manages to combine a powerful and terrifying facade with another aspect that almost sounds like fun circus music or a dance. This goes well with the fact that the character this theme belongs to, Godrick the Grafted, is somewhat of a contradiction. On one hand he's utterly terrifying, he's evil, infamous and intimidating. On the other hand however, there's something whimsical, almost campy about him. He's actually a weak and rather pathetic individual who used magic to steal others power and bodies to make himself big and strong, ever eager and ever struggling to appear worthy of his grand ancestry. As a result, he's almost comically over-the-top when fought, trying to act like some kind of grand lord whilst merely appearing as a madman, occasionally giggling maniacally and eventually stealing the head off the corpse of a dragon and attaching it onto his own arm to attack the player with it (this represents the sudden shift in the music. It's utterly genius in my opinion, the music manages somehow to *sound* hot and fiery, befitting of the gout of flame that the player is having to avoid at this very point in the fight). It's an equally fun and horrifying design for an opponent and a very befitting track to back him up.

From one musician of 30 years and composer for many of them. I cannot emphasize enough how AMAZING it is to see someone legitimately know their stuff. I have always told people that video games have some of the best music ever written since the times of Beethoven and Mozart. This song is among one of the finest examples. Thank You for the content, and keep up the amazing work. Much Love

Instant subscribe from me just because you RESPECT THE MUSIC. One of the most frustrating things about some musical reaction channels is they're pausing every 5 seconds to give their thoughts on certain things, where you're giving the music time to breathe as intended by the composer. I feel this is a great way to absorb a song and give a more complete reaction, and I appreciate it very much!

Ludwig the Accursed going into Ludwig the Holy Blade together are fantastic, telling the story of a once noble hunter fallen to madness only to regain his sanity in the end. Highly recommend checking it out for your channel!

If you're ever doing more Elden Ring, do either "Mohg, Lord of Blood", "Godskin Apostole" or "Lichdragon Fortissax".

I love how you can hear his insanity, pride and fear, especially in the second half.

I love when people are so engaged and passionate about something. You can see by his facial expressions he’s picking bits apart and trying to understand it. A true artist. Elden ring is a masterpiece on so many levels. I’m glad these types of games still exist.

Elden Ring boss themes are FANTASTIC. The Godskin Duo, Mohg’s, and Radahn’s are great tracks to continue on.

First video I've seen from this channel, I think what I love about this guy is that he seems very genuine. No overreactions and no bias because he hasn't played the game, just raw composition analysis. I love it, easy subscribe.

you have to see the fight this sing goes with, the music compliments the fight immensely.

I'm borrowing this off of another comment, but the whole grafting lore is also highlighted in the music in the sense that the time signature changes between phases, from a majestic 3/4 waltz to 7/4, with phrases of 3/4 coming back in and out as if "grafted" back on. There's this play between barely constrained madness (7/4) and regal with an sinister undercurrent (3/4) and it honestly makes this one of my favourite tracks in the game.

I have a mild form of Synesthesia (seeing colours or shapes when hearing sounds or music), and this piece of music is a wild ride. Headphones on, volume up, it's intentionally dragging you through chaotic open battlefields and down dank narrow claustrophobic passageways. What you said about the "zipline" is absolutely spot on. A constant underlying 'home' during the sometimes aggressive and anarchic strings. Thanks for your critique. I look forward to watching more of your videos.

From software games such as Elden ring and dark souls have amazing, beautiful, and intense OSTs

WHATTA GUY! Mentioned this song in the comments like 2 days ago, and Geebz is on it. You're the GOAT brother.

This is something I love seeing. Someone from a different sphere of a creative medium, strolling through another with an open mind to appreciate, break down and where appropriate criticise. It goes to show how much you love and appreciate the medium, and that you aren't insecure in your own ability to evaluate.

This was a great one. I haven't played this game, but I did enjoy the predecessors. They really make good use of that orchestra and choir. Might check it out!

It's crazy to think about how much skill is required for recording and producing pieces like this, on top of the already insane composition.

Another Elden Ring OST that really hits you in the feels is Regal Ancestor Spirit .

