I'm a HUGE fan of Anybody Listening? but the Empire album as a whole is just pure gold. I'm not sure what to make of the whole Queensryche situation. The band has been releasing some pretty lackluster stuff for so long now that it's so hard to care anymore. But I think Geoff Tate was the problem, listen to his solo album and you will hear the exact same riffs, melodies and phrasing as you'll find on Dedicated to Chaos and American Soldier. It's like Tate was just stuck in this mode of making the same old boring heavy-but-not-really-heavy pop-prog rock crap. However the teaser trailer that was released for the Queensryche + Todd La Torre has me pretty amped because some of those clips kinda have an "Empire" era sound to it. Not to mention La Torre was slaying tracks like Queen Of The Ryche and Warning live while they were performing on the side as Rising West. If Tate's Queensryche and Rockenfield/Wilton/Jackson/Lundgren/La Torre's Queensryche both release an album I'll buy both to make a decision but if Tate's solo album is any indication it's going to be no competition for the new 'Ryche led by La Torre.