Seriously, I HATE MK11's menu music at this stage and I can't stand how it plays over EVERYTHING.
Main menu? That music.
Settings menu? That music.
Character select screen? That music.
Towers of Time? That music.
Kombat League? That goddamn motherfucking same FUCKING music.
It would be fine as a piece of background music to hear on occasion but it plays over
every single screen in an endless loop and I've grown to utterly detest it... and yet I still can't even remember it. I now honestly play MK11 with the sound off, which is a tragedy because I adore my Kronika announcer. But after 2 years I can't take that menu music anymore.
And as for the arena themes? Can't remember any of them. Not one. And yet I could listen to this forever and never get bored (and yes I'm going to be a heretic and state the neutered SNES version was the ultimate rendition of this track, sounded mean as shit but equally as mystical):
What happened to Forden, is there a reason he isn't involved properly anymore?
The limitations of the 16bit and arcade era made for really really wonderful memorable themes, because they had to make something magical you'll remember forever that lasted one minute on loop with minimal instrumentation that was unique and interesting. I can remember every track from MKs 1-3, as well as MK4's wonderful character select theme, without even thinking about it. MK9 proved just how wonderful those themes were when updated for the modern era (and holy hell Shang Tsung's Gardens was an awesome new addition, best new MK arena theme since the first 4 games). They're now so orchestrated and over-developed they lack that magical simplicity the original themes had.
I'd far rather have even Jonathan Sloate and his cheap guitar techno and keyboard trumpets (he scored The Journey Begins, Defenders of the Realm and Conquest, as well as co-wrote Juno Reactor's 'The Journey Kontinues' from the MK: More Kombat compilation) as he at least could make things that were memorable with a nice ear for (tinny) mystical melodies, than whoever the hell the guy is who's making the current music.
Don't know if you're a grime fan, but just to prove how memorable Dan Forden's themes were, here's Flowdan's 'Level' which is entirely built upon MK3's Church theme (no one's going to be writing any songs based upon 'Sea of Blood' or 'Black Market Alley' anytime soon):