Artist: Queensryche Title: “Empire” 20th Anniversary Edition (remastered) Label: Capitol Records Release Date: 9/14/2010 Genre: Hard Rock/Metal Rating: 4.5/5
What a great year for important Metal anniversary releases. I mean let’s look at what’s come out so far. We had Judas Priest celebrating thirty years of “British Steel” a few months ago and now its time for Queensryche’s stunning “Empire” to get its due. Believe it or not my friends, the pivotal album in the bands career is now officially twenty years old. When the band issued remastered releases a couple of years ago we offered up some thoughts on this album and I am presenting them to you all again to refresh your memory (I’ve modified this text only slightly to be a little more current). After you catch up, we will examine this edition a little more. Please read on.
After extensive touring in support of “Operation: Mindcrime” the band was able to call more of the shots when it came to delivery of the next album. Geoff Tate was largely the creative force behind Operation: Mindcrime and now the task would fall to guitarist Chris DeGarmo who would have a writing credit in every song except for the title track. “Empire” would also be the bands biggest commercial success due to the fact that many tracks were considered “radio friendly” to what was on the airwaves at the time. The 1990 release would find an incredibly heavy rotation on the MTV network with their videos and the then strong rock radio empire as well. Songs like “Empire”, “Best I Can”, “Jet City Woman” and the crossover hit “Silent Lucidity” were staples and could be heard every day and more than once to boot. The latter track was often referred to as Queensryche does Pink Floyd, for it held such a strong common feel to the psychedelic Rock giants own “Comfortably Numb”. The band surely deserved the larger critical acclaim which would arrive seven years after their debut EP but the strong commercial angle of the recording would lose some of their heavier music fans. In the end there were more who would stick with the band as their audience itself was growing older and finding expanded musical interests themselves. Queensryche seemed to be a band that matured along with their audience and that is never a bad thing. The remasters of the Queensryche back catalog are impressive not only in sound but in the inclusions they offer. Expanded artwork and liner notes are par for the course in this release as with the others as well as unheard or rare tracks. This album features an amazing cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” as well as a track only heard in a movie before (“Last Time In Paris”). Okay so “Scarborough Fair” is not a track actually penned by the Folk Rock duo, but one cannot argue how they are probably the ones that made it most popular. With “Empire” it was safe to say that this would be the album for you if you had moved on from the blistering displays of Metal and wanted a little more Progressive nature added to your musical diet. Lyrically it has some bright spots and while one or two moments are uninspired, there is some great stuff on the album. Favorites besides the tracks referenced above would be “Anybody Listening?” which sounds like it was something that should have been on “Operation: Mindcrime” but for some reason was left off. “Empire” is in a lot of ways the first album that people learned about Queensryche on, and that is another reason it is such a hallowed piece of music. Continue reading “Empire” 20th Anniversary Edition (remastered) by Queensryche→
Artist: Queensryche Venue: Nokia Theatre Times Square (New York, NY) Opener: n/a Date: 5/16/2009 Label: Rhino Entertainment
To celebrate the release of their new album “American Soldier”, Queensryche had returned to New York City for another performance at The Nokia Theatre in Times Square. When I sit back and think about my experiences with the band at this particular venue, I am starting to feel that I have seen them perform here almost as much as I have seen the band Into Eternity perform at various places all around the city and if you understand the reference then you will know that I mean its been quite a few times. In some sense it is almost as if the legendary Queensryche are the venues house band and in the end it’s a welcome thing since every show is loaded with surprises. Having been an almost yearly event for the Hard Rock and Metal fans of the region the Queensryche shows have been keeping things interesting by focusing on a particular album or theme with each go round. We once saw them performing the two “Mindcrime” releases back to back and on another occasion they had offered up a night of rarities and cover versions blended in with some of their standard classics. I had to say that this was much better than those bands who stick to a particular set list for a couple of tours with only minor changes. Tonight’s festivities would not only be paying attention to the new album but would also wisely offer up extended suites that presented both the “Rage For Order” and “Empire” albums as well. This would amount to a Metal show with three distinct parts and based on this we broke our thoughts up into sections as well to better transfer the vibe of the night. Continue reading Queensryche @ Nokia Theatre Times Square (5/16/2009)→
It seems as though Queensryche is on a ride of renewed popularity and that’s fine by me since I have loved much of what they did over the course of their career. Tonight’s show found them back at The Nokia Theater delivering another exciting show and Dokken’s own Don was opening up acoustically. Those who have their hunger set on learning more should scroll past the logo below.
