| Queensryche | review #2 | 1983 |
| The Warning | review #2 | 1984 |
| Rage For Order | review #2 | 1986 |
| Operation: Mindcrime | review #2 | 1988 |
| Empire | review #2 | 1990 |
| Operation: Livecrime | review #2 | 1991 |
| Promised Land | review #2 | 1994 |
| Hear In The Now Frontier | review #2 | 1997 |
| Q2K | review #2 | 1999 |
| Greatest Hits | review #2 | 2000 |
| Tribe | 2003 |
A fantastic 'progressive political glam art metal' band (or whatever you may want to label them as) that was unfortunately lumped in with the 'dated and cheezy 80s hair metal' scene and lost most of their fan base following the grunge explosion, Queensryche has been an absolute force in hard rock since the early 80s any way you look at it, as their songwriting has always been at a consistently excellent quality throughout their career, all of the aspects that have made their songs excellent - quality musicianship strong hooks, mood, and emotion, and even large political statements on occasion.
Lineup-wise, vocalist Geoff Tate was a high-pitched screamer reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson (as Ryche's career went on he found his own somewhat distinctive voice), lead guitarist Chris DeGarmo was the main songwriter and lyricist for the band (he subsequently left in 1997, replaced by Kelly Gray), and the rest of the band was rounded out by underrated rhythm guitarist Michael Wilton and the rhythm section of Eddie "Ed Bass" Jackson and drummer Scott Rockenfeld.
The band began as a cheezy but forceful act very reminiscent of metal pioneers Iron Maiden on their self titled debut, which was a blueprint for what was to come later - their first full length album The Warning was basically a more mature, original and powerful version of the formula. Rage For Order showed an even more distinctive, eerily technological glam sound, while Operation: Mindcrime is in my opinion one of the absolute best concept albums of all time, with a confusing and heavily profound story, and Empire was when the band reached their creative highpoint melodically, musically, lyrically, and emotionally. Promised Land was almost as grand as a psychological experience (and an unfortunately long awaited followup), while Hear In The Now Frontier almost entirely ditched their progressive sound in favor of melody, and Q2K was a more confident approach to that sound, with a bit more song dynamics in the mix.
A very aggressive, youthful and interesting look back at the band's roots, this was the band's self titled 4 song debut EP (with a bonus track from the Rage For Order sessions, "Prophecy", placed at the end on the CD version). It's the Ryche at their most obviously over the top and cheezy, but still, the band wins points for the tremendous life they bring to this record - you'd be hard pressed to find any later Queensryche songs that exhibit this much absolute energetic fire. OK, maybe on Operation: Mindcrime, but that's pretty much a given, since that one has an emotional mind all of its' own.
Anyway, the EP begins with the all out blast of the Ryche's early signature song, "Queen Of The Ryche" (haha!), which comes immediately out of the gates with a powerful chugging riff, a huge drum sound and shrieking vocals - great performance all around. "Nightrider" is also a fairly exciting rocker, and "Blinded" is the first hint of the band's progressive side, with effective time changes in the chorus and verse (good ending section as well). "The Lady Wore Black", the band's first ballad, is a mystical ride very well played and convincingly sung. Overall, this is probably the least essential album in the whole Queensryche catalog, but it's still an exciting first step for a very promising band.
HIGH POINTS: The Lady Wore Black. LOW POINTS: None.
The kind of people that love a debut album (or rather a debut EP) like this one are the same ones who call Kill ‘Em All Metallica’s best album. I still can’t understand why. Perhaps it’s something about the thought of it being the first or something. Some debuts are great while others are atrocious; I don’t think the fact that an album came first should affect someone’s opinion. Honestly now people, can you call this better than Mindcrime or Empire? Lucky for me there aren’t nearly as many people proclaiming this as the band’s finest moment (but there are still a few of them out there) as there are many who call Metallica’s debut their best.
Anyway there are only a handful of songs on this one, and quite frankly none of them are spectacular. But none are bad either, and just because they aren’t spectacular doesn’t mean they are no good. They are. First of all there is “Queen Of The Ryche,” and that is good song, although I’m guessing you didn’t really need me to tell you that. My favorite is “The Lady Wore Red,” though, mostly because it best displays this EP's only big strength, and that is Geoff Tate. He’s a great vocalist, and even though this is hardly his finest work, his work is the finest on here. I guess this is one of those “essential for the fan, worthwhile for the rest" kind of things, so there is my recommendation.
COMMENTS
I haven't heard this album yet, but I have heard "Queen of the Ryche" on MP3, and man, that song KICKS FUCKING ASS!!!!!!!! What a cool riff, rhythm, solo, and vocal performance! "Nooooo one will answer, the life is fading awaaayyyy / Ten souls are screaming out in PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNNNN!!!!!!!" And how about that long, high pitched wail at the beggining of the song? So awesome. However, the production on the song is a bit crappy. The guitars, though having an awesome, searing sound, are somewhat weak and tinny. But it's the drums that really bring it down. "Huge drum sound"? Huh? The drums are nothing but dated-sounding weightless thumps. Talk about poor drum tracking. Just imagine "Queen of the Ryche" with Mindcrime guitar heaviness and Warning crisp drums. Drooooooooooool... Oh yeah, I've also heard "Prophecy" off the Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years soundtrack and it also kicks fucking ass. Ooh and those lyrcis. "Over the top and cheesy"? If the lyrics to Empire aren't cheesy then I'll eat my brain out!
Queensryche's official full length debut The Warning attempts to expand somewhat on the EP's sound, trying to leave the Iron Maiden-isms of that release (especially in the vocal performance) a bit more behind them. The album's even got something of a concept going for it - dealing with the possibility of armageddon, basically. The initial echo of the chorus 'warning... warning.... warning...' from the opening title track certainly represents that sentiment well, making the song become a solid anthem. The EP-style track "En Force" is built on a killer groove, awesome DeGarmo soloing, a booming echo-filled chorus and a haunting acoustic outro.
It's "NM 156", however, where things become very chaotic, and the musical atmosphere represents a sort of 'technological breakdown' - the frantic spoken word 'computerized' lyrics create a tension within the melody preceding a memorable, 'we've come too far to turn around' chorus. "Take Hold Of The Flame" also doesn't disappoint, as it's a catchy and exciting anthem highlighted by a classic Geoff Tate performance - check out that stunning high note he hits early on in the tune. "Before The Storm", meanwhile, is an impressive effective representation of 'musical seasickness' - the riff and uneasy 'rocking back and forth' chorus of the title really gives that impression, and after it slowly regains control of itself, the song's natural extension, the rocker "Child Of Fire", howls into the night with a lot of such youthful 'fire'.
The closing track, "Roads To Madness", is considered the band's first very ambitious piece, a classic emotional masterpiece on account of Tate's exhibition of 'from the gut' vocal passion and the stunning orchestral section that appears during the climax of the song, the start of a gripping finish to the nearly 10 minute epic. Overall, this album still leaves a little bit to be desired, on account of several moments sounding a little too identical in style to the previous release, especially in a couple of the weak by comparison first half tracks, "Deliverance" and an obvious rewrite of "The Lady Wore Black" in "No Sanctuary", but its' many fine moments are more than an adequate indicator of Queensryche's talents.
HIGH POINTS: Roads To Madness, No Sanctuary, Take Hold Of The Flame. LOW POINTS: Child Of Fire.
The "Hey guys, let's be like Iron Maiden" attitude continues in the band's first full album. I mean, look at the bass during the ending of "Warning." It sounds exactly like Steve Harris' ending lines to several Maiden songs. It's nothing huge to complain about. If I were in an early eighties metal band I'd probably want to be like Iron Maiden too. Tate is again trying to be Bruce Dickinson. The difference is he's actually doing much better with it. On Queensryche he hit the high scream notes, but he just didn't put the feeling into it like he does here. Songs like "No Sanctuary," "Take Hold Of The Flame," and especially "Roads To Madness" give me even more of a reason to include him on the top five vocalists of all time (as if later releases Mindcrime and Empire weren't more than enough already).
