Queensryche: Empire
Image:
This Album cover is just a pixelated version of the band’s “logo” known as
the Tri-Ryche, which has a seemingly controversial creation. The band members
debate over who designed the logo, which is typically on the cover of their albums.
The name of the album, and the band, is also included on the cover. I don’t believe
there was a credited artist to my knowledge for this specific cover, and it seems to
follow the rest of their album covers for the most part in style.
Background:
The band Queensryche is an American band, forming in Bellevue,
Washington in the 80’s. Their genre is typically considered to be progressive rock,
and this album doesn’t seem to stray too far from that. Members include Michael
Wilton, Eddie Jackson, Mike Stone, Todd La Torre, and Casey Grillo currently,
and past members include Geoff Tate, Chris DeGarmo, Scott Rockenfield, Kelly
Gray, and Parker Lundgren.
Songs:
 “Best I Can” by Chris DeGarmo
 “The Thin Line” by DeGarmo, Tate, and Michael Wilton
 “Jet City Woman” by DeGarmo and Tate
 “Della Brown” by DeGarmo, Scott Rockenfield, and Tate
 “Another Rainy Night (Without You)” by DeGarmo, Eddie Jackson,
and Tate
 “Empire” by Tate and Wilton
 “Resistance” by Tate and Wilton
 “Silent Lucidity” by DeGarmo
 “Hand on Heart” by DeGarmo, Tate, and Wilton
 “One and Only” by DeGarmo and Wilton
 “Anybody Listening?” by DeGarmo and Tate
 “Last Time in Paris” by DeGarmo and Tate
 “Scarborough Fair” A Traditional English ballad
 “Dirty Lil Secret” by DeGarmo and Tate
 “Walk in the Shadows” by DeGarmo, Tate, and Wilton
 “Roads to Madness” by DeGarmo, Tate, and Wilton
 “Take Hold of the Flame” by DeGarmo and Tate
About the album:
The songs on this album seem to follow the genre of the band well, while
giving a slightly different tone than some of their other albums. The music was a
little more lyrically developed and has themes such as love, poverty, disability,
struggling to do the “Best I Can”, and other societal problems. I listened to most if
not all of the tracks on the album either while I was writing this, or previously
while doing other classwork, and I am choosing to reflect on the song “Another
Rainy Night (Without You)”. This song is something I will listen to more now that
I’ve been exposed to it. I really enjoyed a lot of the songs on this album, but this
one was certainly among my favorites. It has a story to the lyrics, and it has a really
catchy guitar riff that just sounds awesome. I would compare it to the style of
bands like Guns n’ Roses or something along those line, with a little more of a
serious sound to it. The album as a whole had a lot of great composition to it, and
my favorite thing about the album is the prominent lead guitar in a number of the
songs on the album. I have to try really hard to find something about the album that
I didn’t like, but I finally decided that the cover of “Scarborough fair” didn’t really
fit in with the rest of the album in my opinion. I thought it felt a little bit out of
place and didn’t follow the sound of the album perfectly.
Song Lyrics:
Empire by Queensryche
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 the kids today
I tell you right now they've got nothing to lose
They're building EMPIRE!
Johnny used to work after school
at the cinema show.
Gotta hustle if he wants an education
Yeah he's got a long way to go.
Now he's out on the streets all day
selling Crack to the people who pay.
Got an AK-47 for his best friend
business the American way.
Eastside meets Westside downtown.
No time, the walls fall down
Can't you feel it coming? EMPIRE! Can't you hear it calling?
Black man, trapped again. Holds his chain in his hand.
Brother killing brother for the profit of another,
Game point, nobody wins. Declines, right on time.
What happened to the dream sublime?
Tear it all down, we'll put it up again. Another EMPIRE?
Eastside meets Westside downtown.
No time, no line, the walls fall down.
Can't you feel it coming? EMPIRE!
Can't you hear it coming EMPIRE!
Can't someone here stop it...??!!
source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/q/queensrychelyrics/empirealbumlyrics.html
The lyrics above are from the song that shares the same name as the album,
Empire, and is from my interpretation, about systemic oppression and a sort of
outcry against the “Empire” which I took as a sort of push against society and
governmentalized life. The line “Tear it all down, we’ll put it up again. Another
EMPIRE?” really stood out to me as a sort of reference to the way society tends to
come and go, and seemingly reappears almost as soon as it dissipates. I think the
band was going for an anti-societal message in a way that fits their style.
Course Outcomes satisfied:
This album discusses the different issues that people are experiencing at the
time of writing, such as poverty, disability, and other troubles, which acts as sort of
a time capsule in some ways, as we can assume some of the struggles of our
species based on what they sing about. This music acts as a way for people to see
what life was for a majority of people in this era. These best fit outcome 6 for our
course, which states that students will be able to describe how Heavy Metal serves
as a vehicle to know about global culture and government function.
Citations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_(Queensr%C3%BFche_album)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensr%C3%BFche
https://open.spotify.com/album/6jmesEKzKTLAa3oI96jWow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_Fair_(ballad)