EMPIRE

I gotta say...this is a damn good album. It's prog, but accessible, tuneful and with plenty of pop melodicism along the way so as not to bore the listener. When it came out, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as OPERATION: MINDCRIME or RAGE FOR ORDER. And it's not...IMO, it's just as good. I think it can stand with any one of their previous releases. Tate flaunts his vocal ability here and shows us why he's considered one of hte best vocalists of any genre. His keyboards, while sparse, add to the overall atomsphere of bleakness and despair. DeGarmo and Wilton join in with a guitar onslaught that, if caught in the right mood, can bring me to tears, such as the held, sustained note at the end of the last pre-chorus of ANOTHER RAINY NIGHT. I also dig the harmonies at the end. EMPIRE is a bleak, angry song, with a midsection that comprises a spoken-word vocal before an explosive guitar solo. I also ADORE "Silent Lucidity". For a band as progressive as Queensryche to come along with an acoustic ballad as lush as that might have been seen as a sell-out by others. HOWEVER...despite the genre-pigeonholing (Mind you; they don't fit neatly into merely one genre), it's amazing. The strings add a sweetness that is rounded out by a tangy vocal and some sweet acoustic and electric guitars. I tip my hat to QUEENSRYCHE for coming up with something neat, clean, concise and most of all, progressive. BRAVO! 5 Stars.