The Warning is a considerable step in the right direction musically giving the first taste of the quality work that Queensryche had to offer. It's best seen in the album's final song. There are many songs on here that are incredibly powerful and moving, but as great as they may be, they are all still NOTHING compared to "Roads To Madness." As I said before Tate does his best work on the album there, and still the song is so much more than that. The orchestration brings the emotion up to an even higher level. Great guitar lines along with some fine drum work also help to make one of the band's very best songs, almost certainly the best of the pre-Mindcrime material.
For the most part the rest are good. "En Force" has got a really powerful intro, and a freaky outro. There's some weird computer and robot apocalyptic kind of stuff on "NM 156" that may have a little bit of a corny sci-fi feel to it. The song works well with the music, though, and that really is what matters. "Warning" does a good job of opening up an album that turns out to be the first big hint of Queensryche's greatness, and an excellent listening experience overall. It's a relatively low 8, and without the closing track it would most likely drop down a point.
Considered the band's finest moment by some, Queensryche's second full length effort Rage For Order is certainly their most experimental and interesting effort, very much unlike anything they've ever released before or since, but don't take that to be a bad thing considering when it was released - you know, a lot of dated and cheezy stuff came out of 1986, which is why it's often considered to be the worst year in rock history. Other than their atrocious look in the band photo on the back cover, though, there isn't anything at all dated about this record, despite the somewhat more apparent use of synthesizers, which actually add a certain charm in some parts and an eerie menace to others. Another interesting thing about Rage For Order is that it can be seen as the "prequel" to the following Operation: Mindcrime concept album - with only a few exceptions, the lyrics here seem to tie into that story rather well.
The album begins with one of the band's most straight ahead, passionate, catchy, quality riff creations in "Walk In The Shadows", an inspired gem and a deserved classic. "I Dream In Infrared" introduces a mysterious "dream-like" atmosphere to the mix and is really quite engaging and beautiful, with nice flourishes of synthesizers and bells. The massive groove rocker "The Whisper" is also one of their greatest in that department, with an incredible driving rhythm and chorus.
Following is the only cover Queensryche has ever released on a studio album of some early 80s song by Lisa Dal Bello (don't ask, I don't know either) called "Gonna Get Close To You", which makes stunning use of synthesized instrumentation and quality guitar work, really giving the impression of the main character in the song 'stalking' a woman he's fallen for. "The Killing Words" continues in that brilliant moody direction, with an amazingly gutwrenching chorus, and "Surgical Strike" ends the first half as arguably the greatest half of Ryche tracks ever assembled together on one album - awesome energetic force, great chorus and melody and it also moves into a highly politicized direction.
The second half is inevitably somewhat weaker - "Neue Regel" makes fabulous use of freaky robotic vocals and instrumentation at the start of the song, but other than that, the song's not really anything too special, while "Chemical Youth (We Are Rebellion)" has potential to be an amazingly energized political chant, but the melody is unfortunately kind of weak, and "London" has some of the best Chris DeGarmo work here, but it's more of a showcase of his great talents than an actual quality song. The two closing tracks, however, fully redeem those slightly disappointing numbers - "Screaming In Digital" can best be described as a sick (in a good way), offbeat, terrifying battle with a computer, and "I Will Remember" is a hauntingly beautiful dreamlike ballad, lyrically meaningful, with nice acoustic textures. Overall, Rage For Order is a positively convincing transition album from the "over the top" power metal days to the profound, venmous political lyricism and passionate balladry.
HIGH POINTS: I Dream In Infrared, I Will Remember, Walk In The Shadows, London. LOW POINTS: None
Mmm, nice work! In the year considered absolutely horrible for older classic rock bands, heavy metal was doing quite fine. We have Rage For Order here, Somewhere In Time from Iron Maiden, Master Of Puppets from Metallica, (most people love Slayer's 1986 album Reign In Blood too, but I don't) and probably a few others that I can't really think of now. If The Warning was the first big hint at Queensryche's coming greatness, Rage For Order is the first big taste of it. Although nothing here matches up the epic power of "Roads To Madness," there are absolutely no weak tracks on this album (to be honest I never liked "Child of Fire" from the previous album a whole lot).
Melodically this is also a step forward for the band. The songs are more memorable and catchy, and more importantly they sound expertly written by one of the top heavy metal bands. For example the chorus in "The Killing Words" is an emotional and melodic one, not quite like anything they'd done before. The solos have more feeling than before, like the speed on "Surgical Strike," or the short, simple beauty on "Neue Regel." Other highlights include the fantastic opener "Walk in the Shadows," a big improvement over the already great "Warning," "The Whisper," another classic, and the very powerful "London." Oh and the synths perfectly on the album, enhancing the mood and sometimes adding some great moments themselves.
Queensryche are also starting to develop their own style here too. Iron Maiden would never have done a song like "Gonna Get Close To You," and it comes out exceptional. Also, Jackson has left his Steve Harris imitations behind and is beginning to play some really great stuff of his own. Scott Rockenfield is beginning to show his style more clearly than before, pounding the drums in a near-perfect manner. The band is working very well together, making some really great music.
You know, the All Music Guide gave this two stars, the lowest grade given to a Queensryche album. Don't trust it! This is a great great album, and most likely the beginning of their peak period. I find it incredible that in just three years they had come so far from the fairly forgettable little debut EP. This is easily the second best eighties Queensryche album (then again that isn't really saying much since they only did three albums in the eighties) and one of the band's better releases. Get this if you liked Mindcrime; you will not be disappointed.
It was on Operation: Mindcrime when all of Queensryche's potential as an exciting, thought-provoking and technically proficient band comes into fruition, and with that, the listener even gets a complex, gripping story to go along with it. Mindcrime is built around the tale of a man named Nicky poised for revolution against his adversary, the evil villian Dr. X, which is a representation of the dissatisfaction some had with Ronald Reagan-era politics. There's also a romantic slant thrown in - Nicky is thrown into a terrible situation when Dr. X tells him to kill the 'sister' Nicky is in love with, Mary, and a priest. There's certainly a lot of thought-provoking excitement that these two plots bring to the table, and a lot of the actual story is left very much open to interpretation, which is part of the genius of this conceptual record..
It wouldn't be such, however, if Queensryche didn't have the songwriting ability to match the solid foundation of the story, but they do - the riffs, choruses, lyrics, and instrumentation in general are all perfectly executed. Chris DeGarmo has by now really stepped up in his main songwriter role (and comes up with some great leads and solos in the process), the underappreciated rhythm guitarist Michael Wilton also gives arguably his best performance ever, and Geoff Tate sings all of his parts with both angry and hopeless emotion, whatever the situation may call for at the time, whether it be the 'sitting alone by the window' quality of the acoustic to electric ballad "The Mission", the bitter, polticized adrenaline rush of "Revolution Calling" (which comes after the two excellent lead-in introductions to the full story - the opening mental institution scene "I Remember Now" and the introductory instrumental "Anarchy--X"), or the uncertain feeling of the aftermath of it all in the closing "Eyes Of A Stranger", which is a stunner.
Even the shorter pieces aren't insignificant in the slightest (the aforementioned two opening tracks included) - "Electric Requiem" recreates the feeling of the finality of imprisonment, "Waiting For 22" is a dark, lyrical instrumental (which extends the album's best cut, the climax of the love story, "I Don't Believe In Love", which is where Nicky is crushed emotionally by Mary's death, and wonders about his feelings) the melodic cut where and the emotional solitude of the acoustic "My Empty Room" stands on its' own rather well.