Artist: Queensryche Venue: Nokia Theatre (New York, NY) Opener: Don Dokken Date: 2/8/2008 Label: Rhino Entertainment
If you thought that Queensryche would sit back and rest on their laurels after their blockbuster tour for the “Operation: Mindcrime” saga, the release of the double DVD and CD set “Mindcrime At The Moore” that captured it all on film and appearances on tour supporting Heaven And Hell then you would surely be mistaken. One could easily view the band Queensryche as one of the true energizer bunnies of Progressive Hard Rock and Metal with their whole “keeps on going” attitude and that’s fine by me since like many others out there I have been a fan for a very long time. The consistent touring appearances would lead one to wonder just what would lie ahead on this tour as “Mindcrime” had been done, and the tour with HAH found them on the release of their compilation “Greatest Hits”. When they announced their new covers release “Take Cover” it became clear that the Ryche would return to present us with a number of standards and a healthy compliment of the renditions delivered on this new album. The appearance tonight would be at Nokia Theater in Times Square and this is a perfect place to catch the band and joining them would be Don Dokken of the great eighties Metal band that bears the same name. Here is a little about how the evening progressed. Continue reading Queensryche @ Nokia Theatre Times Square (2/8/2008)→
Artist: Queensryche Title: “Take Cover” Label: Rhino Entertainment Release Date: 11/13/2007 Genre: Progressive Hard Rock Rating: 3.5/5
There is a part of me that grumbles every time I discover that a band is planning on presenting their fans with an album of covers because I look at the reasons behind the CD’s release with two different viewpoints. My first feeling is that of hesitation based on the thoughts that for some reason the band is copping out delivering original material and the second is that of overall curiosity about how it might actually turn out. It would seem as though cover albums have become quite the standard issue from established bands these days and sometimes they are quite interesting while at others are rather arduous listens. Over the past couple of years we have seen no less than eight such releases and I am only going by the ones I can name off the top of my head. One band that I felt would never do such a thing to their fans is Progressive Metal legends Queensryche – and yet here we are listening to “Take Cover”, the bands own hat tossed into the cover album mix. The Queensryche effort actually delivers some interesting tunes and the band explains each one out as to their reason for including it. Like the other albums of its kind there are some strong points and some weak ones and while we probably disagree on some of the points that follow here is my take on what I heard. “Welcome To The Machine” was a perfect opener for the release with the Ryche bringing additional mood to the Pink Floyd classic track. Continue reading “Take Cover” by Queensryche→
Heaven and Hell have been kicking ass since the decision to reform the mark 2 version of Black Sabbath and now they would continue to smite the unbelievers with the Metal by taking both Queensryche and Alice Cooper on the road with them. We headed down to Jones Beach Ampitheatre to enjoy this one and those Metal heads who wish to learn more can click the logo to see our item on the main PiercingMetal.com site.
Artist: Heaven and Hell Venue: Jones Beach Ampitheater (New York, NY) Opener: Queensryche, Alice Cooper Date: 9/8/2007 Label: Rhino Entertainment
I honestly felt that I was present when Heavy Metal history was being made as Heaven and Hell first toured earlier this year and stopped at New York City’s own famed Radio City Music Hall. The show sold out in minutes and the entire event would be captured and released on individual DVD and CD’s and since then each of these items has become quite the blockbuster seller. The band then made sure to hit as many regions as possible and after NYC they would visit New Jersey with both Megadeth and Machinehead as tour support but soon each of those bands would need to adventure out on their own tours so if you caught one of those shows you were a lucky Metal head. This change in opener allowed HAH to set up an end of Summer appearance with the legendary Alice Cooper and the mighty Queensryche, and for this particular show we would travel out to the Jones Beach Amphitheatre in Wantagh, NY (or Long Island to many readers) to see what was happening. Here is how the night went down for those who were not present. Continue reading Heaven and Hell @ Jones Beach Theater (9/8/2007)→
