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Civilization 7 Soundtrack/Music discussion

Since we know that Iceland and Ottomans are the next two Civs in the Tides of Power, I wonder which composer will work on which theme. I wouldn't be surprised if Knorr did the Ottomans and Rizzo did Iceland, but it could be reversed. What sort of music do you hope to hear in the Icelandic/Ottoman themes?
 
Give me a good mehter march for the Ottomans, please and thank you.
 
Guandao said:
Since we know that Iceland and Ottomans are the next two Civs in the Tides of Power, I wonder which composer will work on which theme. I wouldn't be surprised if Knorr did the Ottomans and Rizzo did Iceland, but it could be reversed. What sort of music do you hope to hear in the Icelandic/Ottoman themes?
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My prediction (based on what?) is that Knorr will compose Iceland's theme and Rizzo will compose the Ottomans'.
I expect Iceland's to have a foreboding quality, including choirs. Think of the theme in Old Norse from Christopher Tin's The drop that contained the sea.
For the Ottomans', I hope it's not a military march. I don't know why, but I always found those Ottoman marches to be somewhat goofy (for example, the Ottoman theme in Civ 5).
 
reddishrecue said:
Many songs in civ 7 are good. Amongst the top for me are Mississippi, Maya, modern Russia etc.
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I've seen some criticism of Roland Rizzo's Russia theme though, for being primarily based off of a movie soundtrack (Hymn to Red October). The Civ wiki claims several other inspirations though.

I'm a little disappointed the two composers (Knorr and Rizzo) never really replied back to my questions about certain themes and their inspirations in Civ7. I don't know if Firaxis/or 2K doesn't allow them to answer anymore. If they are going to reveal more about the inspirations for their soundtrack somehow, I would greatly appreciate it. That Meiji Japan theme interests me the most. The suggested inspirations on the Civ wiki don't really match the melody in my opinion. Others I'm wondering about include the Maya, Roman, and ancient Egypt's themes.
 
Guandao said:
I've seen some criticism of Roland Rizzo's Russia theme though, for being primarily based off of a movie soundtrack (Hymn to Red October). The Civ wiki claims several other inspirations though.

I'm a little disappointed the two composers (Knorr and Rizzo) never really replied back to my questions about certain themes and their inspirations in Civ7. I don't know if Firaxis/or 2K doesn't allow them to answer anymore. If they are going to reveal more about the inspirations for their soundtrack somehow, I would greatly appreciate it. That Meiji Japan theme interests me the most. The suggested inspirations on the Civ wiki don't really match the melody in my opinion. Others I'm wondering about include the Maya, Roman, and ancient Egypt's themes.
Click to expand...
I liked Meiji Japan as well as Roman and Han.
 
Tides to Power Rankings:

Pirate Republic: C, more Rizzo effect sadly...

Tonga: B, the first few minutes are kinda boring.

Ottomans: A, obviously, it's hard to live up to Fehti Marsi from civ 6, but this is fine. It walks a strange tightrope of being both intimidating and happy.
 
Color-coded: brown is antiquity, blue is exploration, and green is modern

Updated for Tides of Power


S tier

Live Gloriously (Obviously)

Carved in Stone (A more refined, orchestral version of Live Gloriously that I actually might like better)

From Dust to Dust (Very melancholic, which I like a lot)

Nation Against Nation (A more intense version of the above, with some melancholic parts as well)

Maurya (A triple song! Vocals! Slowly building in intensity with authentic classical instruments!)

Chola (Very good flow, and extremely catchy vocals)

Spain (Extremely underrated, very cheerful and nice to listen along to)

Hope Rising (Caught me really off guard, but in a good way. It barely feels like Civ, but that makes it even better)

Stand Firm (A better version of the above, with organs and military drums!)

Si Vis Pacem (A nice and calm piece, simple but effective)

Para Bellum (It’s extremely sad and tragic-sounding, which makes sense)

French Empire (Very underrated, I like how the two parts coalesce near the end)

Meiji Japan (The only “intimidating” theme of the main Civ themes, and I really like it.)

Mexico (Probably the song you could play at a regular, non-Civ function and have the least amount of weird looks. I think one of the comments pointed it out lol)

Siam (Very cheerful and catchy)

Qajar (Not just in style, but also, the first theme being really impressive and the second one being even better.)


A tier

Strum the Lyres (A bit repetitive, but it has decent instrumentation)

Egypt (One of the simpler songs, but it works)

Mississippians (quite underrated, I really like the melody here)

Persia (The second song is really good, I wish they used that for the whole thing, the first song is just okay)

Abbasids (Quite underrated, starts off slow but has a catchy element to it)

Bulgaria (The two songs are extremely good on their own, but the transition is a bit jarring)

Mongols (A very slow start, but it’s a great buildup)

Dai Viet (Very Lively)

America (The beginning is just okay, I think they should’ve used the second song for the whole thing)

Britain (A bit simple, but a wonderful orchestration and really captures the feel of Britain)

Ottomans: A, obviously, it's hard to live up to Fehti Marsi from civ 6, but this is fine. It walks a strange tightrope of being both intimidating and happy.


B tier

Strike the Drums (A bit too calm for a war theme)

Aksum (Okay instrumentation, not that interesting)

Carthage (A better version of Rome, though the drums are a bit repetitive)

Inca (I can’t really explain it, but a lot of Roland Rizzo’s themes have the same rhythm)

Majapahit (See above)

Ming (This one’s very slow, but it’s nice I guess)

Buganda (The Rizzo effect, but I guess the instrumentation is cool)

Qing (I like how grandiose it feels, but it’s quite slow)


C tier

Maya (Too much jungle ambience and horns)

Hawaii (Way too quiet, a single drum and single vocalist isn’t enough imo)

Normans (Okay ish stock medieval music)

Shawnee (A bit too slow and repetitive imo)

Songhai (Rizzo effect)

Pirates (This really hurts, it was such a layup!)

Mughals (A massive disappointment, no vocals really hurts it imo)



D tier

Greece (Horribly repetitive and annoying instruments)

Assyria (Sounds like Bloons TD 6 music)

Khmer (Way too long, the instruments don’t sound that appealing, and the vocals are a bit droning)

Rome (Why is it so miserable sounding??)

All the Exploration ambience (Stock Renaissance music)

Prussia (Insane origin, and Rizzo effect)

Russia (Insane origin, Rizzo effect, and very boring)
 
Last edited:
So the Ottomans theme is based on music by Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi ibn Ghaybi. He was a composer in the Timurid Empire, but his musical theories had influence on later Persian, Arab, and Turkish music. Maybe this would've been more appropriate as the Timurid theme? But I guess his music influenced the later Ottoman one. Someone with the free time can probably search Youtube for which specific music by Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi ibn Ghaybi the Ottoman theme is based on.

Now we wait for Iceland's theme.
 
Guandao said:
So the Ottomans theme is based on music by Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi ibn Ghaybi. He was a composer in the Timurid Empire, but his musical theories had influence on later Persian, Arab, and Turkish music. Maybe this would've been more appropriate as the Timurid theme? But I guess his music influenced the later Ottoman one.
Click to expand...
I've heard elsewhere it's based on Amed nesim-i subh-dem, which is by ibn Ghaybi. The wiki page seems to imply that it would have been been played in the Ottoman Empire in the 17th/18th centuries.
 
It was an ambient for the Ottomans in Civ VI.
 
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