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.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Summerlovin Electronicore
ONE MORNING LEFT
Buy this album from MMA partners
For Death And Eternity Metalcore
ANYALA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Gaia Metalcore
RELATIONS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Decievers Deathcore
ORACLE SPECTRE
Buy this album from MMA partners
A Fountain Of Anguish Is Gone Sludge Metal
TIGGUO COBAUC
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

WOMBMOTHER | ORACLE SPECTRE (LYRIC VIDEO)
ORACLE SPECTRE
Bosh66· 20 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us