Galactic Empire Special Edition

Thank you Pure Noise Records for sending us this digital album to review!

As a gamer I appreciate Final Fantasy soundtracks and I love the metal remakes that The Black Mages/Earthbound Papas gave them. Galactic Empire Special Edition does a metal makeover on Star Wars music. I love how it begins with the 20th Century Fox Fanfare theme that’s in the beginning of many movies that are near and dear to our hearts.

The next song is the main Star Wars theme mixed with Revenge of the Sith. It’s the longest track at seven and a half minutes and makes you want to play air guitar along with it. The Imperial Suite isn’t as familiar to me, but still entertains for two and a half minutes. Dark Side Assault gives me boss music vibes, and as my kids would say, it slaps.

Sadly, I have not seen The Mandalorian, but those that have may recognize the fifth track. I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but it sounds pretty good and makes me regret not seeing it yet even more. Obi Wan Kenobi has his own metalized music compilation too. Since this didn't sound familiar to me, I'm assuming it's based off of the TV series.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is another show that I haven’t seen. I’m not familiar with its theme, but the metal rendition is good. It should come as no surprise that I haven’t seen The Book of Boba Fett either, but the theme song rocks and is one of my favorites on this album. I like the background "Hey!" vocals. The Battle of Hoth is from The Empire Strikes Back and sounds good with the metal treatment. The final song, Victory Celebration, is a good ending song and is more cheerful than the previous track. I'm not sure the origins of this song, but its decent.

Galactic Empire Special Edition is available on BandCamp for $7, or you can purchase tracks individually for $1 apiece. The audio tracks are available in many formats, including MP3, FLAC, and more. I was sent WAV files and I converted them to FLAC to save space and also to MP3 so my 2012 car stereo can play it. They all sound great! A few of the tracks are available to listen to ahead of time. If you're like me and have only watched the movies, many of these songs may be over your head. Just because they're not recognizable doesn't reduce their quality in any way. I just think that people who watched the TV shows may enjoy this album more. Fans of heavy metal and Star Wars should check this album out!