There's also enough heavier moments to satisfy the metal freaks - "Speak" and "Spreading The Disease" pound and shred with class in the convincing anthemic riff-oriented approach, also serving effectively as a dramatic buildup. "The Needle Lies" and the title track, meanwhile, are killer tracks told from the point of view of X himself - the former is a smoking track moving along at a punkish speed and pure rhythmic mastery, the latter a soaring anthem with a whole lot of lyrical intent. Rounding out the album is the classic desperation of "Breaking The Silence" and the climax of the entire album, the over 10 minute extended piece "Suite Sister Mary", a phenomenally constructed epic with powerful lyrics that ends up in a memorable duet between Geoff and guest vocalist Pamela Moore impressively playing the part of Mary. In all, Operation: Mindcrime is more of a great ambition conceptually than it is musically, since there isn't nearly enough musical variety to call it their best, but it's still an essential concept album.
HIGH POINTS: The Mission, Suite Sister Mary, Eyes Of A Stranger, Breaking The Silence, Revolution Calling, The Needle Lies, Operation: Mindcrime. LOW POINTS: None
I know that it has been said many times before (probably in many better ways too) and hearing me say it again will probably not impact or surprise anyone at all, but I guess it doesn't matter. If adding an opinion that has already been stated to the thousands of views concerning a certain work, musical or not, was something never to be done the world would have at least ten thousand less Abbey Road reviews. Or how about In The Court Of The Crimson King? All anyone (myself included) ever says is that they all rule except "Moonchild," but people continue to dish out review after review for it anyway. Then there is the factor to consider that this has not yet been said on this site, and if by some chance a young man was browsing the Queensryche section of Music Junkies Anonymous, too lazy to read the reviews and only glancing at the ratings, it could be possible that they would probably be most drawn to Empire (although they would most likely not be disappointed), since that is the Queensryche album that has received the most notable grade thus far. Therefore a review for this album may be necessary.
What I am desparately trying to do here is this stupid little album introduction, ladies and gentlemen, is justify my reasons for writing yet another review that states that Operation: Mindcrime is easily the most powerful, most brilliant, and simply the best heavy metal album I have ever heard. Well, actually I can’t entirely say that it is easily the best, since there have been a lot of really really damn spectacular metal albums. Paramaecium’s Within The Ancient Forest comes to mind first, and it's almost as good as this one. In fact, on rare occasion I actually find it even better. But not today. Today I give the title to Mindcrime.
Originally I had planned a song-by-song examination of the album, similar to my review for Super Heavy Dreamscape. In fact I had that review all typed out and ready to go. However at the last moment I changed my mind for reasons I am still not entirely sure of and I’d decided to just hit the highlights. I thought this would work out fine until I realized that the entire album feels like one big highlight, and even hitting some my (current) personal favorites would mean going into others since most of the songs on here need the support of the surrounding songs (could you imagine “Eyes Of A Stranger” without the three before it? Or “The Mission” and “Suite Sister Mary” without “Spreading The Disease?”) so hitting the highlights and doing a song-by-song would in the end turn out to be pretty much the same thing. I’ve decided instead to simply state a few of the major reasons I feel Operation: Mindcrime is superior to every other heavy metal album (except possibly Within The Ancient Forest, as I mention before). I won't be going too much into the storyline, so if an in depth explanation of the concept is what you are looking for you should probably go somewhere else. With all of that said, shall we begin?
First, this is the best Queensryche album, and Queensryche is a damn good band. Later in their career they didn't quite show it as much, but they are one of the few artists in history that have yet to release a truly bad album after nearly two decades of writing music. By this point, the entire "let's be Iron Maiden" bit is gone and this is where the band first truly began to develop their own style. This is also where the biggest leap forward in quality was. It is true that before this they had already released excellent material at this point (most notably Rage For Order), and even some jaw-dropping songs ("Roads to Madness"), and after its release there were some classics as well, even if not as great as this one. The point isn't what happened before and after, because that stuff can't compare. This is by far the best the band has to offer. Oh sure Empire was incredibly awesome as well, but still when I put it next to Mindcrime, I just can't see it on the same level. And even after all of this big leap in songwriting quality there is yet even more that the band has achieved with this release. Every member is at their peak.
I have never heard Geoff Tate sing like that throughout an entire album before, and I doubt I ever will again. Every single song shows a decent candidate for his top five performances. Maybe he was still a slight Dickinson imitator, or maybe not. If he still was he certainly was no longer a step below the air-raid siren. Hell, I’d go do far to say that his performance on this album could be better than Dickinson’s on Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (even if Dickinson is slightly better overall). I mean he gets so into the songs. I can't think of anything from any other album is sung as sincere as “The Mission” or “Breaking The Silence.” Ok, actually I can ("Roads To Madness" "Anybody Listening?," and "Someone Else?," he is great on those closing songs, isn't he?), but I do believe that Tate's performance on the album is so consistent and amazing that he alone could make it a classic.
DeGarmo’s solos are simply amazing. I will admit that there have been albums with better solos (Animals, Powerslave), but never have I heard such powerful work from Queensryche. Every solo so well benefits and expertly ties in with the song. And there's some genuine talent here two. On something like “The Needle Lies” we get some pretty darn fast stuff, and not the “faceless shred” of Malmsteen or Impelleteri, even if those two guys are faster. These solos have a lot of feeling put into them, and that is what an album like this needs. Not that the rhythm guitar parts here are dry or anything. They’re so captivating and downright amazing, its pretty obvious this is also Wilton’s finest moment.
Scott Rockenfield is also better than ever, and not necessarily just on the more drum driven songs like “Anarchy-X” or “Electric Requiem,” although he is quite outstanding there. On “Suite Sister Mary,” for example, he bridges the parts between Tate and Moore masterfully. It isn't especially complex or even that much what he does between their parts, but it just works so damn well. Oh, and in the beginning of the song he paints the perfect picture of Nikki meeting with Mary. It becomes so easy to visualize Nikki walking in with the “She feels me” lyrical section.
Finally, the bass work is so amazing, another sign that Queensryche had completely left the Iron Maiden style behind. Jackson hits his peak in songs like “Spreading the Disease.” His lines on the chorus are nothing less than phenomenal. Unfortunately, even though I am no expert at these things, the bass seems poorly mixed. On “Spreading the Disease” it can be hard to hear the Jackson's four-string, or at least harder than it should be. However on something like “The Mission” he's much easier to make out, so I guess the poor mix is only in certain places.
I’m not sure there is another example where every band member hit their musical peak on the same album. Please be sure that, as great as they are, none of these performances are my personal favorites. However this could be the album that hits my top ten in more categories than any other. But in the end there are more than just the individual performances to make this Queensryche’s finest. The band works together perfectly on here, on a level they could never achieve again.
Second, the emotional power is far (not too far, though) beyond that of any other album (metal or not) ever made. There have been very few albums that even come close to being as moving as this one. You get intense entries like “The Mission” or “Breaking the Silence,” and completely crushing ones like “Eyes Of A Stranger.” Even transitions between the songs are something to hear. The change from “I Don’t Believe In Love” to “Waiting For 22,” though subtle, is one of the most incredible and powerful ever. And not just the individual songs are this powerful, though. If you look at the album as a whole it’s dramatic composition is similar to that of Super Heavy Dreamscape, except this one doesn’t give you those nice little breaks to help prepare you nor does it end on a softer gentle note. The album has an emotionally perfect feel from start to finish.