Oooh and how we replayed the scenario in our heads... all of the missed dodges. Every hit taken... every single death we die... the mental pain caused by losing against this boss over, over and over again. The will that builds up... the moment you Scream to your monitor as you move out of your covor for the final hit... the moment you realize, a great enemy was slain and his soul was obtained. The very moment, our foolish ambitiouns were not put to rest but the flame got fueled with bloodlust. Great reaction! love the way you mute your sound while the music plays and you are not stopping every 20 seconds. Love it!

I never notice the music in my first playthrough's, too busy dying, but 10/10 times when I hear it singled out I ALWAYS get goosebumps

Hidetaka Miyazaki is such a genius and outstanding producer, the worlds he and he's team creats is really something else

i love how composers almost eat the music as they listen to it, its so cool.

HOLY SHIT YES!!! From Software is fantastic and so unique

When you’re a new player, this song is one that you become very familiar with. It never really got old though, and repeated attempts reveal more of the song, as the player gets better at the fight. The more frantic the music: the further the player has progressed in the encounter, the more dramatic the music becomes. It’s very much contextual music. It’s something that is missed when analyzing game/cinema music: the context holds so much weight, and that is rarely explored by analysts.

Fun fact about this game and the previous ones by the same company, the movements of the boss enemies match the rhythm of their associated music. In one of their previous games (Dark Souls 3) a specific boss named The Dancer of the Boreal Valley actually moves just slightly off beat. It also happens to be regarded as one of the most difficult enemies in the game.

This song captures Godricks personality really well. How offbeat the rhythm is plays well into him being a deformed monstrosity.

I'm gonna hope for some Darren Korb tracks from Hades or Transistor. Great stuff.

This is the first video I have ever seen of yours and I am subscribing instantly. The expressions and pure happiness on your face when you are listening to music is beautiful. I'll go back and watch all your other videos!

You should listen to the Regal Ancestor Spirit OST from the same game. It’s one of the most thematic songs I’ve ever heard in a video game.

I love that even without a video of gameplay depicting the action or boss fight, he’s able to really distill how the music makes you feel. Great analysis 👍🏽

This is absolutely a gem to stumble upon. I didn't expect to find a channel like this. Superb content, my fellow chap.

RU-vid recommended this to me and I must say: More than the music watching your almost primal reaction to the music is astounding. It's almost like you are physically and emotionally feeling each major chord and shift in the balance of the piece as it goes. I don't think it's too much to say that you love music and that it rests in a special place inside you. Great video!

I think one of the things i like most about this reaction is that you can almost see him processing it emotionally. You can see the expressions on his face change as the tone of the piece shifts and you can see his eyes shifting about as if hes in some sense visualising what different parts of the music represent, without the knowledge of what elden ring really is or who godrick is or what he looks like. The music itself is invoking that emotional response and that inquisitive look and analytical brain. Its really cool to just watch someones face as they take something like this in.

Great reaction! you should react to ludwig the accursed and lugwig the holy blade ost

Watching your genuine reaction to this piece of music was so fun and stirred something inside myself as well. Thank you for taking us through it! When you're playing the game you're far too stressed to really hear the song, but it chugging along as you play really makes the experience complete :)

Your passion for composing really shines through in your videos and makes them fascinating to watch!

The first time I put on Elden Ring was so amazed by the beginning music. Elden Ring is such a huge artistic masterpiece.

Now that I'm listening it's just pure gold! He always dies so fast that I could not appreciate the music. Really awesome track!

I love the overall wholesome feel you put out in the intro. Good vid!

One thing I truly love about this guy is he captures what it is to be a musician in any category.... I also move my mouth in hands in such a way to flow my myself through different aspects of the music .... and I deal in Hard Dance music more often than not. He truly understands almost any aspect of most sounds through any type of music. love this guy huge respect.

All Fromsoft OSTs are bangers. The songs are so perfect at telling the story and representing the boss that you can get a good idea of what you are dealing with even if you have no idea about the character. If you do another Fromsoft OST in the future, I'd like to see you try and figure pieces of the story from the music.

It's cool you mention a lot of the tunes being based around that 1 note power, which is big theme throughout the OST. Look at "Regal Ancestor Spirit" as another amazing example of this pedal tone style, where the tonic of the piece comes in so imposing with almost a pride to it, using layers and swelling dynamics to make that tonic set up the rest of the elements. It's not revolutionary theory wise, but is a study in the emotional impact of dynamics in music.

