Queensryche - Empire
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Free Music Notes for Empire
Free Music Review: One of my favorite albums overall.
Hit: 5 Stars
Queensryche began to receiver financial success with their album "Operation: Mindcrime", which came out two years before this. To follow it up, they made an album full of commercially acceptable songs, yet they didn't sacrifice and quality or originality in doing so. This is probably my favorite Queensryche album, because it's so easy to listen to. Every song is great, and a few are exceptionally great.Most people laugh at me when I tell them Queensryche is one of my favorite bands. I get the usual "Don't only people with mullets listen to them?" or "Weren't they some one-hit wonder hair band?". NO. Queensryche is far more skilled (technically and otherwise) and serious musically and lyrically than your average hair band. I think of them as Iron Maiden meets Rush and Pink Floyd, and of course very original as well. They did, however, have the hair.
"Best I Can" is one of my favorite `Ryche songs (they've closed with it both times I've seen them live, it kicks ass), with the inspired lyrics and catchy guitar riffs and vocals. The bridge in 7/8 has a serious groove, and the solo (DeGarmo, I should think) is just so tasty. "Jet City Woman" is a rocking song, with some great guitar harmonies and solos. "Silent Lucidity" is the one everyone's surely heard, the Pink Floyd-ish ballad was a huge hit. It's still a beautiful song. "Anybody Listening?" is my personal favorite, and some of the guitar riffs remind me off Rush. 70's Rush, that is. The solo is so powerful (even more-so live). The lyrics are very good too, as some have called it the best song about the effects of fame since Rush's "Limelight".
The rest of the songs are far from filler. Every song is great, and this is one of the best overall albums I own.
So, you don't need to be a fan of 80's metal or hair-metal at all to enjoy this album, in fact, you'll probably enjoy it more if you're not. If you love catchy, well-written hard rock, look no further. This is one of the best.
By the way, if you like this, check out "Operation: Mindcrime" next. Then check out their earlier stuff, and "Promised Land" is quite excellent too (though in a much different way).
Free Music Review: A very underrated band
Hit: 5 Stars
Released in the Autumn of 1990 (I think thats when it was released), Empire was Queensryche's follow up to their massive successful selling (although it didnt yeld any hits) rock opera album Operation: Mindcrime. Unlike Operation: Mindcrime, Empire is just a standard music album in which the songs dont relate to one another. The highlight of the album is "Silent Lucidity" which was Queensrych's only single to ever chart (a shame considering these guys deserve more due to their talents). I remember the video to "Silent Lucidity" was played on a heavy rotation on MTV even at the height of the grunge scene era and post grunge era. It's a very Pink Floydian song that seems to be about dreams and nightmare. Chris Degarmo and Michael Wilton both do an excellent job with the guitar riff, especially the solo part of the song. One of the feature songs on this album is the title track "Empire" which is a thoughful song about drug dealings and gang war in America during the late 80's and early 90's and how government is not spending enough money on law enforcement and more on military and space expeditions. My favorite songs on this album are "The Thin Line", which has a really good beat and lyrics about sacrificing yourself for your love one (that was a guess from reading the lyrics). "Jet City Woman", a really good rockin song about stalking. "Another Rainy Night", a ballad that was played alot on Pirate Radio station (a awsome metal station that played 80's and early 90's metal) when I was living in Monterey, California. "Hand On Heart", another ballad and "Anybody Listening" which the bands decided to go back to their progessive roots. This is a really good album, I really like it. I listen to this album alot. I love Geoff Tate's deep voice and Chris Degarmo's guitar rhythms. The version I owned is the special edition which has three added bonus tracks. I'm not really going to mention those but "Last Time in Paris" is a catchy song. "Empire" is a album worth checking out, some might get turned off because of the dated sound, but hey dated stuff are always better sounding any recent music of this generation.
Free Music Review: Proof that just b/c it's mainstream doesn't mean it's no good!
Hit: 5 Stars
I first bought this album at the age of 11 after hearing (what else) Silent Lucidity on the radio. Queensryche soon became my favorite band and I listened to this album almost every day. The music of Empire was "mainstream" in that it was accessible, but in this case the music wasn't dumbed-down or vapid or any of the other things associated with (some) "mainstream" music. Empire was well-written, well-played and well-sung. In my opinion, this was Geoff Tate's best recording, too; the operatic styles of the early days were impressive, but his singing on Empire was more "real" and had more soul, and after Empire, his voice went downhill (I'm sorry, but it did).
That year I slowly got a hold of all of Queensryche's other albums, some of which were an acquired taste: at first I thought were just weird and didn't understand them, but over the years I grew to love. That year I also got exposed to heavy metal and discovered Dream Theater. To this day, I mostly listen to metal and progressive rock, and I wonder what I would be listening to if I hadn't started out with Queensryche. So, I think of Queensryche as a "gateway" band too.
Mindcrime is pretty stellar, but if I really had to choose, I'd say this was my favorite Queensryche album. I've owned it for years and years and to this day I still enjoy listening to it. I like every song that's on it, and even appreciate different songs at different times. This album changed the direction of my life. Silent Lucidity will always be my #1 song of all time and Queensryche will always have a place in my heart.
Free Music Review: A Must Have Classic Metal Album
Hit: 5 Stars
This is one of those albums that you simply just must have. It's a classic album of great songs now with three added good bonus tracks, and re-mastered so it has even more punch.Following on the heels of the ambitious concept album "Operation Mindcrime" their best album to date, Queensryche (argueably) delivered the album of their career with "Empire" in 1990. Always at the forefront of metal innovation and experimentation, never content to rest on their laurels, always keen to push the envelope, they delivered an album which was less complex than Mindcrime, but packed full of great songs which were just as intense.
This album has so many great classic QR songs such as "Jet City Woman", "Another Rainy Night", "Empire", and "Silent Lucidity", but also "Best I Can", "The Thin Line", "Hand On Heart" and "Anybody Listening?" rank among their best ever.
Of the bonus tracks "Last Time In Paris" and "Dirty Lil Secret" rock, but my favorite is the more psychedelic sounding "Scarborough Fair".
In summary, this is a great classic metal album which still stands the test of time and frequently vibrates the windows of my house. Now re-released in this fantastic re-mastered package, it should be in every true metal fan's collection.
Free Music Review: Commercially Their Best
Hit: 5 Stars
With this cd Queensryche proved that they could make a killer album and still market to radio. I really don't think that there's a bad song here and as some reviewers have pointed out that 'One and Only' and 'Hand on Heart' seem to be filler I will disagree on that point. Taken as a whole these songs do fit in and everything works here. The song writing, the instruments and the backing vocals which, for me, are a highlight because after this they just never seem to capture that essence. This may be DeGarmo's best here and Queensryche at their pinnacle of success as evidenced in the coming years. This is one of those albums that you just never seem to get tired of. Of course, the die-hard fans from their first albums might cry foul here, but you always need to rate each album on its own and not compare it to others. Which, of course, is sometimes a difficult thing to do. If you haven't already gotten this, then I strongly recommend the remastered version. Not just for the bonus tracks but because it is remastered and kills the original version sound wise. I have the original and it doesn't compare to the remastered version.