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.
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.
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 :)
