MK music has become less "memorable" because they're focusing more on providing atmosphere than relying on a strong melody. Melody -- the notes that you can sing or hum along to -- is what makes music catchy. Like the "Courtyard" theme that runs through a lot of the classic tracks, or the MK2 Portal music, or my personal favorites: The Subway, Slaughterhouse Jive, and MKA's Bell Tower and Evil Portal. All of those have a driving, aggressive, catchy melody.

I do like how memorable the old tracks were. At the same time though, the music was very "in your face" and kind of dominated the experience (part of the reason it's so well remembered). I'd argue that in a lot of cases the music didn't "bring the arena to life" so much as overshadowed it to where the music had a stronger presence than the actual arena, and sometimes clashed with the location. Compare to some of MK9's less melody-driven tracks like the Bell Tower and Hell and the Evil Monastery, and you notice that while the music isn't very "memorable," it often does a better job of evoking a sense of the place you're fighting in.

I could barely hear the music so I can't say.

I can't give an opinion on it since I haven't heard it, they have it really low on the Kombat Kast

You can hear the Emperor's Courtyard track in the Erron Black trailer decently enough. That's pretty much the only one that comes to mind where the music actually grabbed my attention and wasn't muffled or the volume wasn't super low.

I like it. Lots.

Watch the IGN videos. You can hear the music just fine.

Yeah, and it's a lot better than any of the non-remixed MK9 tracks.

Imo the soundtrack has never been really impressive after Deception. MKA still had a couple of good tunes but most were bland and forgettable. It's too early to judge the MKX music though, we didn't hear that much so I'm still hoping for the best.

MK1 through MK4 had incredible, memorable, and arguably iconic soundtracks. Every game since then has been God awful in terms of the music. Very bland and generic. Same thing with Street Fighter, all the SFIV games had terrible music.