I love watching your facial expressions during the track as they match so well to what the players own are during the actual fight

I'm still here! It was wonderful to see someone unfamiliar with the game explain the music and different terms in the piece of music. I really enjoyed the video, thank you for taking the time to do it!

I like how in the first part the 3/4 time of the piece (having played the game) makes it feel like you’re waltzing with Godrick for power

i like your orchestral / string arrangement explanations

This has been very fun to watch! I love that it's straight to the point without a long over the top introduction, Also I love how you aren't making the stupid open mouth impression or overly energetic about every tiny note, This reaction video felt genuine and informative! I am glad I found your channel!!! Keep it up!.

This game is pretty horrifying at times! They really convey it through the OST and it’s great.

I never played Elden Ring, but this song sounds awesome! The second part heavily reminds me of God of War (1-3) soundtracks. Love it when an orchestra tells you to brace for some epic brutality.

Having done classical music during grade school and into university then growing up through all the Souls releases and then seeing the energy and joy this man has for the music just gave me another level of appreciation for the art in this studio's toolbelt

Love the compositional analysis. The music sounds nice to my ears when I'm playing but hearing an expert break down the more subtle details just heightens my appreciation of the material!

I'd love to hear what you think about "Ludwig, The Accursed" combined with its second half "Ludwig, The Holy Blade" from the video game Bloodborne (2015). The transition which blends them together is one of many genuinely hair-raising, spine-tingling moments of the game's sweeping soundtrack.

this track gives me chills everytime

Started watching jeebs when he was doing Radiohead stuff. Been fan since. The range of music on this channel is excellent. Not all are for me but I’m here for it. This piece is special for me. Brings me back to anger, frustration, persistence, then triumph. Special experience for me. Thanks jeebs keep at it

I love how your eyes follow the music. Reminds me of my days as a dancer when I visualize the music first to choreograph fitting moves later.😊❤

He moves his eyes, because when he listens to the music, his soul travels to another dimension where sound is able to be physically seen.

I STRONGLY recommend (and I'm sure others have as well) "In the Blood" from Hades. I've been playing games for decades and I can't recall another track that has made me feel like that one does (the context adds a lot, but it's brilliant all on its own)

I'm still here. And this is awesome man! Please keep going!

DANCING MAD - FINAL FANTASY 6 literally that entire soundtrack is amazing

If you want to get into some more FromSoftware games soundtracks, I would check out Bloodborne. Specifically- Ludwig the Accursed. Gives me chills. Also, maybe the Bloodborne Suite performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra- makes me tear up every time I listen, even if you don't react to it, it's worth listening/watching.

I don’t know if anyone else has commented but the language being sung is Latin. Watching the OST with translated captions from the latin gives a very haunting experience that makes listening to the music such an experience

glad to hear you reviewing video game OSTs! Elden Ring OST is gold.

Love how this guy is listening and accepting of all types of music and isn’t prejudice against where it comes from

Also, you should check out "Ludwig the Holy/Accursed Blade" from the game Bloodbourne. Made by the same people as Elden Ring. It's an absolutely masterpiece of a song.

In regards to the language question, the vast majority of the songs for elden ring are made with a synthetic orchestra program that uses real audio samples. However, some Latin speaking members of the community have listened closely to the songs and have found that the vocals are speaking quite a bit of Latin though it is often linguistically or grammatically incorrect as the melodies and overall sounds of the pieces were prioritized. First time watching your channel. You brought up things about the music that I haven't seen brought up by many other similar channels. Keep up the good work. Also PS if you want to here some of that Latin more clearly I recommend God Devouring Serpent, it's one of my favorites from the game.

Love these reactions to newer videogame OST keep it up my guy!

Hi! New here, im a student of musical composition, and i wanted to thank you about the "zipline" you described, it is indeed a melodic/armonic lock. I recognized by ear but couldnt tell apart and understand what locked me in, like feeling chased, aside from the obvious strings. Thank you!

High quality music of all genres lives in videogames and anime.

The song is magnificent, and then you see the concept of the boss that inspired it

Geebz, you reacted to my favourite bands. And now my favourite games. Massive respect.

