RIYL: Dream Theatre, King’s X, Judas Priest

Operation: Mindcrime might have been the record that established Queensryche, but Empire was the record that blew them through the artistic and commercial ceiling. There is some excellent work that follows this period, and the band still churns out very good records to this day; it’s just that Empire is nearly perfect. The lyrics as always challenged the listener to think, the guitar work is stellar, singer Geoff Tate’s voice is monstrous, but the entire record was full of hooks. The sound is enormous, filling your ears with almost more than they can handle. The tracks blasted out of your speakers and into the back of your consciousness forever. “The Thin Line,” “Jet City Woman,” and “Another Rainy Night Without You” were built for arena audiences to sing back to the band. “Silent Lucidity” became their one and only number one single (on the rock charts, anyway). Twenty years later, it still sounds terrific.

What does the 20th anniversary package contain that may make it tempting to grab? Three bonus tracks that have appeared elsewhere are tacked on to the end of Empire. The second disc contains a terrifically loud and monstrous live show recorded in 1990 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon and features seven tracks from Empire. This performance doesn’t always have the perfect mix (Tate’s voice isn’t loud enough on opening track “Resistance”) and there are moments where you can hear feedback, like during the opening seconds of “Silent Lucidity.” It is these imperfections that make this such a terrific complementary piece. Queensryche is a machine. To hear those tiny miscues as the band pounds out this terrific material is a reminder of the raw energy underneath those fabulously professional musicians. If you don’t have the record, what the hell is the matter with you, seriously? If you don’t own any live Ryche, this is a real cool recording. (Capitol/EMI 2010)

Queensryche official site