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Hans Zimmer is good but I find him "lazy" as a composer tbh, I feel like he doesn't create as many unique motifs and there's a distinct lack of complexity in a lot of his stuff compared to likes of Michael Giaccinno and Lorne Balfe. The one "Natasha Soars" from Black Widow is another good one.

He seems to like Middle Eastern stuff.
I don't think that's entirely true, Hans Zimmer being lazy. Yes, I heard a lot of his themes in various compositions of his but I can't say Lorne Balfe, from what I heard, is totally original. There are definitely tunes in there that I've heard before in other works of other composers even repeating among them (as in the same tunes by many composers).

Well I find it most apparent in his most recent stuff, I look at his earlier stuff and there's lots of variation and "effort" whereas I look at a lot of his more recent stuff and its all good don't get me wrong but there's not "much" there compared to his earlier stuff. Of course no composer is completely original, just look at Danny Elfman but I just feel like Hans Zimmer is now a poor choice for projects compared to other composers out there for example the Dune soundtrack is really really good, but I feel like it should've been mind-blowing.

Ha-ha. Good but should have been mind blowing. Not everyone's a Mozart, Beethoven or whatever.
I don't like all of his stuff. Don't even know all of it and yeah, I definitely like his older work. For instance: Gladiator, King Arthur, The Last Samurai, Inception, maybe Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Rush, the Christopher Nolan's Batman series didn't catch me for instance. Don't know about the new Dune. I'm generally reticent to nowadays media stuff since it's filled with forced political correctness to the point of ideology/propaganda.

Implying media hasn't always been filled with ideology/propaganda? Just Watch Rocky IV, most Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, old John Wayne films, Birth of a Nation etc and you'll see its always been this way

There's a thin line between being ideologically oriented, and having biases and or part of the thinking of the time.

How does one tell the difference

Anyways, I am seeing much more programmed material nowadays than before. It's like we're during WWII and during the Cold War when everything not American was a potential threat.

American media dominates by virtue of its size and the amount of money they can put into it but yeah there's been a rise in dissatisfaction and unrest politically mostly due to growing wealth inequality.

But anyway, if you have any other good recommendations for music I might include them in my campaigns its hard to find music which isn't intrusive to the gameplay but still exciting enough.

Actually, wealth equality was never a thing and nowadays people's standard of life raised significantly. Those who are that rich are only a few. That's not to say that they might deserve it but generally speaking, life is much better than before in most countries.

What do you mean by intrusive to the gameplay? Immersion breaking, as in way too many pauses or tempo breaks/changes or too much main theme/vibe shifting?

Wealth inequality is 100% a thing, just because people are better off which I'm not denying does not mean that wealth inequality is not a large driving factor in most social problems and unrest one only needs to look at my own country the UK for how this manifests. Not to mention averages can be misleading. People might have a TV or smartphone but if they can't afford day to day needs like food, water, heating are they really "better" off? But I suppose this kind of discussions isn't really meant for the Hive's profile posts lol.

Yeah you don't want the music to be too "fancy" imo, in cinematics sure you can have lots of musical flourishes but generally in gameplay the music needs to be atmospheric with consistent recurring themes. That's why that den defence soundtrack is great, it sounds amazing but isn't intrusive and not overly repetitive.

Well, it depends my friend. What you compare, the type of jobs, the types of education degrees. An unemployed person will obviously not live a better life than an employed one. Nowadays we got inflation, inflamed by the war in Ukraine and in the UK there's also the Brexit thing. I'm not saying things are perfect but from that to saying everyone can simply be equal, is a bit off.

Heroes of Might & Magic V has good consistent music themes. I'll have to check on some others. I can't remember now and I'm a bit in a hurry. Ping me up again here if I forget to come back to you.
Also, you can simply search for stuff on YouTube, depending on how careful you are with licenses but since you're using stuff from other media, I guess not too worried.
There are these channels I know that might have some pieces you might like or be useful to you:

I'm not a particular fan of either. Liked the first before it went fast food style.

Give me more examples of what compositions are you using to get an idea of what you might be looking for, please.

Also, check out the recent stuff of MelNefys one of our most recent members:

I usually use WoW music tbh as it's often atmospheric but not too intrusive

Aha. Well, I guess you have loads of those and it also depends on what kind of music consistency you want. From other media along with the WoW ones, you might find them unfitting. Edited the post above in case you haven't noticed.
Are you looking for specific theme music, as in battle, ambience (walking around) or any particular type?

Tbh I probably won't need any new music for a while yet, I usually add it towards the end of a campaign; its one of those things where you're not always sure what music will fit til after it's done.