diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index c019b8429..705c34dc8 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1102,7 +1102,6 @@
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.UniquePropertiesCheck\$.*</pattern><branchRate>75</branchRate><lineRate>90</lineRate></regex>
 
 
-            <regex><pattern>.*.checks.blocks.EmptyBlockCheck</pattern><branchRate>88</branchRate><lineRate>100</lineRate></regex>
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.blocks.LeftCurlyCheck</pattern><branchRate>89</branchRate><lineRate>96</lineRate></regex>
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.blocks.RightCurlyCheck</pattern><branchRate>88</branchRate><lineRate>95</lineRate></regex>
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/blocks/EmptyBlockCheck.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/blocks/EmptyBlockCheck.java
index 45887786c..70bb2980c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/blocks/EmptyBlockCheck.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/blocks/EmptyBlockCheck.java
@@ -141,8 +141,7 @@ public class EmptyBlockCheck
                         ast.getText());
                 }
             }
-            else if (getAbstractOption() == BlockOption.TEXT
-                    && !hasText(leftCurly)) {
+            else if (!hasText(leftCurly)) {
                 log(leftCurly.getLineNo(),
                     leftCurly.getColumnNo(),
                     MSG_KEY_BLOCK_EMPTY,
@@ -161,35 +160,33 @@ public class EmptyBlockCheck
         final DetailAST rightCurly = slistAST.findFirstToken(TokenTypes.RCURLY);
         final DetailAST rcurlyAST = rightCurly != null
                 ? rightCurly : slistAST.getParent().findFirstToken(TokenTypes.RCURLY);
-        if (rcurlyAST != null) {
-            final int slistLineNo = slistAST.getLineNo();
-            final int slistColNo = slistAST.getColumnNo();
-            final int rcurlyLineNo = rcurlyAST.getLineNo();
-            final int rcurlyColNo = rcurlyAST.getColumnNo();
-            final String[] lines = getLines();
-            if (slistLineNo == rcurlyLineNo) {
-                // Handle braces on the same line
-                final String txt = lines[slistLineNo - 1]
+        final int slistLineNo = slistAST.getLineNo();
+        final int slistColNo = slistAST.getColumnNo();
+        final int rcurlyLineNo = rcurlyAST.getLineNo();
+        final int rcurlyColNo = rcurlyAST.getColumnNo();
+        final String[] lines = getLines();
+        if (slistLineNo == rcurlyLineNo) {
+            // Handle braces on the same line
+            final String txt = lines[slistLineNo - 1]
                     .substring(slistColNo + 1, rcurlyColNo);
-                if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(txt)) {
-                    retVal = true;
-                }
+            if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(txt)) {
+                retVal = true;
+            }
+        }
+        else {
+            // check only whitespace of first & last lines
+            if (lines[slistLineNo - 1]
+                    .substring(slistColNo + 1).trim().length() != 0
+                    || lines[rcurlyLineNo - 1]
+                            .substring(0, rcurlyColNo).trim().length() != 0) {
+                retVal = true;
             }
             else {
-                // check only whitespace of first & last lines
-                if (lines[slistLineNo - 1]
-                     .substring(slistColNo + 1).trim().length() != 0
-                    || lines[rcurlyLineNo - 1]
-                        .substring(0, rcurlyColNo).trim().length() != 0) {
-                    retVal = true;
-                }
-                else {
-                    // check if all lines are also only whitespace
-                    for (int i = slistLineNo; i < rcurlyLineNo - 1; i++) {
-                        if (lines[i].trim().length() > 0) {
-                            retVal = true;
-                            break;
-                        }
+                // check if all lines are also only whitespace
+                for (int i = slistLineNo; i < rcurlyLineNo - 1; i++) {
+                    if (lines[i].trim().length() > 0) {
+                        retVal = true;
+                        break;
                     }
                 }
             }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/blocks/EmptyBlockCheckTest.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/blocks/EmptyBlockCheckTest.java
index bdaf1d69a..88b855d59 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/blocks/EmptyBlockCheckTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/blocks/EmptyBlockCheckTest.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ public class EmptyBlockCheckTest
             "178:5: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_NO_STMT),
             "206:29: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_NO_STMT),
             "208:41: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_NO_STMT),
+            "219:12: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_NO_STMT),
         };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("InputSemantic.java"), expected);
     }
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ public class EmptyBlockCheckTest
             "77:17: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_EMPTY, "finally"),
             "178:5: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_EMPTY, "INSTANCE_INIT"),
             "206:29: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_EMPTY, "synchronized"),
+            "219:12: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_EMPTY, "STATIC_INIT"),
         };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("InputSemantic.java"), expected);
     }
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ public class EmptyBlockCheckTest
             "178:5: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_NO_STMT),
             "206:29: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_NO_STMT),
             "208:41: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_NO_STMT),
+            "219:12: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_KEY_BLOCK_NO_STMT),
         };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("InputSemantic.java"), expected);
     }
diff --git a/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputSemantic.java b/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputSemantic.java
index 8359e0c33..5f1dd5de2 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputSemantic.java
+++ b/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputSemantic.java
@@ -210,4 +210,13 @@ class InputSemantic
             }
         }
     }
+    
+    
+    static {
+       
+    int a = 0;}
+    
+    static {
+        
+    }
 }