Two Steps from Hell does “epic” orchestral scores that highlight just how well soundtrack-style modern orchestral works pull this feel off. But I wouldn’t necessarily say they do it “better” than power metal.
The remix of Bjork's Army of Me used in Sucker Punch does it pretty well for me. Wouldn't consider that power metal.
I should find more orchestral power metal for my d&d battles. Hardest part is finding a track or playlist long enough. A 3 min song in repeat for half an hour is tiring.
how about somewhat proggy folky metal with death/black/power metal thrown in? Moonsorrow. Orchestral... not really, but melodic with mouth harps, fiddles, etc folk instruments & 8-30 min per song, mostly about iron age pagan tribe's battles, lore and life. All of the songs in finnish tho, so some language barrier.
Other than that, I'd probably go with Avantasia, Rhapsody, and such. Can't beat the classics :)
A couple of sessions ago we had the grand, epic fight and the DM linked this in the discord for the battle music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCcS7KgA4Q0
For me, I think melodeath can do it as well if not better. I think of Amon Amarth here.
Songs like Under Siege, We Shall Destroy, and Shield Wall are the best for that (or the worst, if I'm actually trying to focus on work haha)
Darker-toned orchestral music is pretty great, but yeah power metal takes the cake
Tech death
not really sure what I'd categorize Moonsorrow as... I guess their earlier stuff has "some" overlap with powermetal, but only kinda, mostly about "iron age pagan tribe warfare/battles/life" tho. Albums I'm thinking of are "Voimasta ja Kunniasta" and "Kivenkantaja", the newer stuff starts to veer towards blackmetal and more about death and despair, even if the frame of reference stays same-ish.
