I think they should hire me.  
In all honesty, I feel like the music falls flat most of the time. It's not engaging enough - it's not prominent at all. There's no memorable themes or melodies that repeat, not enough dark tense atmosphere. In fact, I'd say the music is the biggest letdown of the series. Bear is just too understated - with a few exceptions.
I really like the Governors theme. (Even if I released the same exact freaking song a week earlier  Seriously, I nearly shit my pants when the Governors theme played on the TV show, when Rick and co. first infiltrate Woodbury.) The pulsing synth hit harkens back to Goblins score for the scene in Dawn of the Dead in the apartment basement.
I also rather like the "Morgans Wife" theme that repeats throughout the series every now and again. We got it with Loris ghost, Morgans zombified wife, and then they played it when Glenn was getting a wedding ring for Maggie - that was a brilliant touch. It really left me uncertain on the couples future - that music usually signified tragedy, so it just left me feeling uneasy for it to repeat again out-of-context. Definitely very foreboding.
Some of Bears best work was in the Season 3 finale. The FIRST montage, with Carl looking at the badge...that song was awesome. One of the only songs that really stood out in the show. The second montage song of the episode? The A-Team Lite when Rick, Michonne and Daryl decided to bring the fight back to their enemies? Not so much. That song felt unfinished and underwhelming. Needed more bulkiness to it and a more climatic crescendo. It just kind of fizzles out. Really amateur, in fact.
I don't really care for the theme song. Very similar to Game of Thrones, in fact - both theme songs have a very repetitive motif that fails to be melodically pleasing. These motifs just border on being catchy, but fall short. John Williams and Basil Poledouris never had such problems. I like the IDEA of fading into Walking Deads theme different every week, that is brilliant actually! But usually it is executed in such a hackneyed fashion it makes me cringe.
I don't mind the Beth singing parts, even if they are sometimes a little drawn out. But usually when they drop straight up songs into an episode, it doesn't work as well as, say, Kurt Sutters cheesy music montages in Sons of Anarchy. The only one that really stayed with me was the acoustic folky number that plays at the end of Clear. That worked perfectly.
Merle listening to Motorhead was the best music moment on the show, in all honesty. Then cranking what I believe was Sammy Hagar? When he drove the car into the assault?
Another thing I would like to mention, is just the sound-design for atmospheric moments. There should be creepy, other-worldly sound effects playing when we see zombies. I'm not saying all-out 80s cheesy, but we SHOULD definitely get more callbacks to the 80s horror soundtracks, drenched in synthesizers and whatnot. I say this because Bear doesn't seem to really pull that much magic out of the more bland "Orchestra" tone of his soundtrack. If you're gonna make orchestral music for a series, you need to have an amazing knack for melody. It just sounds like all of Bears music runs together...there's no CHARACTER or PERSONALITY to his different themes (beyond the few I mentioned.) If you don't take the orchestra and really run with it, you just end up making music that sounds like any other Basic Cable drama. And that's exactly what most of the music on Walking Dead sounds like to me. The show deserves a more distinct musical direction than "String quartet, piano without dynamics, RINSE. REPEAT." Where are the french horns? The tubas? The woodwinds and REALLY LOW BRASS for creepiness? The synthesizers for creepy atmospheres and soundscapes? The Walking Dead needs a more visionary and innovative composer to take over or at least to help Bear out, because Bears music really leaves a LOT to be desired. Easily the worst part of the show. Again, not necessarily BAD by any means, just extremely BLAND and underwhelming.
Last note, the ACOUSTIC GUITAR THEY KEEP SHOWING. SOMEONE SHOW KNOW HOW TO F*CKING PLAY THAT! I would much prefer a solemn, almost Johnny Cash like character playing doom-laden hymns and singing in a dark, foreboding baritone than I would another Beth singing moment. That would be badass to open an episode, if handled correctly.
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Originally Posted by JonOfTheShred
I can see what you're getting at with using less obvious instrumentation and fusing genres, but I still feel that brass would be out of place (IMO). It seems to bold a statement, a là Night on the Bare Mountain. Although it's hard to be sure without having some idea of the emotional tempo/beats of a scene. I've probably watched The Empire Strikes Back and LotR too many times to have a clear unbiased idea.
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