By Dillon Reesor
On April 13″ progressive metallers Galactic Empire made the long trek from a galaxy far, far away to play at Columbia’s New Brookland Tavern. Support for the show was provided by Future Coffins, a local DJ/producer.
Future Coffins
I had a great time with Future Coffins’s set, but the response from the rest of the crowd was fairly lukewarm. It makes sense: the show was all ages and the audience definitely reflected that, all there to see Star Wars characters on stage playing adaptations of John Williams’s iconic movie scores. Speaking as an EDM fan, however, it was a fun way to open the show, and Future Coffins brought a mix of tracks ranging from more radio friendly hits to floor shaking bass tracks. Opportunities to photograph the set were severely limited due to the setup at the venue. Future Coffins mixed from an elevated platform set off on the side rather than the stage, and between the height difference and the lack of lighting in his direction I’m disappointed to say I left the show empty-handed.
Galactic Empire
It was obvious from the jump that Galactic Empire puts in the work for their live shows. The performance was tight, time between songs was filled with jokes delivered via pre-recorded dialogue between band members (filtered in the same way helmeted characters are in the films), and the threat of imperial retribution over perceived disloyalty hung thick in the air. Seriously, we saw a member of the audience force-choked on stage by Lord Sikh, and at one point were informed that destruction of the venue was imminent due to the detection of rebel scum in the area. The band has incredible stage presence and the energy they brought is absolutely perfect for this type of show; gauging from the crowd response, I wasn’t the only one with that opinion. I’ve been a metalhead for the majority of my life, and it’s a genre that can sometimes take itself too seriously. Galactic Empire doesn’t fall into that trap. They clearly take their work seriously and channel that into putting on a killer show for their fans, but at the end of the day we’re all there to see Star Wars metal, and there is something to be said for celebrating the absurdity of that.
There is still time to support the emperor in his push for galactic supremacy! Galactic Empire wraps their North American tour in mid-May, with a short South American run already on the books for the Summer. Dates and tickets can be found here!
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