Third, Operation: Mindcrime is so brilliant it’s hard for me to describe fully, so I guess I’ll try to hit a single highlight of the highlights, and this will be hard to choose. Hmm. Ok, I think I’ve thought of the one that best represents the album. The final song, “Eyes Of A Stranger” is Nikki wondering about the future as his past has affected it, and how he has completely lost his identity (“I raise my head and stare into the eyes of a stranger/I’ve always known that the mirror never lies”). The lyrics are great here, of course, but the music is actually made up of it's own melody as well as a reprise of two of the album’s previous songs, the two that are the actual themes of the story surrounding the album, “The Mission,” and “I Don’t Believe I Love.” The reworking of the music adds to the strong feel of isolation and depression, while still making it very clear the themes are there and better than ever, making the song one of the most effective closers ever (not all that big of a surprise; Queensryche almost always had great closing songs). But the brilliance and genius doesn’t stop there. The final words to the song are “Afraid to know what lies behind my stare,” and then we do get a look at what lies behind Nikki’s stare, as the final guitar piece fades into a collage of clips from the rest of the album, representing his thoughts and mind. Please, ladies and gentlemen, show me any other heavy metal band that has done something that incredibly brilliant. That's only one example, though; there are many, many more.
Fourth, the lyrical concept isn’t half bad. For the most part I don’t usually care much for rock opera stories, but this is an exception. It isn’t a flawless story (then again there has only been one of those), and if you're looking in a gap in the album's perfection that is probably the only one you'll find. If you really want to know the biggest flaws I'll tell you what they are. At the end of "Breaking The Silence" when everyone starts with the "We know you did it" questions there is a really idiotic voice saying "Why'd you do it?" and it drives me nuts. The other major flaw is similar and at the beginning of the classic "Eyes Of A Stranger." There are a bunch of voices flying around there two illustrating the hospital scene, but one of them screams out "I don't wanna take a bath!" That annoys me a little bit as well. It doesn't really matter much, though. A few random half-second voices aren't enought to drag an album like this down at all.
The lyrics focus on two major areas. During the build up to “Suite Sister Mary” they are full of rage and political hatred, as well as being introduction and background of the story and characters, expertly done and perfectly paced. And then “Suite Sister Mary” itself begins the actual story which plays out for the rest of the album. For the most part it can be viewed overall as an updated version of The Manchurian Candidate, but calling Mindcrime a rip off would be completely wrong since it offers plenty that wasn’t in the original. Plus it isn't all that hard to follow either, and should not leave you scratching your head when you try to figure out what the whole thing was about. Great stuff.
Fifth, there is no other album that comes to mind (with more than 3 tracks, that is) where I can understand any song (other than “I Remember Now,” which isn’t a really a song anyway) being called the best. It’s not just that this is extremely even, though. All of the songs have something great to offer, and there is nothing that even hints at feeling like a weak spot. My personal favorite votes currently go for “The Mission” and “Suite Sister Mary,” but if you like “Revolution Calling” or “Waiting for 22” that’s fine. You see even on albums that are almost as good as or even as good as this one there is always a track or two that, despite how good or great, shouldn’t be called the best. With Animals it would be the “Pigs On The Wing” songs, on Super Heavy Dreamscape it would be “Everything Is Good,” on Images & Words it would be “Pull Me Under.” These songs are far from bad or even not being great, but for various reasons they should not be called the best on the album. Do you understand? If not then just pretend there were only four points to this review and forget this whole bit here.
So I guess those are the biggest reasons I can give for worshipping this album without going too deep into the actual songs, as much as I'd really like to. To put it simply If you haven’t heard this one you have know idea what heavy metal is capable of, and if you don’t like it, either this genre is not your thing, or you should go buy yourself a Korn CD. Either way I can’t imagine a true fan of metal not owning Mindcrime, for it is most likely the highpoint of the genre.
COMMENTS
HIGH POINTS: "Revolution Calling", "Operation: Mindcrime", "The Mission", "The Needle Lies", "I Don't Believe in Love", "My Empty Room", "Eyes of a Stranger" LOW POINTS: The lyrics of "Suite Sister Mary"
Throughout the '80s, you could tell that during their progression they probably said "You know, as ambitious as we are right now, I still don't think we're being ambitious enough!" at constant intervals. And it definitely was shown in the evolution of their sound, from the maiden worship of the debut EP, to the bombastic, large-scale sound and occasional subject matter of Rage for Order. So where were they gonna go from there? Easy answer: the concept album! Not being ones to cater to conventionality, the band based their release on a set of particularly heavy issues, constructing a plot based around an underground revolution against the mainstream-oriented authority, with the central figure Nikki (who's actually a guy, but the feminine style trends of the '80s probably led to his sexually confusing name being somewhat deserved) thrown into the issue of the morality of rebellion. Nikki, a drug-addled deviant, is called to arms by criminal mastermind Dr. X, agreeing to perform the many nefarious deeds pertaining to Nikki's innermost desires of indignantly influenced destruction. And what story with an overtly negative protagonist would be complete without a love interest to "show the main character the ways of compassion"? In comes Mary, former prostitute and Church Sister, the perfect outlet for Nikki to alleviate all his innermost guilt of criminal behavior through confession. As you might have guessed, the album also takes a swipe at religion, using the "repentance gives perfect leeway for immorality" fallacy as one of its many methods. Then things start to get awry when... aw hell, I'm not going to spoil it for you! Besides, you probably already know the whole storyline by now anyway if you're reading these reviews.
Oh yeah, the music. It's actually quite conventional for such a lofty basis. There's the occasional sonic experiment (like the dramatic synth-based atmosphere piece "Electric Requiem", the fantastically powerful "My Empty Room", and the obligatory dialogue snippets strewn about) as well as the symphonically-assisted 10-minute progressive rock epic "Suite Sister Mary", however most of the music is made up of regular, prog-styled '80s hard rock with verse/chorus/verse structures and radio-friendly solos. But it's GREAT prog-styled '80s hard rock! Michael Wilton's comes up with a bucketload of ferocious, well-thought-out prog/metal riffs, ranging from gloriously melodic ("Revolution Calling", "I Don't Believe in Love") to headbangingly ferocious (the title track, "Speak"). Chris DeGarmo's leads are also a real treat; he manages to totally shred his ass off while still putting melodicism and resonance to the forefront and not sound indulgent. The solo in the title track in particular is probably his finest moment as a guitarist; god DAMN does that solo rule! And the drum interplay gives it a great, funky feel that's just unbeatable. Speaking of drums, Scott Rockenfield is certainly no slouch either, his performance is very dynamic with plenty of rhythmic touches that really add to the music and never sticks to straightforward, generic 4/4 style, and is definitely quite exciting to listen to. The biggest surprise, however, is Eddie Jackson. He has just as much of a role in the music as the rest of the band, always coming with some truly, excellent melodic lines that complement Wilton's riffs without resorting to duplicating them. Plus, his tone is real sharp and trebly, rather than the flat, murky sound of most bass players, so you can hear his brilliantly crafted notes clearly and easily. Hell, this album is worth listening just for the bass work! Why this man isn't mentioned among the greats like Geddy Lee, Les Claypool and Flea I'll never know.
Song analysis, you ask? Well, the songs that really stand out here are the fist-raising political poptune "Revolution Calling" (which such simple, but brilliant lines as "I used to trust the media to tell me the truth, tell us the truth / But now I've seen the payoffs everywhere I look / Who do you trust when everyone's a crook?"), the uber-catchy funk metal title track, the dramatic power ballad "The Mission", the fierce, ass-kicking headbanger "The Needle Lies", the heavenly melodic "I Don't Believe in Love", and deservedly critically-acclaimed "Eyes of a Stranger". "My Empty Room" isn't really a song in the traditional sense, but that doesn't stop it from being another album highlight with its perfectly achieved atmosphere. Just listen to that clean guitar melody chiming over a ticking clock and try not to get watery-eyed. And when the song bursts into a fireball of guitar distortion it REALLY hits hard, even if Geoff Tate does sound kinda like Alanis Morisette.