Haven't checked your channel for a while Jeebz, but I'm glad this one popped for me! You should definitely review more OSTs from Elden Ring 😊

The Elden ring ost is so underrated. It gets shadowed by the gameplay and everything else goin on in the game

Great piece of music! I never play Elden Ring but the OST: OMG!!!! Soooo freaking awesome!!!

I enjoyed until the last second of the vid: you enjoy music and made us enjoy it even more than to sharing your knowledge, experience and point of view about the compositions descontextualized ( as you do not had play the videogame ) so you got a fresh perspective about the composition by itself and as it sounds. It is a pleassure to listen to your comments and professional opinion but also a very interesting perspective as a composer. I always learn something new in your vids because of your huge experience and passion for music and creativity, so.... T for THANKS and greetings from Spain!

Wow, finally a reviewer that can listen to the track almost in it's entirety only pausing at the phase transition...and then comment? and not pause it 20 times? awesome, subscribed. BTW you should really review Lichdragon Fortisax OST, it's literally insane.

Just found you today I love your reaction to the soundtrack this was such a good game and hearing you analyze it was a treat. Subscribed and looking forward to more content!

Even the main menu song to this game goes hard.

Radagon OST is by far the best in the game, just so epic

I love the way you teach! I could only wish and hope for a professor like you

Can i say... i love that you sometimes in the middle of listening lock eyes with the cam (or me) and do a gesture.. I LOVE IT :) It's like... yeah i know :) Great work. Thank you for that. :)

Now it’s time for the entire game review… along with the rest of the soundtrack 🍻🏆

Elden Ring is fantastic. It's set in a world that's been stagnant for ages, and slowly dying because of it, because the current god did not want that status quo to end. I think it's a grand adventure into a world that's both beautiful and hellish. Most of the characters are tragic and either have bitter or bittersweet storylines. There are many other gods, demigods and even people vying for power to change or end the stagnating world as we know it. You are one of these people. You're called a "Tarnished", a human descendant of a once powerful band of "golden warriors" that was banished from the Lands Between long ago, returning now to seize your destiny. Godrick the Golden, more commonly known as Godrick the Grafted is a demigod, descended from the current god who wanted to keep the status quo. Originally he was small and pitiful, a cowardly person who fled the capital of the Lands Between during a war by hiding amongst the fleeing women. However, in order to gain power, he turned to the repugnant art of "grafting" ie, grafting body parts of others onto his own body. He eventually replaced most of his body with that of a troll's, gaining significant height, muscle and bulk, to which he grafted even more limbs. Godrick in his pursuit of power, became so obsessed with this craft that he somewhat forgot his reasoning for grafting in the first place. He stayed holed up in his castle, getting his knights to kidnap travelers and warriors for their limbs, he mutated his servants and continuously grafted himself into a massive multi-limbed monster. When you finally meet him, his head is human and tiny, stuck on a massive body with arms sticking out every which way. But the arms move, enough to grasp and control weapons. He even severs one of his main arms and replaces it with a dragon head mid-fight. He is intimidating and massive and even with all that bulk, he's mobile and powerful. "Well... a lowly Tarnished playing as a lord?! I command thee: KNEEL! For I am the lord of ALL that is golden!"

i really like to listen to this and imagine how the song can relate to the character. you have all these different dynamic phrases that are “grafted” together. i love elden ring and i’m a musician, (in no way classically trained), but the way the piece was put together and describes the character without words, in my opinion, is one of the most incredible feats in all of music. and the best part is that this is just one of many great songs in the elden ring ost. but that’s just my two cents as a teenager who likes to play the blues lol

The music in this game hits in an entirely different way. I hear it and just… remember things. Moments of insanity, triumph… being afraid. Stunning game.

Awesome reaction. If you ever react to more Elden Ring tracks then I'd personally recommend "Starscourge Radahn", "Morgott, the Omen King" and "Beast Clergyman".

you should do the Starscourge Radhan from Elden Ring OST ;)

Always love your perspective. I feel like this game has an underrated OST, and I appreciate the thoughts from a professional

Would love to see you do more Elden ring tracks, such an amazing game. Great channel!

Please react to "Gehrman, The First Hunter" from the Bloodborne OST. The game is made by the same people who did Elden Ring, and it's one of the most beautiful compositions I've ever heard.

