Their debut album, Sweet Vengeance, was released in 2003 and featured drummer Per Möller Jensen (The Haunted), and bassist Brice Leclercq.

Fotis Benardo (Septic Flesh, ex-Innerwish) took over on drums and Henric Carlsson, who also plays in the band Cipher System, on bass.

When Gus G was performing with Arch Enemy at Ozzfest 2005, he was replaced by Pierre Lysell for Nightrage's touring activities.

For some of Nightrage's tour in support of Bolt Thrower, Gus G was again unavailable and his place was taken by Christian Muenzer, of Necrophagist.

In March 2006, Gus G. permanently left Nightrage to focus completely on Firewind (later in 2009 becoming the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne).

Vocalist Antony Hämäläinen, bassist Anders Hammer, and drummer Johan Nunez joined the band in the summer of 2007.

Their fourth album, Wearing a Martyr's Crown, was recorded, produced, and mixed by Fredrik Nordström at Studio Fredman for a 2009 release date.

"A Grim Struggle", "Collision of Fate", "Shed the Blood", and "Wearing a Martyr's Crown" were made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band video game series on Xbox.

It was announced via Blabbermouth.net that former At the Gates and Nightrage vocalist Tomas Lindberg would be performing guest vocals for the album titled Insidious.

On 23 March the title track "Insidious" was made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band video game series on Xbox.

[2] Starting on 9 October 2011, the band supported the album on a tour of North America with Firewind and Arsis, titled "Frets of Fury".

August 2012 was the first time the band played in Asia, headlining the Daejeon Metal Festival in South Korea.

In July 2016, Magnus Söderman (guitars), Francisco Escalona (bass), and Lawrence Dinamarca (drums) were announced as the newest members of Nightrage.