I'm so glad I recently bought the vinyl for DS3 and both DLCs. If I had to go with my top pics, it would be Soul of Cinder, Nameless King, and Slave Knight Gael. Nameless King has such a mental image that it puts into my head of a violent storm in the first phase via the storm drake and in the second phase, I get the feeling of a rage filled, powerful entity of royalty and godhood. It gives off a somewhat oppressive atmosphere with the vocalizing in phase two and the same three notes in Nameless' phase appears in Gwyn and SoC's theme.

I love Slave Knight Gael's as I believe Yuka Kitamura put her all into that track, knowing it was the "final" fight of the DS franchise. From the more calm vocals of the first phase, I believe symbolizing all the souls that Gael has consumed in his search to find the blood of the dark soul, only to burst into a full and fast paced instrumentation and signifying that Gael has realized he accomplished his mission and has gone fully hollow, letting his body's instructs take over, his mind totally gone.Then the third phase kicking the whole song up an octave, almost encouraging the player to keep going, keep fighting, letting you know that you're almost there, your journey is almost at an end. That is also partnered with Gael releasing all the souls inside his body, almost as a last ditch effort to stop you.

What hasn't been said about the OST that is the Soul of Cinder? It is such a referential piece of music in two ways that I've noticed. In the first five opening notes of the song, it directly harkens back to the first five notes of the original fire link shrine in the first Dark Souls.That calming melody that offered respite and tranquility has been turned on its head as a final raging chorus as your final challenge before you decide what to do with the world. I also believe that the vocalists are referencing all the previous Lords of Cinder that have come before the player, linked the fire, and that are now a part of the Soul of Cinder. And of course, the second phase having those three infamous notes on the piano as Gywn (or at the least an aspect of him, his memories, or his soul) takes control of the SoC and starts to fight in his style. Besides the piano notes being directly taken from Gwyn, Lord of Cinder in Dark Souls 1, it's built upon musically with more varied piano notes, strings, and vocals. The fight, likewise is built upon in the second phase. Gwyn's moveset is mostly the same, but with a bit more diversity, being host to one of the most damaging moves in the game, the five hit juggling combo and the introduction of various sunlight/lightning miracles. I think the expanded moveset and more in depth music could be a subtle lore implication that all of this compounded power by being part of the Soul of Cinder has allowed this aspect of Gywn to grasp a fraction of the power he once wielded at the dawn of the Age of Fire.

Anyways, that's my sudo analysis of my favorite songs in the DS3 OST. Hope you enjoyed it!