Empire - Queensryche
Track List:
Best I Can
The Thin Line
Jet City Woman
Della Brown
Another Rainy Night (Without You)
Empire
Resistance
Silent Lucidity
Hand on Heart
One and Only
Anybody Listening?
Metal and stuff
Figured I would continue my metal kick with what was described to me as an attempt to make something epic and ambitious akin to The Wall. I’ve never really listened to this band so this could be interesting.
Best I Can
Reminds me of Styx. The intro talks about hiding a gun and a child finding it. There is a simulated gunshot, not sure what that is supposed to represent. Did the child shoot something, someone, themself? My guess with the rest of the song is the gun was used and someone was hurt or killed, the child was put into an institution and is now approaching the age in which they are going to be eligible for release. The rest of the song is the child stating they have reformed and want to seek a fulfilling life.
The Thin Line
A song about devotion to someone. As I listen to this I feel it’s meticulously planned but it’s not grabbing me and making me wonder what happens next.
Jet City Woman
Bass intro is cool. The narrator is singing about missing his spouse while away from home.
Della Brown
A story of a woman who sought dreams of stardom but her beauty faded with age and familial support collapsed. She began drinking and is now living on the streets. She still dreams of happiness now wanting a companion. This is the first song I think I enjoyed listening to on the album.
Another Rainy Night (Without You)
Not sure if this is a continuation of the longing from Jet City Woman or another relationship. But the narrator’s partner has left him and he is begging for her to return and slowly realizing that the spark they once had is gone.
Empire
The interplay of the vocals. This reminds me of Zappa with the social commentary and the delivery of some of the lyrics. This feels like it could be connected to the first song. Perhaps the child in the first song is now involved in the violence that this song sings about. The song calls for reform of the law enforcement system to try to curb a systemic change to society where violence and violent crime are the rule of law.
Resistance
I am a bit lost. I am not sure if this is said by the people who are taking stands against things as the bad folk or if it’s saying the current state of society is bad. Perhaps this is a commentary on society as a whole looking at more than one side of a situation to understand it fully. I find this a bit dated, not for a good reason but because a lot of the items it’s talking about would not be agreed upon in our current political climate. This album was released just over 30 years ago and we have devolved from agreeing that there are problems that need to be worked on and our approach as a society was to develop different solutions to the problems. Now when a problem is identified there is immediate opposition to the declaration that it is a problem. But I think this song is hinting more towards political violence when all else fails.
Silent Lucidity
A song about lucid dreaming. I enjoyed that song, it was weird. I think the orchestra involved added a lot.
Hand on Heart
A declaration of devotion. These could be some cheesy wedding vows.
One and Only
Another love song
Anybody Listening?
Not really, I am not invested enough with the album to want to keep listening. I had thought about listening to the extended edition of the album but I’ve been whelmed by this experience.
I was under the impression that this was a concept album
It would appear I was wrong. I could see some connections between parts of it but I don’t follow any real concept here. There is a story about anarchistic youth ruining society by creating a near Clockwork Orange style world. Some gaffes that past generations have always looked at youth ruining society. But then there are a spate of love songs, a song about lucid dreaming, perhaps a metaphor for controlling your own destiny? There is some legitimate social commentary in the album and I like that. I also like the use of spoken word. I just don’t see myself further exploring the catalog. The music sounds technically challenging and correct but it’s just not interesting to me.
