From a galaxy far, far away, Galactic Empire are back with their latest creation, Cinemetal, out now via Pure Noise Records. Known for their interstellar metal renditions of Star Wars themes, these shredding Sith Lords expanded their horizons, bringing a whole new galaxy into the mix within the cinematic universe by reimaging well-known themes from Harry Potter, Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, Batman, and more. To celebrate the release, the band has teamed up with Metal Insider to offer a track-by-track guide to the album.

Superman 

This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The rhythmic ostinato that repeats throughout the song translates really well to Bass and kick drum patterns. Essentially, John Williams wrote a five minute long breakdown. The majestic leads soar throughout the track, and all of the woodwind arpeggios create fantastic counter. Melody shred on the guitar as well. With all of the additional intricate details in the musical arrangement, it was very easy and fun to write really killer drum parts for.

Avengers

The main theme of this track is probably the first thing that we wrote for this album. We actually worked on an avengers arrangement back in 2019 and we have been saving/adjusting it over the last 6 years. With the concept of Cinemetal coming to fruition, we finally had a release that this song fit nicely on. The iconic Alan Silvestri score is instantly recognizable and is one of those themes that will likely stand the test of time. 

Back to the Future

Speaking of Alan Silvestri, we had so much fun working on avengers that back to the future seemed like an obvious choice. It’s another one of those themes of his that triggers, immediate nostalgia when you hear it. This song brings back memories of childhood, probably not only for me, but for many people listening to it. It’s a really fun track to hear arranged in the heavy metal style we use.

Batman

The Danny Elfman theme for Batman was always a favorite of mine as a child. I would hum it to myself during imaginative play as I pretended to be the Caped Crusader on whatever adventure I might be having at the time ( honestly, what child from the 90’s era wouldn’t? ). Elfman style is very distinct, and in this track, I felt like it inspired notes of metal core, as well as black metal and death metal. The chord structures that he uses lend themselves really well to those genres. 

E.T.

Another great John Williams theme. Pretty much anything he does is always amazing. A classic and definitely worth including on this album. 

Indiana Jones

We actually released this track with pure noise already a few years ago, however, it fits so nicely within the rest of this album that we decided it could go on a full length release, not only as its own single. Seeing as these movies were the collaboration of George Lucas and John Williams alongside Steven Spielberg, this theme is an obvious choice and another nostalgic piece that you could play for almost anyone on the street and they would be able to recognize it and tell you what it is. The song also goes over really well live. 

Godzilla

Fun piece of trivia about this one – Our new guitarist Erik has a very fond childhood nostalgia for the original Godzilla theme by Akira Ifukube. Even at an early age he wanted to play Godzilla on guitar, and his guitar teacher said “you can’t play that on guitar it’s an orchestral piece”. So it’s a pretty cool full circle moment where now he can say “yeah you can play it on guitar, here it is!” This song is super heavy and triggers some Meshuggah vibes. 

Harry Potter

John Williams is a mad man. This arrangement is one of the most complex pieces of music I’ve ever worked on. It is so dense, and there are so many layers, but they all work together fantastically. This piece is so technical, so heavy, and full of shred. The exact kind of song that Galactic Empire does well. 

Lord of the Rings 

This track is a medley that contains many Howard Shore themes from the Lord of the rings trilogy. I tried to hit all of the big/memorable themes that stuck out to me, and would also translate well to our arrangements. Lots of big epic open moments and a few heavy ones too! The guitar solo Erik plays on this track is one of my favorites on the album. 

Terminator

This is another track that Erik helped arrange. Great choice too, because it turned out awesome. One of the heaviest tracks on the album, and probably has the most quintessential “breakdown” that we have had in a song yet. 

Pirates of the Caribbean 

This song is another medley of themes from several of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It’s super high energy the whole time and never lets up. The song also features a dual guitar solo featuring our friends CJ Masciantonio (ex-Galactic Empire) and Clint Tustin (ex-Galactic Empire now in ERRA). 

The new Galactic Empire album, Cinemetal, was released on October 24, 2025 via Pure Noise Records. Order it here. 

Zenae Zukowski

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