The album isn't without its faults, however. The most evident one is a severe imbalance in the songs, it's more or less all rockers on the first side, and all power ballads on the second. The former I don't really mind, but constant ballads are rather difficult to take without a kickbutt rocker to allow a healthy storm form the respite. And said side is WAY too dominated by love sentiments; the "revolution" part of the story is referred to much too vaguely and seems like more or less an afterthought to Nikki's romantic laments. Second, while "Suite Sister Mary" is an impressive, spectacular piece of work musically, the lyrics are absolutely ATROCIOUS. It's virtually impossible to hear guest vocalist Pamela Moore sing "I feel the flow, the blessed stain / Sweating hands like fire and flames / Burn my thighs, spread in sacrificial rite / The hallowed altar burns my flesh once more tonight" without either bursting in hysterical laughter or cringing in sheer pain. In addition, "Speak" and "Spreading the Disease", aside from their killer riffs and thought-provoking lyrics (the line "Religion and sex are power plays / Manipulate the people for the money they pay / Selling skin, selling God / The numbers look the same on their credit cards" being a particular highlight) don't really have much to offer musically. And finally, the production sucks. The mix is sorely lacking in low and high-end frequencies, leaving one to ask angrily "Who turned my $1200 sound system into a fucking clock radio?" Yes, it's very easily rectified with bass and treble knobs, but people should know better than to make a rock album so midrange-oriented. And while Scott's drum tone is fantastically punchy and loud, Michael's rhythm guitar sounds too clean and air-filled, leaving me to wonder if he bothered to double-check the distortion switch on his amp, and a large portion of Chris's solos have a wonderful (read: annoying) harsh, ear-piercing nails-on-chalkboard tone. Still, Peter Collins did do a pretty good job in regards to making the general recording job clear and well balanced; with the equalization issues rectified the overall mix sounds positively wonderful. Plus since the album's from the '80s you know it has a wide, comfortable natural level of dynamic range with none of the irritating overcompression that makes most recent rock albums so difficult to listen to.
Still, slight annoyances aside, this album is still absolutely tanfastic, and you need to have it in your collection if you have any appreciation at all for fine art in modern rock music. And who says there's anything wrong with albums that make you think? Better than getting involved in a criminal operation and falling in love with a targeted Church girl, that's for sure.
OVERALL RATING: 9
-Wes Lindstrom
I must agree with your comments on Mindcrime I believe it to be, however maybe not at the time, Queensryche's best work. I think when caught up in the moment I was more excited about Empire's release and Promised Lands for that matter, however I think when you listen to them now after the initial "glow" has began to luster to an extint Mindcrime offers a better look into what Queensryche wanted to stand for as well as their musical abilities. I am extremely excited about the upcoming perfomance of Mindcrime live, probably moreso than I have been about anything musically since the turn of the century. I am also eagerly anticipating the planned release of the sequel to this epic concept album. Who knows in 15 more years we may find that it surpasses its predacessor in rock and roll legend and mystique.
B.
It was a very tough task indeed for Queensryche to follow up the album they'll probably be most remembered for ultimately, a concept album masterpiece in Operation: Mindcrime, and with this followup, Empire, there's no full scale 'opera' or anything. There is, however, an actual leap forward in terms of meaningful, heartfelt lyric writing - Chris Degarmo's best work yet (with the previous album this aspect had probably only related to the story at hand), very infectious melodies, explosive arena rock energy and a Pink Floyd-like tendency to focus more on the mood, attempting to hit the listener in all the right places. The result here is over 63 minutes of fantastic hard rock gems which take the listener to different places lyrically and musically, so the band succeeded here on all these fronts, and also broke into the mainstream in the process, which also unfortunately led to the use of two evil words by some longtime fans - SELL OUT.
That first significant hit, "Silent Lucidity", is a gentle acoustic ballad, almost an atmospheric lullaby type song that enters the dream world of the insane musically and lyrically, and in this aspect mirrors one of Floyd's 'significant hits', "Comfortably Numb", a bit too much. Both tracks even have phenomenal emotional solos by their respective guitarists (by Dave Gilmour and Chris DeGarmo respectively). Despite the similarities in mood and orchestration on both, it somehow doesn't mar "Silent Lucidity" too much, as it's not strictly a Floyd ripoff, but a brilliant attempt at emulating that band's style. "Jet City Woman" was another big hit, an excellent arena rock number with a great Eddie Jackson bassline, soaring guitar work and a lyrical focus on the subject of 'long distance' love.
Despite the bleak opening lines 'A child alone in daddy's room/the gun was hidden here/no one here to catch me when I fall' in the opener "Best I Can" and the emotional insecurities evident in the aforementioned hits, however, Empire is generally hopeful lyrically, especially in the initial song which speaks of overcoming your troubles in such a triumphant way. The 'take control of your own destiny'-styled "Hand On Heart" is another obviously uplifting piece, and that mood even exists in a theater where 'no one smiles without a mask' ("Anybody Listening?", a truly unbelievable closing ballad that could possibly the band's greatest song to date - hopeful acoustic sections and sung with theatrical, questioning passion in the chorus practically cement its' reputation) a dangerous political world (the mostly pessimistic title track, an anthem for the ages with its' clever, but hard-hitting and serious lyricism, the strong rebellious anthem "Resistance"), and the streets inhabited by a poverty stricken young woman ("Della Brown", which has a good yearning melody and underappreciated drum and bass work from Rockenfeld and Jackson).
"Another Rainy Night (Without You)" and "The Thin Line" also hit home, both in different ways - the former has the main character experiencing the end of a close romantic relationship alone 'out in the rain', while the latter has a sexual, lyrical slant - a whole lot of romantic tendencies within. Have I mentioned the underappreciated work of the rhythm section yet? It's apparent in the aforementioned "Best I Can", "Della Brown", and especially the ending groove to "One And Only". Empire's understated instrumental work, lyrics, melodies and overall 'heart' make it one of my serious recommendations for any hard rock fan's collection, and I'm actually more blown away by it than the previous album, believe it or not.
Update: Okay, no I'm not. I do realize now that Mindcrime is their peak, and this album has grown off me somewhat in recent years. It's still very good, but I get the feeling I was more personally biased towards it than anything else. Rewrite coming eventually.
HIGH POINTS: Anybody Listening?, Another Rainy Night (Without You), Silent Lucidity, Best I Can, Jet City Woman. LOW POINTS: Hand on Heart, Resistance, One and Only.
Hmm. You know all of those great performances by the band I just described in the Mindcrime review? I hope I didn’t imply that they were by far the best, because this album is almost as good as far as the members' performances go. In fact I’m currently debating whether to give it a 9 or a 10. On one hand I might normally give an album this great a 10, but thinking back to my opening paragraph in Mindcrime I’m not sure that person just scanning the ratings and just looking for one Queensryche album to get (I know he’s out there somewhere) would ignore the above ten and just get the album that got two tens.
Ok, I'll cut the crap now and get back to the real review. This album rules. "Best I Can" is a really cool opening track with quite hopeful lyrics to begin the contrast to Mindcrime's hopeless pit of depression. The album's lyrics in general are a bit more sincere than Mindcrime's, actually, but I prefer the storyline of Mindcrime overall. It's not that any of the lyrics on Empire are particularly bad though, they just don't hit me the same way. I miss lines like "We'll burn the White House down," or "You're a one-man death machine, make this city bleed." That's just me, of course.
Now for the highlights. "Jet City Woman," admit it, sounds a whole lot like Mindcrime's "Breaking the Silence." That doesn't really mean the song isn't unique in it's own little way. "Breaking The Silence" didn't have a bass line that great. "Another Rainy Night (Without You)" is even better than that one with a completely unique feel to it. We get Empire's political statement with the title track, and lyrically it's not as strong a statement as before, but it doesn't matter since the song in the end comes out rocking hard. The biggest hit, "Silent Lucidity," is a really pretty song with fine orchestration. The best moment however is "Anybody Listening?" which closes the album. It's on par with almost any song from Mindcrime, and certainly hits my top five Queensryche songs. The two verses are a pair of some the most beautiful and melodic music ever recorded, being one of the few cases I can think of where the verse of a song is even better than the chorus. When I listen to it I can't help but think about what the people who automatically hated Empire for being a pop album are missing out on.
