As you all know, Black Metal Friday is our weekly celebration of the worship of “The Dark Side” in heavy metal music. Well, in honor of today’s long-awaited premiere of Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, we here at Geeks of Doom present to you a video from the folks over at Galactic Empire. In the clip, we get to check out a metal rendition of John Williams’ iconic Star Wars theme performed not for the dark side but rather by the dark side.

That’s right kiddies, Darth Vader, a shadow guard, and an imperial guard on lead guitars; a run of the mill storm trooper on bass (hey, are they implying that bass players are non-descript?); everyone’s favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett on drums; and one very unlucky guitar tech. So take the advice of a very wise master: “Watch it below, you must… Enjoy it, you will.”

Iskald means “ice cold” in Norwegian. So it is appropriate that today’s Black Metal Friday artists chose the word as their moniker. Iskald, the band, perfectly capture the forlorn desolation of the frozen North. Over the course of ten years and four full-length albums, this quartet has been winning over legions of black metal fans with their alternately haunting and brutal take on the genre.

This week’s featured Black Metal Friday track comes from Iskald’s second album, 2008’s Revelations of Reckoning Day. I give you “Dommedag.”

As a huge fan of both The Cure and black metal, I was ecstatic to learn of the existence of today’s featured Black Metal Friday artist. Curezum is a new band that offers up their own black metal take on covers of songs by Robert Smith and company. The name is an amalgam of The Cure and Norwegian black metal pioneers Burzum.

The project consists of Mort Subite (Megaton Leviathan, Vaital Deul, Alfheimr), Martti Hill (Barrowlands), legendary metal producer Billy Anderson, and Rob Vikernes, along with numerous guests. Their forthcoming debut album is titled A Monument to a Ruined Age.

This week’s Black Metal Friday track comes to us courtesy of the Swedish wolf pack. Watain took their name from the title of a song by pioneering American black metal unit Von. A couple of members of the band also played briefly with the late, great Jon Nödtveidt in the legendary Dissection. Watain carry forth today with the philosophy of theistic Satanism that Dissection championed. Both bands have close ties to the Temple of the Black Light, an extremely secretive sect of theistic Satanists that originally went by the name of the Misanthropic Luciferian Order (MLO). Watain’s live show is as much a black mass ritual as it is a music event. In fact, they caused quite a stir a few years back when TMZ reported that the band had sprayed audience members with pig’s blood during a concert in Brooklyn, NY.

From Watain’s third album, 2007’s Sworn to the Dark, this is the closing track, “Stellarvore.”

Gothic black metal pioneers Cradle of Filth has just announced that they will be bringing their “Inquisitional Torture” tour to the shores of North America for a 2016 tour swing. Support acts Butcher Babies and Ne Obliviscaris will be along for the ride as well. Be sure to get your tickets early, as they’re sure to go quickly. You can catch the show at the following dates and locations listed down below.

Dani Filth and company are on tour in support of their 2015 album Hammer of the Witches, which fans and critics alike have hailed as the band’s best effort in many years.

Our Black Metal Friday track for this week reaches all the way back to 2001. From the EP Bitter Suites to Succubi, here is the official video for “Scorched Earth Erotica.”