Godrick the Grafted is a mad king who uses magic to steal the souls and abilities, and flesh of his victims, "grafting" them onto his own body to make himself more powerful. of course, over time he becomes a complete monstrosity, unrecognizable as a man when you eventually happen upon him. i like to think that this orchestral track is meant to symbolize that horror - there is a single melody in the first half of the arrangement, surrounded by chaotic and divergent sounds. the single melody is godrick himself, nearly buried underneath the cacophony of souls that writhe in agony, trapped inside of his flesh. the second half of the arrangement comes after he grafts a dragon's head to himself mid-combat, and from then on the souls of the dead are screaming in rage and in unison, which is how I interpret the stronger focus on the chorus in the second half of the song.

love your work keep it up

Its cool to see your face as you pick apart the composition. Great video

I've been a hardcore fan of the fromsoftware games since demon's souls and the soundtracks are just one of many reasons why. I'd love to see you react to the dark souls 1 title screen song, it's very mellow in comparison to this Godrick song but I think it's absolutely gorgeous. I don't believe it has an official name but if you look up dark souls 1 title screen song you can find it on youtube. Cheers brotha, aloha!😎🤙

Awesome! I'm glad you're getting into the world of video game OSTs! Please check out Devil May Cry 5's - Bury The Light. Sort of metal/industrial in the vein of Doom Eternal.

Love your passion and intensity! Tree Sentinel was a sick first boss track to my first Fromsoft experience. Will stick with me for a long time.

I love it how this sounds dark and evil but still it is hopeful and you get this feeling that "I just need to pull thru this now" so its kinda courageing you to fight that darkness. I was continuously amazed by the whole Elden Ring. Especially by the music.

I'm still here. Elden Ring is another awesome work of art. I'm a construction guy so I follow architecture discourse on Twitter and with 2d drawings becoming CAD becoming VR models for clients and video games becoming so immersive both Architizer and ArchDaily have done pieces on video game "architecture". Architizer's piece featured Elden Ring and ArchDaily featured Dark Souls which is another game in the same "universe" by the same studio. There is a RU-vidr called ZioStorm who puts out videos with insights into the art direction for Elden Ring including the fungal universe hypothesis and the ripley scroll alchemy hypothesis. The series itself is famous for being punishingly, some might say sadistically, difficult. Elden Ring is all about reincarnation and the player will get used to being killed over and over. One theory about the story is that the player is (unwittingly) a god who traversed death, to be reincarnated as a "tarnished of no renown", to escape a curse of being beholden to a tyrannical, and perhaps alien, overlord. It's occult in that if you only "complete" the game once you could easily not notice any of this. There are four, at least, different endings to the game and whole chunks of story that you could miss every time you play through. ScreenRant put out a piece called "How Elden Ring Uses Dark Souls' Mental Health Metaphors" and talks about how some who struggle with depression have found, perhaps paradoxically, perhaps not, that the completely unbalanced and sadistically unfair the game can be at times actually helps them to cope with the lesser problems of real life. When I say unbalanced and unfair I mean A) that as you move around stuff gets loaded into memory and destroyed when you're not looking at it, this is standard for games, but in Elden Ring a pack of wolves will spawn above your head and fall on you as if they were all hiding in a tree to ambush you. And B) Malenia, Blade of Miquella. A boss fight so legendarily punishing that Elon Musk tweeted about her. The universal co-masonry people (also on RU-vid) put out a video in which, in passing and in jest, they lamented the fact that they can't risk inductees lives in tests anymore and I think that I know why, the eye of the storm, immersion therapy, that sort of thing. Demons are to be confronted. Anyway, one of the games boss fights is with Renala, Queen of the Full Moon which is full of creepy children who are magically prevented from growing up, or what a psychologist might call individuating, by a controlling, what a psychologist might call devouring, mother. Like Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky. In some of the cut content covered by ZioStorm and others it's suggested that the creepy children are unaware of, or maybe more aware of the ambiguity of death. Anyway, domestic violence ensues with books, furniture and magic spells being hurled at the player who is left with no choice but to lay these demons to rest. I suppose a tragic sort of accord is reached with Renala. Anyway, thanks for sharing the joy of the art that you love on the internet for us plebs. I hope that I have to some extent returned the favour.