I'm Looking for Some Good Combat Music

[Nebulous]

I'm sure i'm not the only one, but i spend hours working on adventure prep while listening to the tracks for the next session (or past sessions).

I'll have to second the Alien and Aliens soundtracks, they're among the best for suspense and blistering action.

I usually chime in in these threads and propose Corvus Corax, a german footstomping medieval rock band, and will do so again.

For combat music I'd recommend their live albums, Seikilos, Tritonus, and Viator. (There are samples on their page, go check them out! (Music -> Samples))

Whoa! I checked it out. That might take some getting used to for me. It's certainly different.

 

[Arnwyn]

Video game soundtracks are particularly good for this sort of thing. Some (very quick) recommendations out of many, many others:

Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Baten Kaitos
Chrono Cross
God of War
God of War II
Konami Battle (any of them, but Dracula Battle or 'Battle the Best' are very good)
Lair
Lost Odyssey
SoulCalibur I
SoulCalibur II
SoulCalibur III
SoulCalibur IV
Stella Deus
Xenogears

A couple good movie soundtracks that haven't yet been mentioned:
- Cutthroat Island
- Kull the Conqueror
- Waterworld
- The Mummy (if an 'arabian' game)

Anime:
- Magic Knight Rayearth
- Vision of Escaflowne

 

[Slander]

The Prince of Persia games (SoT, WW, TT) have some good, heavy tracks injected with a bit of middle eastern flair.

If you like Corvus Corax, Cultus Ferox might also work. They inject a more modern take on the medieval music theme by incorporating a lot of metal guitars, heavy drums and some electronic beats.

 

[Angrydad]

Basically any video game with a fantasy type theme will have some decent background music or something that one can easily pillage in some form.

Buckethead does a lot of cool guitar stuff and has many instrumental albums in just about any style you can imagine (seriously heavy shred stuff to mellow acoustic and jazz-fusion). For good battle type music by B-head I'd try "Cuckoo Clocks of Hell", "Crime Slunk Scene", "Decoding the Tomb Bansheebot", and "Monsters and Robots".

 

[Johnnii]

Video game soundtracks are particularly good for this sort of thing. Some (very quick) recommendations out of many, many others:

Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy Tactics A2

I have to add Final Fantasy XI, aka Online, to this. The battle music there is on the same par with the others of series

 

[Turtlejay]

Very good ideas, but where would I get video game soundtracks? I own some of those games, and short of starting it up and sitting by it for 6 hours with a tape recorder I can't think of how to get the music out.

Jay

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Very good ideas, but where would I get video game soundtracks? I own some of those games, and short of starting it up and sitting by it for 6 hours with a tape recorder I can't think of how to get the music out.

Jay

Final Fantasy VII.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

In some ways I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned but the Score Soundtrack to Transformers is absolutely sublime if you like Gladiator/Lord of the Rings orchestral and choral arrangements.

Actually I just did a quick check on amazon and the prices for this are between $55 and $300!!!!!!! I mean yeah, the soundtrack is excellent but damn that's expensive.

I wonder why so expensive for a recent release? Definitely alongside Gladiator in terms of combat music though.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[SilverSnake]

When I first saw the thread, I instantly thought of Conan the Barbarian. Most of my picks have already been mentioned, but for other movie soundtracks, you can also try:
Crimson Tide, for an Eastern European flair
The Last Samuarai, still eastern, not so much European
Pirates of the Caribean

Did anyone mention Legend yet? And didn't Tangarine Dream do the soundtrack for that? I saw them mentioned earlier. Now I feel old too...


I lurk no longer

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Am I the only one who likes to hear some good hip-hop instrumentals during battles now and then?

Probably.

With this crowd? Probably.

Personally most of the things people have recommended here are pretty cliche and played out especially the LOTR and Conan Soundtracks. Those are just as likely to pull me out of the moment as if someone were playing MF Doom. Also I understand that D&D is mostly the perview of white males but if there was no hip-hop in D&D then I'm guessing there was no metal in D&D. So why is metal so accepted as background music and hip hop isnt? Rhetorical question. We pretty much already know why that is.

Getting back on track:
I like using video game and anime soundtracks. My two favorite right now are Ninja Gaiden (the track called The Fiend is my personal favorite for battle music) and pretty much any thing off of the Bastard!!! soundtrack. Alot of these tracks are pretty short but if you put them on loop they work out just fine.