Empire [Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Queensrÿche | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00009L1UP
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,323 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #43 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Progressive Metal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite albums overall., October 22, 2003

By 

Dan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empire (Audio CD)

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).

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Art, Meet Entertainment; Entertainment, Meet Art, May 9, 2004

By 

D. Rausch "myspace.com/rauschofficial" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Empire (Audio CD)

To this day, a staggering number of people insist that to entertain is to sell out and surrender growth and innovation. Granted, the frequncy of the stars aligning just right is about as often as a snowball forming in that dark place down below, but it HAS happened, it STILL happens, but never more noticably than in the all-around musical masterpiece "Empire," from the "progressive" "metal" band, Queensryche.

Those quotations are there because Queensryche deserves more than routine catagorization. Their music is at times heavy, and often intelligent, and that's about all the description you should need. If you realize that the past 10 years of mainstream music has been a case of record companies shooting themselves in the foot, this review shall serve to educate you that this album was one of the last appearances of greatness to strike mainstream popularity - it's a good thing Queensryche got this album in before it all went down hill!

The album; dashes of Pink Floyd/Rush/Bon Jovi/Def Leppard/Wagner!
One of my favorite songs ever is the closing track "Anybody Listening?" Epic emotion, powerful vocals, sustained guitar landscapes `a la David Gilmour, operatic theatrics `a la Les Miserables. The song is an adventure, a journey, with changing keys, moods and sections. Everything that a best-song-ever should be is in this unique composition.

Then there's the song that "broke them", despite a very successful prior album ("Operation: MindCrime"). If you only know Queensryche for one song, it's "Silent Lucidity." Granted, it's a bit simpler than much of their work, but just as with "Anybody Listening?", it is a wonderful journey of the mind, "trying to explain to someone the unexplainable," in the words of vocalist Geoff Tate. It is a highly emotional ballad that fits in just fine with the rest of the band's repertoire.

Most of the album is very strong with no filler, but the other big highlights are the songs "Empire," and "Another Rainy Night." These songs deserve some of the highest praise ever, because they adhere to this intelligent-meets-popularity formula better than almost any other song. They deserve even MORE praise, because they are not ballads. They are hard rocking songs, and the former (the title track) was actually quite the popular 'hit.' Can you believe, thinking of a 'hit' as actual good music? It IS possible. These songs are in the normal verse-chorus format, with amazing solos and guitar harmonies, intelligent lyrics, creative chords, and pure heart and soul. They rock like nobody's business, but also allow many people to relate to the music, who normally would be satisfied with bands that only make 10% the amount of effort. It just doesn't get much better than this.

The hardcore fans want their "...MindCrime", but I am going to cave in here - "Empire" is my [just barely]favorite Queensryche album, and the fact that it was very popular doesn't change the fact that it deserved what it got and more. MindCrime is also great - but for once in music history, selling less records doesn't mean it must be better music! "Empire" is the epitome of "exception to the rule." Commercial music hasn't allowed for this much creativity since.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Commercial breakthrough., June 15, 2005

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Empire (Audio CD)

Riding high on the creative wave of "Operation: Mindcrime", Queensryche returned to the studio to put together "Empire", what would be their commercial breakthrough.

Unlike most commercial breakthroughs though, this one doesn't have that feel nor the accusations of sellout-- in fact, the band simply kept developing along the lines of their own idiom, but after the massive encompassing storyline on Mindcrime, this was an album of songs, loosely based around themes of society and relationships. Musically, its similar in Mindcrime in that the metal backdrop has become largely a backdrop on which the menagerie of styles and sounds can be overlaid. As a whole, its a bit lighter in tone than Mindcrime was.

The strength of this album lies in its variety, there's great compulsive rock pieces on here ("Best I Can", "Jet City Woman"), some superb Queensryche styled metal (the title track), a few really breathtaking ballads (the album's hit, "Silent Lucidity", a piece deserving all the accolades it gets, homelessness ballad "Della Brown"), and at least one purely ecstatic love song with some great riffing ("One and Only"). As if that wasn't enough, album closer "Anybody Listening?" is in many ways the summation of the band's entire catalog (and history) and is one of the best they've ever done. Admittedly the album has its weak moments ("Resistence" is a step backwards and "Hand on Heart" is just awful), but its really quite an effort.

The remaster, again featuring crisp, clean sound as the rest of the series, is augmented by three bonus tracks-- the goofy "Last Time in Paris" is a lot of fun but admittedly a throwaway and "Dirty Lil Secret" was a b-side for good reason, but their cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" is fantastic-- haunting, dark, and powerful.

This may not be the best thing Queensryche has ever done, but its awfully good, and its a great place to start with the band. Recommended.