The Epic Battle Music thread!

So, in between school, work, my gf, and fiddling about in SL, my main passion as of late has been Rome: Total War.

The original music that came with it is really well done, but I'm quite sick of it at this point.

So, I'm trolling the community here for some suggestions as to what YOU think of musically when it comes to epic-style battles, in order to compile a suitable winamp playlist.

For those of you not in the know, Rome: Total War's battles are actually similar in scope to the battles seen in Lord of the Rings; thousands of troops running around on screen at once, each one modelled and acting invididually. It's grand strategy at its finest.

Anyways, what do you think would be a good musical backdrop to accompany these bloody, bloody battles? Double points for classical music (ie Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War", triple points for choral arrangements (Duel of the Fates).

I await your recommendations.

LF

The Luftwaffe March is the first thing that pops into my mind, but it's more for triumphant parades and saluting than the actual battle.

Flight of the Valkries?

The hellenic total war mod for medieval total war has some excellent ancient epic music on it, i cant remember the url, and its not in my favorites, but the site should show up on google

The William Tell Overture on extreme fast forward.

Remember its obscenely powerful effectiveness as a soundtrack in the Clockwork Orange?

Thus transforming your play into both berzerker-class frenzy, and insane comedy simultaneously.

I also recommend intoxication, just prior. Nobody watched the Clockwork Orange without something mind-altering already in effect.

The Soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian!

"Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi: O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana

It's a short piece, but very good for epic battle.

If you've ever seen the movie Excalibur, it's the music they play when Arthur and the knights are riding out through the grove of cherry trees in blossom.

O Fortuna is tiresome because it's been played in 50 million commercials and movies (I feel like I'm not even exaggerating about that). There was a time in the 90's when it seemed like anything involving warfare, an action sequence, or an epic fight got O Fortuna by default.

Try James Horner, he has written a lot of music in the epic and/or warfare vein (Braveheart, Willow, Troy, etc).

Here's what I have so far jamming in der Winampen.

http://www.lordfly.com/Playlist.html

It's a winamp-generated html file of my playlist.

I already have many of the suggestions you have in here.

Any others?

1. Gustav Holst: Mars (from The Planets)

2. The soundtrack to TITUS.

3. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (I know, I know... but still)

4. The score for ALIENS

Lordfly,

If you send me your email via private message, I can email you the battle MP3s that come with Age of Empires III.

Oh, you are including modern music too. Beautiful People is a great pick. The drums always remind me of war drums. Such a deliciously angry song!

Oh, is he doing rock too?

Sepultura: Roots (the whole album)

I was just about to suggest Star F* and I saw it was on your playlist! Rockin. So I'll suggest some Smashing Pumpkins:

Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Zero
Everlasting

RUR RUR RUR

What a fantastico idea for a thread. Glad ya started this off, LF, 'cuz I lurve epic battle music... and even tho I can't hear as well as I used to, I still feel the whole spirit, the pulse, the rush of the drums and the throb of the savage beats, pounding their primal way onto the grasslands and across the hills and... OOO ANYHOO!

One of the rockingest themes is definitely "One Winged Angel" by Nobuo Uematsu, ESPECIALLY the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children version, which spans not only orchestral pomp & uncircumstance, but hard rock, synth-pop, circus carnival showtunes, and leaps across more genres brazenly in its cold, uncompromised, vision.

heh, being a hard-core metalhead I could suggest anything by Slayer,Megadeth (especially their Rust in Peace Album), Disturbed or even old school Metallica from their older albums like ...And Justice For All or Ride the Lightning. I know during the old school LAN parties nothing beats the rush of popping off your co-workers head and hearing the verse "death comes screaming from the sky!!!!!" at the same time

Perhaps not anything epic or totally related to a game such as Rome:Total War but this type of music gets my blood flowing during intense battle situations and when the rush of storming the opposition and crushing them with an iron fist happens, it is usually a doozy.

As a side note. It is odd though, I prefer Vocal Trance while I am in SL....

This might bring back memories of past lives for some of us.

When we swept like the wind through the defenders, and listened as their mocking cries turned to shouts, screams, and then death... watching our clan-mates drop dead right next to us, but feeling little as the blood-cry led us onward into the night, ever seeking victory...

http://bbmusic.crosswinds.net/soundBB/L2_Battle_3nc.mp3

Ah, and the rest of the site is pretty cool too. Some of you will recognise this fellow's work for sure.

http://www.billbrownmusic.com/musicmain.htm

The Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack.

This music is made for fightin', and it shows.

The Vision of Escaflowne theme.

I see you have one Blind Guardian song in your list. Good...get more.

I would also highly recommend the epic power metal band out of Italy called Rhapsody. Try "Dawn of Victory", "Holy Thunderforce", "Rain of A Thousand Flames" for starters. If I was told I could only listen to music from one band for the rest of my life, my choice would be Rhapsody.

Iced Earth, the entire album "Something Wicked This Way Comes". Also their album "The Glorious Burden"....quote from www.icedearth.com:
"The album specifically covers events in world history, and because history is often defined by conflict and tragedy, the tone remains just as dark, epic, and powerful as previous works from the band. The album goes as far back as the fifth century A.D. with Atilla the Hun's ravages across Europe, and as far forward as the terrorist attacks in America in 2001. In between, there is the American Revolution ("Declaration Day", "Valley Forge", the Napoleonic Wars ("Waterloo", and World War I ("Red Baron/Blue Max". The album's centerpiece, however, is "Gettysburg (1863)", a three-part, 32-minute epic that tells the tale of the defining battle of the American Civil War. Backed up with a full orchestra and led by the vocals of new singer Tim Owens (ex-Judas Priest), the music portrays the tremendous power and emotion that must have been present when those two great armies clashed, with the fate of a nation hanging in the balance. Taken as a whole, The Glorious Burden proves that some of our most amazing and resonant stories come not from the imagination of mankind, but rather, from our real-life deeds, for good and ill, throughout all of human history."

If your into the Viking era at all, try the following bands: Vintersorg, Otyg, Lumsk and Finntroll.

el bump

Jotting these down... good suggestions Anything that makes the Roman war machine that much fiercer is always a fun time.