And now, sadly, for the problems. I've listened to this album a few times more since writing the opening paragraph and have decided on the really high 9. The top material on here is indeed stunning and worthy of a 10, but there are a couple problems I have with this album and they prevent me from awarding this a perfect score. I usually end up ignoring or skipping over a couple of songs ("Della Brown" NOT being one of them) when I listen to Empire, but now that I'm sitting here reviewing this album I can't deny their existence. First of all, and this may upset some people since this is one of the more popular entries on the album, there is "Resistance." The problem there is a dorky chorus that really drags the quality of the song down. "Hand On Heart" is another ridiculously stupid song that has no business being on an otherwise flawless album. "Resistance" and "Hand On Heart" are not very painful at all to listen to, but they force me to knock the album down a point. Sorry.
Oh and in case for some reason you didn't know, this pretty much defines a sell out album, even more so than Load. Odd that Queensryche could still release some great stuff after doing that unspeakable act, something Metallica had a little trouble with. It's almost impossible to write about Empire and not refer back to Mindcrime in some way or another. After all Empire and Operation: Mindcrime will be the two that Queensryche will be remembered for since the majority of people call one of those two the band's best. I prefer Mindcrime overall, but those interested in the band should get both albums, and decide which way to go from there.
It may be a pop album, but DAMN what a great pop album! It's not PERFECT, mind you, but it's got some real classics on it. Every one of the songs has a great, tight performance by the band (Chris DeGarmo comes up with some awesome leads as usual), and the production is absolutely stellar (though it's kind of odd how the right channel is so loud compared to the left). I think I'll go ahead and use the 'ol Prindle one-word song description method and say that "Best I Can" ROCKS! "The Thin Line" SEARS! "Jet City Woman" RIPS! "Another Rainy Night (Without You)" KICKS! The title track TEARS! "Della Brown" SUCKS! The album does have its faults. As I already mentioned, "Della Brown" totally blows guacamole, the dumb female gang vocals in "Resistance" give an otherwise great song even more of an '80s pop feel than it needs (as if the cheezy lyrics didn't do so already), and "Hand on Heart" and "One and Only" have some REALLY cheezy lyrics (I know I shouldn't use a phrase like "cheezy lyrics" twice in the same sentence, but still, who gives a shit?). Still this album wins because so many of the songs are top-notch quality ("Anybody Listening", in particular, is one very impressive, thought-provoking track) and even the aforementioned somewhat flawed songs have something special to offer ("One and Only" in particular having a great hook in the verses). Highly recommended to anyone who breathes.
Oh, did I forget to mention how totally killer "Another Rainy Night" and the title track are? The former has one the best melodies ever conceived and just kicks ass all over the place, while the latter is extremely powerful and has an amazing solo section and climactic ending. Dammit, I just realized I practically wrote a friggin' REVIEW of the album, which is funny 'cause I already wrote one up over at Satan Stole My Teddyber (which got taken down when Mr. Chedsey decided my extensive, Nick Karn-like writing style didn't quite work with his site). Oh well. Overall an 8.
all the songs sound the same; that cool distorted bass tone becomes boring after a few songs. at least the singer isn't trying to be Bruce Dickinson anymore... I like "della brown" and "silent lucidity", if only because they stray from the pop-metal format. and I may be crazy, but "one and only" sounds a heck of a lot like Journey. it gets a six, or as the French say, six.
(Nick Karn's review)
Like many, many concept albums that have been released in rock history, the big test for the bands responsible for them was how to pull off performing them live in their entirety. And that's exactly what Queensryche was faced with doing on the ensuing tour for Mindcrime. One of the potential obstacles of releasing a live album of an album is the question of whether or not there are enough changes and surprises in the material to warrant its' existence. And fortunately for the band as live players, the answer here is 'yes'. Sure, there are moments here where it seems like they're a bit overly clinical in performing the material exactly right (on "Revolution Calling" it sometimes sounds like they're just playing a tape of the backing music, with only the slightly different vocal intonations separating it from the originial), but even that works to their advantage - look how many of the difficult fast guitar solos are performed note perfect here, like on "I Don't Believe In Love", and that I have to admire.
Oh, about those surprises and changes. Well, I wouldn't recommend this album as a replacement for the original, but there are certain moments here that are superior, or at least refreshingly different, compared to before. Like with "Spreading The Disease" and the extended tribal middle with the great guitar line Chris DeGarmo inserts to build things up (with even more conviction-filled vocals). "The Needle Lies" also smokes here, being performed at an even faster and more utterly exciting tempo than before (I also love how the music stops and starts back up again after a single chant of 'MORE?!?!' to give it intensity). I must also say that the actual appearance of Pamela Moore on stage during "Suite Sister Mary" adds just a little bit of heat and power to the song.
The other songs, while not performed better than before (mostly because Tate throws in a few different vocal intonations that are sometimes interesting, but not quite as effective as before, like with the more emotional moments such as "The Mission" and "Revolution Calling"), aren't really performed significantly worse, either. The lyrics of "Operation: Mindcrime" get a shift to first person, which puts an interesting perspective on things (it sounds shortened to me, though), and "Eyes Of A Stranger" gets a nice rearrangement at the end with "Anarchy-X" being repeated right before the gripping ending.
As far as the sound goes, while some aspects of it are missed (like the less audible bass work), Livecrime actually seems more emphatic and less stiff in terms of production quality (drum sound, especially), and I've found it to be an even better listening experience on headphones than on the stereo. Again, this is not a total improvement of the album on stage overall (as good as it is in some aspects), and I wouldn't recommend it to casual fans at all as a substitute, but at some point in your Queensryche listening, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick it up (try to get it on DVD, though - it's much better appreciated seen than heard) for the fun of comparing both.
HIGH POINTS: Eyes Of A Stranger, Suite Sister Mary, Spreading The Disease. LOW POINTS: None
The greatest heavy metal album ever performed live. Yep. Great? Of course. I don't think it's possible to perform these songs and make it turn out any less than excellent. Flawed? Unfortunately, yes. Most of my problems come from the audience interaction. Now, I've never liked that idea in the first place, and on Livecrime it's not any better than it is anywhere else. It might have been nice for those who were there, but listening now I really get nothing out of it. Plus Tate sometimes puts those little corny messages between songs like "Is there anyone here tonight that matters to you, at this concert that believes in love? Well I don't." Stuff like that. His vocal work isn't on the same level as the original studio album either. He doesn't give the same perfection in his hopeless and broken voice on stuff like "The Mission" or "Breaking The Silence."
Not to say he isn't good, though. His singing is still awesome, just a bit below Mindcrime. Oh, and while it may have been just difficult to hear Jackson before, I can hardly hear him at all. I've listened really hard to "Spreading The Disease" on here and just can't hear his spectacular bass lines at all. Maybe he just wasn't playing at all. I dunno. It also hurts elsewhere, giving both "The Mission" and "I Don't Believe In Love" more of a hollow sound. That said, two of these songs are better than they were before. Remember that awesome chant at the end of "Spreading The Disease" with those lines about religion and sex? It's now got this short kick ass guitar solo before it, building up the mood, then at the end of the chant when the "Fat stay fat" section of the lines begin, Tate changes his vocal expression around to give it a better and more effective sense of the anger of the song.
The other that comes out better, and the best on the album is "Eyes Of A Stranger," which has been turned into a simply amazing eight and a half-minute epic. The guitar solo has even more feeling than ever, and the ending to the song and album is beyond belief. It starts out with just the main melody repeated over and over, going the same way it did originally, but then reprises the song's solo right before cutting into "Anarchy-X" again with more dramatic guitar work, and then finally into the ending with all of the voices and the last shout of "Revolution!" brings in the roaring crowds to finish it off. There have been very very few live versions on the level of this one.
