Ever wondered what would happen if arguably the greatest pop culture franchise to exist collided with metal? In the past we've had Lord Of The Rings inspired bands labelling themselves as 'Tolkiencore', Okilly Dilly, a Simpsons themed metal band, Stovokor, a death metal group with lyrics entirely in Klingon and a plethora of sci fi themed prog records in existence. However, this is the first time a supergroup of Star Wars villains have banded together to shred like never before and get signed to Rise Records in the process.
As drummer Bobba Sett explains; “Velocity/Rise Records have been a long time ally to the empire. Their loyalty is second to none. From the day we released our original music video/single on your Earth’s iTunes platform, we have worked closely with them to secure peace and security to the empire in form of super awesome heavy metal. We’ve worked closely with the owner of Velocity on other projects, and it just kind of seemed like a natural fit.”
As we’ve discussed before in our review of the self titled Galactic Empire debut, there have been countless reworks of John Williams’s impeccable score. However, for the first time it feels as heavier interpretation has not only done it justice, but from a technical standpoint, sounds incredibly well produced and tightly performed.
“I sat in my recording studio on the Death Star, and transcribed the score by ear. It took over a year to do, so it’s a good thing I have the power of the Dark side of the force at my disposal. Sometimes it was frustrating, but that frustration led to anger. Which led to hate. Which led me right back to the dark side where I wanted to be.”
While choosing classic themes such as ‘The Forest Battle’ from Return Of The Jedi and ‘Imperial March’ might seem like no brainers to devoted fans, the franchise’s music has many different parts that we seem to favour over others. When asked what Sett’s favourite song to play live is, he said; “The Asteroid Field. Because its super sick, really hard to play, and heavy. That being said, the trickiest song to play from your galaxy is still ‘Through the Fire and Flames’ by Dragonforce.”
With more and more artists seeking crowdfunding opportunities to get their projects off the ground, it only seems fitting that fans came together for their love Star Wars and all things heavy. Having only been known since the tail end of 2015, the group not only smashed their Kickstarter goal of $60,000, but have also been featured in Huffington Post, MSNBC and Entertainment Weekly.
“The Rebels keep blowing up our Death Stars and I can’t even tell you how many mortgages we had to take out on those things. We figured we could give the fans a chance to be a part of something, get some cool swag, and its a cool chance to collaborate.”
Alongside raking over 3 million views with their initial posting of the Star Wars main theme tune almost two years ago, E Entertainment also gave them a slot to perform during their coverage of the 2016 Academy Awards. This is the first time we’ve seen a themed band get so much exposure into the mainstream, and what better time than rejuvenated interest in the series thanks to the subsequent release of The Force Awakens back in 2015.
Above all, Galactic Empire’s live shows really bring out how their renditions were intended to be shown by us Earth folk. Force choke holds, slamming guitar solos, copyright safe costumes and tasty polyrhythms that add an extra sense of technicality to the music that makes Star Wars so iconic.
“We’ll go all the way to the outer rim if the fans are there. But only performing arrangements of John Williams’ work. But most importantly, We aim to bring the house down harder than the Death Star did at Alderaan fest in ’77.”
Galactic Empire’s self-titled album is out now on Rise Records.