What began as a joke has become a success of galactic proportions. A group of seasoned heavy metal musicians donning Star Wars outfits and producing a blistering version of the Star Wars Main Theme and an accompanying music video. Impressive.

Most impressive.

After uploading their clip to YouTube on December 17th 2015 (to coincide with the release of The Force Awakens), they walked out of the cinema a few hours to find it already having ratcheted up a million views.

HuffPost Australia tracked down Galactic Empire at Altrium Audio, their Pennsylvania-based recording studio, to find out what inspired them to take their combined love of Star Wars and heavy metal its logical extreme.

Galactic Empire are the brainchild of Carson Slovak (Stormtrooper & bass) and Grant McFarland (Boba Fett & drums).

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After enlisting fellow Imperials (and metallers) Chris Kelly (Darth Vader/lead guitar), CJ Masciantonio (Shadow Trooper/guitar) and Josh Willis (Imperial Guard/guitar), their journey to the dark side was complete

The band has a brand new video in the works, produced Aurora Films and a full length album planned for mid 2016.

Learn more about the dark side of the Force at Galactic Empire's Facebook page.