Even those that aren't better than the originals are awesome. The words of the title track are changed around to first-person, and "The Needle Lies" is even faster and more energetic than before. "Suite Sister Mary" is incredible and intense as usual. The rest are also as great as they've always been. So it's not as good as the studio album, but if you liked that one at all it would be a good idea to try to hunt this box set down. Not perfect, but it is a wonderful live album.
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After hitting their commercial (and in my opinion also artistic) highpoint with Empire, Queensryche took something of a long hiatus before finally resurfacing four years later with their long-awaited follow up album Promised Land, which was released in the wake of the grunge scene, meaning that the band had simply lost a good amount of its' 'fairweather' fans it had gathered on account of the previous album's success, and they became an unfortunate victim of being lumped in with the less accomplished, sometimes 'plastic' 80s rock bands here. It also doesn't help that this is the band's least accessible album by far, as on first play the songwriting actually seems totally uninvolved, and melodically uninteresting, which made it a serious disappointment for many fans.
However, it only 'seems' that way at first. The melodies, riffs and mood are much more subdued in this setting, and Queensryche challenges the listener to let the album open up in front of them until everything starts to make sense, and even becomes addicting. "I Am I" is the most melodically interesting and probably most representative of the listening challenges here - it's an unconventional song with a melody and bridge that both seem awkward and out of place at first, but the sitar embellishments and 'psychotic' tendencies of the song eventually won me over. "Bridge", meanwhile, seems like it's way too simplistic of an acoustic song, but then you discover that's actually what gives the song incredible power - basically, it deals with a bitter relationship between father and son (the ending line 'you never built it, dad' is particularly moving). The extended title track (at almost 8 minutes), on first listen also seems like a slow, dirgey mess, but with the help of Scott Rockenfeld's monstrous drums and the lyrics which brilliantly reflect the feeling of utter failure (plus it has the great 'bar scene' that fades in after the song fades out), it becomes a classic.
Promised Land does in fact have its' share of immediately memorable songs, however - "Damaged" sounds like it belongs in an Operation: Mindcrime sequel on account of its' chugging riff and reflective lyrics, "One More Time" has a great combination of electric and acoustic guitars played by DeGarmo and Wilton which initially make the song worthwhile (the chorus rules too), and "Out Of Mind" is essentially a gentle but impressively dark and moody acoustic song with lyrics that perfectly reflect the plight of the 'mental institution' community (another Mindcrime connection). "Disconnected" is also uncomfortably disoriented, with Geoff Tate's lines sung in that manner making the song work (the saxophone backing also helps), and "My Global Mind" echoes both the hooks and meaningful lyrics of Empire, taking on political concerns in a more uplifting light, with very groovy-sounding guitar tones thrown in the mix.
It's the ballads "Lady Jane" and "Someone Else?", however, that make the most lasting impact on Promised Land. "Lady Jane" is pleasantly childlike on the surface, with its' beautiful piano work and samples of children playing in the intro, but it takes a disturbing turn within the lyrics and overall feel - it's melodically very dark and unsettling. Meanwhile, if the closing "Anybody Listening?" from the last album was possibly Queensryche's greatest moment to date, the closer of this album, "Someone Else?" unbelievably almost matches it. It's just Geoff Tate and his vocal ability singing over mere piano backing, which, if you're a fan, you know you're in for something special, and the lyrics which tackle the subject of becoming a type of person you've hated all your life are entirely appropriate for the occasion. A stunning way to end an unlikely late-period creative success for the band, but they'd do a bit of reinventing themselves next.
HIGH POINTS: Someone Else?, I Am I, Out Of Mind. LOW POINTS: Promised Land, One More Time, Disconnected.
After a trilogy of masterpieces, this one is a little bit of a disappointment. I am not all that sure what it is about Promised Land that makes it so much of lesser album in comparison. The energy and drive of the better work seems gone, and maybe that has affected the song quality as well. In the title track, for example, the most interesting part is the little spoken background line "Drinks for all my friends" in the end. The following "Disconnected" isn't much of an improvement, and "One More Time" just sort of comes and goes.
There are some great songs too. "I Am I" opens up the album (musically anyway, after the fairly dumb track "9:28 A.M.") "Out of Mind" has a neat acoustic melody with some nice vocal work as well adding up to a very moving song, and possibly the second best on the album. "Lady Jane" is a beautiful ballad benefited by a great piano line. I found the beginning voices of the children playing corny at first, but now after listening a few more times I don't mind it. Finally, "Someone Else?" is oh so absolutely beautiful. Geoff Tate with a piano, that's all it really is. To honest whenever I listen I usually start think that Tate is actually better than Dickinson or Salmon since, while Mindcrime is still his best album performance, "Someone Else?" is most certainly his (and maybe THE) best vocal performance on a single song. I'm tempted to raise the overall score for the album a point for this song alone, but can't in the end. Simply put it's the best song on the album by far, and it easily hits my top five Queensryche tracks.
I wonder why Promised Land was the step down. A band's peak does have to end somewhere, but why so soon? You should note that there are some people who consider this one of Queensryche's finest albums, and even a few that think it is their absolute peak. All in all it's a good album, but still leaves me wishing they'd built another Empire.
Queensryche took somewhat of a turn away from huge, often "conceptual" progressive rock masterworks to a much more laid-back version of the style, with more of an emphasis on well-written melodies, direct riffs, subdued reflective vocals, and more of a raw "live sounding" production with Hear In The Now Frontier. Their new sound turned off quite a few longtime fans who claimed it seriously lacked the excitement, power and originality of their previous work. However, I believe this album suffered a bit from being unfairly compared to those earlier releases - the older elements of the Ryche's signature sound are certainly not as apparent, but the actual songwriting quality is nothing to be ashamed of. Thanks mostly to the well-constructed melodies, it's a rather enjoyable and very consistent effort that proves that, even as the band gets older, they're still capable of turning in a quality product, plus if bombastic progressive rock isn't your thing, you're more likely to enjoy Hear In The Now Frontier, especially if you like catchy hooks, which are in abundance here.
The opening track and lead single "Sign Of The Times" is a good representation of this change - a stripped down version of desperation and hopes that our society will change for the better amidst a solid, grunge-like riff and a gentle acoustic chorus. "Cuckoo's Nest" also does a good job of showcasing the new sound, with melody and harmony work upfront, and "Get A Life" is just a good old exciting, down to earth rocker. It's "The Voice Inside", meanwhile, where Geoff Tate's newly subdued and reflective vocal style really works in the very uplifting chorus and slow emotional grind of the verses, and "Some People Fly" also has a great hook that's very proficient at sticking in your head. "Saved" has a great buzzing riff, a low riding outro and a fantastically emotional vocal yell of 'saaaaaaaaaaaaave meeeeee' in the chorus, and the first half closing "You", which creates a 'twisting and turning' feel in the awesome chemistry between the song's main riff and vocal line.
The second half unfortunately begins in a weak fashion, however, with a stupid attempt at writing a David Bowie-like song ("Hero") - the lyrics are just painfully dumb, and it mars the tune. It's made up for, however, in the 'flying over the mountains in complete satisfaction and finding piece with one's self' feel in the music, lyrics, and wonderful harmony of "Miles Away", one of the album's major highlights, and following is "Reach", an entertaining but not too spectacular dirty rocker. Then the biggest departure of Queensryche's career (and one of their greatest songs) follows in "All I Want", a song where Chris DeGarmo takes over lead vocals and creates an amazingly powerful and life-affirming Beatles-esque feel in the song (great harmonies in the chorus). Even if the approach isn't even remotely Queensryche, it's still one of the more enjoyable pop songs I've experienced, and I'm hoping the reason DeGarmo left the band because of creative differences was on account of pursuing a musical direction like this - that would just rule.
