The pride of the theme is witnessed in 'Xizor's Theme' and together with Darth Vader and Luke's theme in 'Night Skies'. Obvious from the spectrum of film music, Joel McNeely can compose his own bad villain motif now and this one is a striking yet slightly less sparkling version than Williams' super known villain theme. This story takes some known elements and twists them further in an unknown world, making the new enemy one Xizor, the dark prince of the Black Sun. So McNeely does use them, while everything else is his own imagination at work, making Shadows of the Empire an interesting listen for fans of all genres. Unfortunately (or not) Joel could not compose everything exactly the way he would probably have done it, in movie music you must use the themes when they have to represent the characters, and Star Wars is a shade of memory without the illustrious well known fanfare and its themes for Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo and Princess Leia. Joel McNeely received orchestra and choir to do simply what others have been dreaming of all their lives, namely write a score for characters like Luke Skywalker & Princess Leia. 'If one can repeat the majesty of Star Wars, even if its for a game, would you ignore it?' This was probably the main question to Joel McNeely, ultimately becoming the composer of Shadows of the Empire, the game of 1996.

Shadows of the empire theme