Cue the Choir (Final Battle music)

Ry

Explorer
Food for thought:

What music should be playing as the PCs confront the font of evil that has been a source of a campaign worth of evil?

I think The Bridge of Khazad-Dum from Fellowship of the Ring takes it, but some of the orchestral versions of Nobuo Uematsu's Final Fantasy soundtracks are pretty close.
 

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Twitchy_the_Frog

First Post
I have a number of tracks from the Black Mages on my iPod. They are a rock band with Nobuo Uematsu as the lead guitarist (I think). Basically, they just play rock versions of various battle themes.

Nontheless, some of them (The Decisive Battle, Clash on the Big Bridge) can be truly awesome battle tracks.
 

thedungeondelver

Adventurer

May I recommend the following? Assuming the battle is going to last more than just a few minutes of real-time:

"Anvil of Crom", "Riders of Doom", "The Kitchen" from the CONAN THE BARBARIAN soundtrack.

Follow it up with "Immigrant Song" from Led Zeppelin's LED ZEPPELIN III

Cap it off with "Lux Aeterna" from Howard Shore's score for REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. This track was also featured in the extended teaser/trailer for THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS when it was initially released.
 

Torment

First Post
I am totally going to agree with everything thedungeondelver wrote.

I am also going to add some of The Sword, or Sleep. Not orchestral, just awesome. And Sleep has lyrics like "and in the oaken tower, dwells a druid with evil powers..." Come on. If your BBEG is a druid, HOW PERFECT IS THAT?!?!
 


awayfarer

First Post
If you're not opposed to midis, you can find a lot of video game music here. Theres any number of battle oriented themes. When my WLD group gets into a battle, I usually listen to Luca Blights fight theme from Suikoden 2.

Failing that, I think Rob Zombie makes good "smash bad guys" music.
 

Greybar

No Trouble at All
If you're going to say "cue the choir", then...

I've been meaning to get Hayden's Mass in Time of War for some time now after hearing it performed by a local chorale (at least by the time I next run a game). The nice thing about classical pieces for some of these is that they start so slow and quiet that your players may not even notice you've queued it up. Then just as they're getting into the meat of the action the

Carmina Burana (sp?) is an obvious classic - even more so if you can score a copy of the illegally-licenses-then-withdrawn techno version. Sadly, I had a copy on tape and have lost it since.

For a Japanese-warrior-culture themed, any of the Kodo albums work well. Massive pounding drums - what more do you need?

I like all of these since they do not have vocals which I find distracting, and are not terribly modern to pull people out of character.

On a tangent: when all the blood as been spilled and the survivors stand over the devastated field: Moby's "God moving over the face of the waters." There's a reason why it is so perfect as the final piece in the movie "Heat", where Pacino stands over De Nero as he dies.... We used it as the wrap music for a high-energy climactic finale of a LARP game (werewolf) and it was perfect for cooling things back down and mourning the dead.
 

Mark Hope

Adventurer
I second "Anvil of Crom", "Riders of Doom" and add "Battle of the Mounds" from Conan the Barbarian. If you can find it, go for "Requiem for a Tower", which is the crazy bombastic orchestral version of the music from Requiem for a Dream that was used in the Two Towers trailer (and elsewhere) - the original lacks thunder. From Gladiator I recommend "The Battle" and "Barbarian Horde". From Pirates of the Caribbean, use "Will and Elizabeth" and "Barbarossa is Hungry". From Sleepy Hollow take "The Story" and "The Chase". From Alien Resurrection you want "The Aliens Escape" and "They Swim". And finish off with "Bishop's Countdown" from Aliens - the ultimate cracking finale. And there you have it - the BBEG set piece battle par excellence :).
 


Nifft

Penguin Herder
Decisive Battle from the Neon Genesis Evangelion sound track.

U2: Mission Impossible theme techno remix.

Lots of stuff from the sound tracks of Braveheart, Conan the Barbarian and the LotR movies.

Cheers, -- N
 

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