Dec 03, 2001 08:55 AM
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(Updated Dec 03, 2001 08:55 AM)
If Metallica and Pink Floyd got together and had a child, Queensryche would probably be it. Queensryche arose from Seattle in the mid 1980s, before the city became a musical hot spot. Their music rocked hard like Metallica. But it did not fit in with much of the heavy metal of the time. Instead of being about drugs and partying, the lyrics had some similarities to the aforementioned Metallica with their focus on politics. And Queensryche also uses the complex song structure utilized by Pink Floyd.
Through the course of the 80s, Queensryche released several albums. Most of them were complex concept albums, most notably Operation Mindcrime, the album that many fans regard as their best. In 1990 they released another highly regarded album, Empire. Empire would go on to become their biggest selling album as well as another highly regarded one.
Empire finds the band extending into more personal themes as well as continuing to attack political issues. The more political element is apparent on the chilling title track. The song is about guns and violence on the streets and the government’s failure to do anything about it. The song begins with an answering machine message, and then the track kicks in, driven by loud guitars. The first verse goes: ''Last night the word came down/Ten dead in Chinatown/Innocent, their only crime/Was being in the wrong place at the wrong time/Too bad, people say/What's wrong with kids today/Tell you right now they've got nothing to lose/They're building Empire!'' The following track is another political song called ''Resistance''. The song begins with a synth sound, and then the heavy guitars kick in for a very heavy backing. The lyrics are about the problems facing America that get ignored by the partisan politicians. A sample verse: ''Down in New Orleans rivers boiling/Nothing living/Nothing to eat/Thank the lord daddy’s working 8 to 5/Pay the doctor/Baby's got cancer/...Resistance!/Shouts the man on the right/Liberal opposition''. Then there is ''Della Brown'' which is about the plight of a homeless woman. The song is not as heavy as some of the others on the album. The first verse in the song goes ''You've got a cardboard house/Live there all the time/Keep your memories tied with string''.
The more personal lyrics are prevalent in songs like the hit ''Jet City Woman''. That song begins with a pounding drumbeat, then a blistering guitar riff kicks in. The song itself is a blast of pure hard rock. The lyrics are being sung to the singer’s girlfriend who is back at home and he misses her. One of the verses goes: ''I look in your eyes/Just like the rain/Washing me/Rain wash over me/Touching your face/I feel the heat/Of your heartbeat echo in my head like a scream.'' Then there is the hard rocking ''Another Rainy Night Without You''.
The song off this album that got the most attention from radio and MTV was ''Silent Lucidity''. It is also the song that sounds the most like classic Pink Floyd. The song in some ways recalls ''Comfortably Numb''. It has that slow acoustic backing, but also features some heaviness to it. The lyrics seem to be sung to a young child, the narrator is apparently informing the child that someone close to them has passed on, but they also tell them that their life will go on and that they will be watching over them. (''I will be watch over you/I'm going to help to see you through/I will protect you in the night/I'm smiling next to you/In Silent Lucidity.'')
With Empire, Queensryche offered an excellent mixture of metal and prog rock. Excellent musicianship and intelligent https://lyrics. What more could you want? Buy it soon if you don't already have it.
Note: If you like Empire, definitely try Operation Mindcrime. It also has great music and https://lyrics. But is overall more cohesive as an album than Empire.
