QUEENSRŸCHE — Empire (review)

QUEENSRŸCHE — Empire album cover Album · 1990 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
Stephen
After "Mindcrime", Queensryche is trying to grab a wider audience by incorporating a thick commercial breeze in their music, displayed in "Empire" which was released in the third quarter of 1990. "Silent Lucidity" propelled their name to the sky after securing a respectable position on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Billboard Hot 100 and gave them a triple platinum sales. If you read most of the reviews, everybody seemed to praise this album highly, and even some cited this as their best release, but after repeat listens, I found that this is one of the highly overrated release. Queensryche is one of those half breed metal band that combine the classic heavy metal approach with progressive element and it's a dangerous pick because to succeed, you have to please both fans, but with "Empire", Queensryche failed me on both aspects.

Songs like "Best I Can" and "Jet City Woman" that was considered among their strongest tracks are totally decent and nothing spectacular. "The Thin Line" and "Della Brown" even worst, you can hardly find any heavy metal or prog trace on those songs. Ironically, best picks came from their ballads, "Silent" and "Another Rainy Night" which supposed to be a crime for a metal band. "Hand on Heart" and "Anybody Listening?" are also good tracks but the rest are just plain dull and uninspiring. This album is definitely only for collectors or diehards because if you're a casual fans, I'd recommend to pick "Sign of The Times : The Best of" straight away which contained this album's essential songs.
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