Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

How do you top an epic; to be frank it is virtually impossible, not unfeasible, but practically gruelling, an act that test the fortitude of even the greatest artists of all time.

If you look at some of the great Rock and Prog bands of all time, the action of producing what is in effect a masterpiece can have serious effects on the dynamic, can lead to serios questions being asked of the long-term direction of the group. Disaffection muddies still waters, and leads to break-ups, to the closing down of communication, and to the sore eyes of jealousy being opened and the terrible urge to destroy something beautiful becomes overwhelming.

How to top an epic? One way is to perhaps come close in the next offering to the audience, so near in the devotion of the craft in which the first was produced, that it makes the heart ache at the seismic undertaking, and then from out of nowhere, appeal to hardcore fan’s sense of completion and enjoyment by releasing a once and for all defining set which suits the name.

For Queensrÿche, the follow up to the enormously successful Operation: Mindcrime was always going to be problematic, like Genesis and the surreal majesty that encompasses The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Iron Maiden and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, which coincidently was released just a few weeks before Operation: Mindcrime, the expectation forces, if only slightly, the reaction to be seen through the eyes of urgency rather than potential.

Operation: Mindcrime might arguably be the overwhelming fan’s favourite of Queensrÿche’s phenomenal output, the appeal certainly caught the disaffected Generation X crowd who revered the album as one of being part of the Counter Culture movement that they just missed out on. However, as the deluxe edition of 1990s Empire is released, what comes across is a group who utilised the aspects of Chris DeGarco’s musicianship in perhaps its most illuminating and scintillating delivery, Geoff Tate’s stirring, often haunting voice which made tracks such as Silent Lucidity beat the heart into slow beautiful submission, and in which the creative high of Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson and Scott Rockenfield, and who would become the absolute driving force of the band in later years as they retained and enjoyed the freedom available, was unsurpassed.

Empire is not an album that sings to the disaffected who scream for revolution, who took their previous album under their wing and see it as the defining moment in Progressive Metal from the decade, but it does not have to be, in fact as songs such as the opener Best I can, Jet City Woman, Resistance, the aforementioned Silent Lucidity and the killer finale of Anybody Listening? all leave their mark on the listener, it becomes abundantly clear that what is being shown is a huge step in the mature nature of sound; a demonstration of excellence, and all five members combining to make something, if not anarchic, then sublime.

With a whole host of bonus tracks, which include tracks such as Last Time In Paris, Scarborough Fair, and an acoustic version of the delightful I Dream in Infrared, a live set from Hammersmith in November 1990 and a DVD entitled Building Empires which showcases in its midst a previously unseen version of the incredible Eyes Of A Stranger, there is so much to immerse yourself in that it will soon become apparent that the day is over, and a new one is set to begin; one filled with the sound of a group who managed to navigate their way past the expectation of the follow up to the epic, by producing something just as grand, more than ambitious, a monument to which is dedicated the height of an Empire.

A tremendously exciting boxset, Queensrÿche pull no punches in this dedicated release.  

Ian D. Hall