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SAY YOUR PRAYERS - REVIEWS:

© 2003 Hell's Hundred Records/Middle Pillar Presents
The debut release on HELL'S HUNDRED RECORDS is the new album from the legendary EMPIRE HIDEOUS: Say Your Prayers. Fronted by vocalist Myke Hideous (Bronx Casket Company, ex-Misfits) this is the band's first studio release in 5 years. Say Your Prayers is an hour of dark rock with powerful themes and intensely emotional vocals from one of the genre's most distinctive voices. A voice of warning opens the record and introduces the ominous "Terror Clone," a theme for today's turbulent world. Aggressive guitars and vigorous drums swing into full force on "Two Minutes 'til Midnight", sure to be a highlight of The Empire's live performances. Scattered between songs are ambient instrumental pieces sprinkled with samples to punctuate the dark and creepy mood of Say Your Prayers. From the apocalyptic "Welcome to the Here and Now", to the middle-eastern feel of "Post Hell", these pieces frighten and stimulate the mind's palette in anticipation for the next track. The deeply poignant "Bound to Happen" is a chronicle of one's life held aloft by buoyant acoustic guitars and passionate vocals. Here Myke expresses dignity and wisdom ("the feel of the seasons") without falling into sentimentality. "Depart" ends the record, a dark lament of betrayal, disappointment and resolution. A "secret" live track follows, demonstrating the album presence of The Empire's live performances. Say Your Prayers is a cohesive masterwork from the bastard child of rock n' roll and goth.

The Morning Call - (Philly, PA) - by: Carrie Schulman
ROCK-Northern Jersey-based Myke Hideous and his rotating gaggle of ghouls long ago crafted an interesting theatrical stage show. Now, with his new album, Say Your Prayers, which is being spun in underground clubs from New York to Tokyo, Hideous finally pays as much attention to musical content. “Prayers” leaves behind the three-chord progressions of The Misfits, the Glenn Danzig-created Goth-punk band Hideous briefly fronted in the late '90s, and ranges from grassroots acoustic to Gothic death-rock. Whether influenced by Fields of the Nephilim and The Cult, or darker mainstream fare such as Evanescence, Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, Empire Hideous songs bleed emotion like an open wound. Say Your Prayers is available at www.middlepillar.com. Hideous' memoirs/tour diary, King of an Empire to the Shoes of a Misfit is available through the band's web site.

Zillo Magazine - (Germany) * English translation - by: Breda Massmann
The Empire Hideous have existed since the end of the eighties and are quite a cult-band in US-goth-history. The driving force behind it all is Myke Hideous, whom you may know from his appearance as short time singer for The Misfits (98) and as vocalman of the rock band the Bronx Casket Company. After Myke recently released his book King Of An Empire To The Shoes Of A Misfits, which is a trip through his experiences during the time with The Misfits as well as his general life, he's back with a new album after the last Empire-album was released some years ago. The results are once again overwhelming. Myke and crew are celebrating a melodic, gothrock-mixture, which just glitters fascinating melodies and moods. As corner pillars for an approximate imagination, bands like The Mission, Vendemmian, The Cult, The Wake and London After Midnight can be mentioned, but as said just approximately. The guitars play a tempting interaction game, being both melancholic a nd acoustic ("Bound To Happen") as well as powerful, sawing and yet heavily chaining ("Terror Clone", "Two Minutes 'til Midnight"), combined with a warm purring bass-line and Myke's individual vocals - one pearl is followed by another. Between the songs you can find some instrumental pieces, including voice samples and spooky sounds. They put out effective, dark, emotional character for the album. Finally, you can also find a live song as a bonus track, which really makes clear that the band is one of the most intense performances on stage. A touching and fascinating soundbath.

Gothic Beauty Magazine
The performance on this album is brilliant. I'm really enjoying it!

OUTBURN Magazine #24 - by: JC Smith.
8 of 10
DARK ROCK - If gargoyles made rock 'n' roll, this is the music they would make. The Empire Hideous creates music tendered in darkness, gothic-tinged, but not without life in the jangling bones. It rocks, driven by guitars like bolts of crumbling lightening and Myke Hideous' distinctive, flexible, elastically emotional vocals - stylized, like inky shadows with purpose. "Two Minutes ‘til Midnight" romps, bounds, and chugs along like a great lost Paradise Lost track (circa, Draconian Times), though with its own visceral drive. At times, you can also hear a bit of Bauhaus lurking in the corners. An ascending guitar line and pumping drums open "Terror Clone" followed by H ideous' simmering moan to steeple rattling approach to the vocals. Strummed acoustic guitars serve as the foundation for "Bound to Happen" a welcome change of pace, yet still with the vigor that permeates all of Say Your Prayers. Interspersed between the main tracks are little ambient clips, mangled samples, and dark passages that keep the horror show mood at a high level throughout. But it's more than just grim intermissions and Say Your Prayers is much more than your average dark rocking music.

UNRATED Magazine.com – by: Bryan Schillo
Opening the gatefold cover of Say Your Prayers is like opening a door to a soundscape from which there is no return. The Empire Hideous traps you between a mix of horror and delight, in the only way singer/songwriter Myke Hideous, can do. Myke is a Ghoulish Godfather of rock who boasts an impressive resume. Over the last 10 years, he's also spent time singing for the Misfits, The Bronx Casket Co. and his SpySociety99 project. But The Empire Hideous has always, undeniably, been Myke's precedence and his mark of excellence on the music world. He is nothing short of the definition of a true artist. He breathes all his emotions and passions into his music and brings it to life with his powerful croons and screams. Longtime guitarist, Jeff Austin, is alongside him, slinging his trademark sonic drones and wails. The first track, "Terror Clone," starts with a haunting guitar line that finely and precisely cuts through the silence much like Jack the Ripper would the necks of his victims. The rest of the album never eases back, musically or lyrically. Myke invites us to experience his perspective of the grim, but enthralling world we live in - a place where hope is always slightly out-of-reach. Between almost each song are various interludes; clips and sound bytes of people speaking about betrayal, murder, carnal instincts and blood spraying out of a human neck. While some listeners may find these breaks bothersome, they do not play an arbitrary role. This is more of a concept album than one would think. The only song where an interlude isn't present is between, "If Only I Kept Dreaming" and "Bound to Happen," which appropriately starts and ends to the cleansing sounds of ocean waves crashing along a shoreline. It would truly be an atrocity if this album is not looked at as part of the cornerstone of gothic rock. From start to finish, The Empire Hideous has created a masterpiece, easily one of the best albums in years.