Their most successful album to date, Queensryche’s mighty ‘Empire’ gets a lacish re-issue courtesy of EMI/Capitol on November 8th. Aside from a plethora of live tracks, the two disc set also includes three rare gems to round out the set as well as some suitably lavish packaging for an album that went triple platinum. A progressive metal masterpiece, Empire still stands tall as a milestoone in a genre crowded with talent. Check out the details below.
Queensrÿche has partnered with Capitol/EMI for the September 14 release of an expanded 20th Anniversary Edition of the band’s triple platinum-certified breakout album, Empire. The new 2CD and digital packages both include the remastered album, featuring six hit singles, including the #1 smash “Silent Lucidity,” as well as 13 bonus tracks, among them 10 previously unreleased live performances recorded in 1990 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. The 2CD package is presented in a lift-top box with five postcards, a fold-out poster and a booklet featuring rare photos from the band’s personal archive.
After building a devoted fan base with album and EP releases throughout the 1980s, including 1988’s critically acclaimed Operation: Mindcrime, Queensrÿche broke into the mainstream across North America and abroad with the 1990 release of Empire. In the U.S., the album peaked at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and its hit ballad “Silent Lucidity” quickly became a heavy rotation staple at rock radio and on MTV, topping Billboard’s Modern Rock singles chart and earning Queensrÿche the coveted MTV Viewers Choice Award for the song’s music video. Empire also made the U.K.’s Top 10, and the album’s international success led to Queensrÿche’s 18-month headlining “Building Empires” world tour, the band’s longest trek to date.
Empire also features the Billboard Top 10 Modern Rock hits “Jet City Woman” and “Another Rainy Night,” the Top 20 single, “Anybody Listening?,” and the Top 30 singles “Best I Can” and Empire.” In addition to the aforementioned live recordings, Empire (20th Anniversary Edition)’s bonus tracks include “Last Time in Paris” from the Ford Forlaine soundtrack, “Dirty Lil’ Secret,” and the band’s cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair.”
Since forming in Bellevue, Washington in 1981, Queensrÿche has sold more than 20 million albums around the world. The band continues to tour and record; American Soldier was released last year. For more information, visit Queensrÿche’s official Website: www.queensryche.com
Queensrÿche: Empire (20th Anniversary Edition) [2CD, digital]
DISC 1
1. Best I Can
2. The Thin Line
3. Jet City Woman
4. Della Brown
5. Another Rainy Night (Without You)
6. Empire
7. Resistance
8. Silent Lucidity
9. Hand On Heart
10. One And Only
11. Anybody Listening?
Bonus Tracks
12. Last Time In Paris
13. Scarborough Fair
14. Dirty Lil’ Secret
DISC 2 (previously unreleased: all tracks recorded live 11/15/90 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon)
1. Resistance
2. Walk in the Shadows
3. Best I Can
4. Empire
5. The Thin Line
6. Jet City Woman
7. Roads To Madness
8. Silent Lucidity
9. Hand On Heart
10. Take Hold Of The Flame
I'm a self-confessed musical nut with an eclectic taste ranging from lo-fi indie to crushing heavy metal. I also make a blizzard of noise in my band Final Coil (recently seen deafening audiences in the midlands area). I also like cheese. Cheese is possibly the single greatest food (if one excludes bacon). Sometimes I write songs about cheese... but not often 