Rounding out the album are its' last three cuts - the distorted vocals and nice raw energy of "Hit The Black" make the song a success, "Anytime/Anywhere" is a forgettable (but fortunately short attempt) at an inane 'cock rock'-styled song, while "spOOL" continues the tradition of the final track of each Queensryche release making some major impression, as an almost bottom-ended, atmospheric attempt at this stripped down style with futuristic lyrics.
HIGH POINTS: spool, You, Sign Of The Times. LOW POINTS: Hero.
A change, and in spite of what many say I think this one is slightly better than Promised Land. The melodies are both nicer and easier to pick out, and the songs more memorable than the ones form the previous album. However, while the musical quality is betting a little bit better, the lyrics are now just plain stupid. It's hard for me to listen to "Some People Fly" without laughing at the plain stupid chorus. Ugh. Oh well. I guess I shouldn't expect too much. In the end they don't hurt the album too much, since most of the songs are very good. Queensryche themselves are performing rather nicely, although they have all had some better moments.
Unfortunately Hear In The New Frontier is still nothing compared to the band's best work. This was the album that pretty much assured me that Queensryche would never come close to their full potential again. It is not at all because the sound here is nothing like Queensryche's real style; some bands can take a break from their usual way of doing things and still make great music, or even hit their peak (Bride). It just seems to me that all of the energy is gone from the songwriting, and the band is sounding a little bored with themselves. Maybe it's just because of the style change, or maybe the band have run their course and should call it quits before they release something really bad. Then again maybe this would be a bad course of action since Iron Maiden did all of that subpar nineties material, and eventually they still were able to squeeze out the minor masterpiece Brave New World. I would have hated for Iron Maiden's swan song to have been The X Factor. But when it comes to Queensryche, perhaps the band just hit some sort of rut in the road and I'm getting all scared for nothing. I don't want to be too pessimistic their future, so I'll shut up about it now.
While very good, this is the album that arouses a whole bunch of fear for me, as I have no idea how well the band will be in the future. Is this a small slump or a decline into pure crap? Nothing is bad now, and I do recommend this album to Queensryche fans ready for a little bit of a change in style, and some great melodies. The best song is probably either "Sign Of The Times," "You," or "Spool." Even so there is no great Queensryche classic like most of the other albums. It doesn't matter. Like I said I probably should not expect too much. Come to think of it I probably should have kept myself from writing all those worries here since Q2K is already out and I already have it (and it is quite good). Perhaps this is all just some inner longing for some real metal or some superb pop-metal again. Forgive me.
I really wasn't sure what Q2K would be like before it was released - there were rumors going around that a few of the tracks were supposedly Mindcrime heavy, that the hooks were supposed to be some of their most infectious (in the tradition of Empire), and a bit of the psychological confusion of the vastly underrated Promised Land. Yet, judging from the pre-release title (a ridiculously stupid reference to the Y2K controversy) and the lyrics (which are, no question, the band's weakest yet, due to the departure of Chris DeGarmo), it had the potential to be a disaster. Ultimately, though, it's neither a triumphant return to the absolute glory days of the band or a horribly uninspired outing. It is, however, an actual improvement on Hear In The Now Frontier as an expansion of the album's sound, with engaging hooks which are indeed some of the strongest of the band's career (although not quite Empire quality), helped by a technically worthwhile and inspired performance by new lead guitarist Kelly Gray, and good subtle textures within the songs.
The opening "Falling Down" has a very entertaining opening riff to start things off nicely, the song is quite addictive (especially the chorus), and it successfully reflects, musically and lyrically, the feelings of the other band members over the recent departure. "Sacred Ground" is another memorable number with an impressive hook, and is another nice attempt at writing a 'sexual' song in the tradition of "The Thin Line". "One Life", despite sounding a bit simplistic lyrically, is a very relaxing and sincere slow ballad, "When The Rain Comes" best shows the new dimension Kelly Gray has added to the rest of the band's playing, with pleasant guitar textures never heard before on a Ryche album, and "How Could I Know" has a pretty cool longing hook and more tight playing. The second ballad on the album "Beside You", however, is kind of bland and unsatisfying and it probably best shows the obvious void of DeGarmo's departure in the lyrical aspect of things.
"Liquid Sky", however, kickstarts Q2K's most impressive stretch of songs as one of their most intriguing numbers lyrically, with the mysterious idea of 'electric shockwaves in the sky', with the 'I don't know what this means, I'll leave it for your interpretation' bridge of the song leaving everything unanswered, and the band creating a fascinating, impressive '21st century' atmosphere in the process. "Breakdown" is also successful at conveying a mood as a fabulous sing along recreation of a mental patient 'breaking down' in first person, with a nice fast-paced guitar solo at the bridge, and "Burning Man" is one of their most explosive, live-sounding songs in years, while "Wot Kinda Man" (don't ask) features Tate doing his best Chris Cornell vocal imitation in the verses, which is quite entertaining, and "Right Side Of My Mind" doesn't quite match up to the typically high Queensryche closing track standards, but it's still sets up a pretty good mood that takes a few listens to get into, not unlike the rest of this solid album.
HIGH POINTS: The Right Side Of My Mind, Breakdown, Burning Man. LOW POINTS: Beside You, Liquid Sky
First off, I have to agree with the All Music Guide about one thing here, that is an awful album title. What were they thinking? Other than that though this is certainly a better album than the last two. The songs are back to being great, and it seems my fear of an upcoming terrible album was just that little inner longing for another Mindcrime. I hope you don't hold it against me though. The band has their energy back, something you might not think would happen after the loss of Chris DeGarmo. It did happen though, and this album rules. This is neither the next Mindcrime or Empire, though. While a great album, it certainly is not anything to drool over. But it's worth the price to hear a decent comeback.
"One Life" is a sign of this great return, a slower and heavier song with very memorable vocal melodies and a solo that is a reminder that there is a new guitarist. Following that is "Sacred Ground" with a catchy melodic chorus, and then a slower break from the rockers with "When The Rain Comes." That is one pretty song they have there with some nice slow work on the drums during those solos. Further into the album is the great rocking "Breakdown" and "Burning Man," probably among the finest post-Empire work out there (although they aren't nearly as good as "Someone Else?"). "Burning Man," heh, the title seems similar to a certain U2 song. "The Right Side of My Mind" is another winner with an excellent emotional mood, possibly the best on the album, although nothing truly spectacular.
A few flaws include "Beside You," a stupid ballad with some of the worst vocal work Tate has ever offered. Or maybe it's just the dorky, sappy lyrics he ends up singing. "Liquid Sky," despite a fine chorus really doesn't amount to what it could have been. Even the title to "Wot Kinda Man" shows some problems, and the song is even worse. It's one of the lesser songs I've ever heard Queensryche do, annoying in pretty much every way. Like Hear In The New Frontier, there is no big Queensryche classic on this album, and that is disappointing. Despite all of these flaws, Q2K is a solid entry into Queensryche's discography, hopefully the beginning of a road back to making classic music.
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(Nick Karn's review)
This compilation comes two years after the band's label switch from EMI to Atlantic, covering most of their popular songs from every album except Q2K (released a year later). Queensryche has generally been more of an album-oriented band than a singles-oriented one, and they stayed pretty consistent in the former area, so this characteristic does cause the flow between the material on here to be not that cohesive at times, and a few songs don't sound quite as powerful taken out of their original context (particularly "I Don't Believe In Love" and "Eyes Of A Stranger" from the concept album Operation: Mindcrime). Plus there are a couple curious choices here in "Warning" and "I Dream In Infrared" - fine songs, but as far I know they aren't exactly among the most celebrated on The Warning and Rage For Order respectively, and certainly not among the best. Plus I would have liked to have "Anybody Listening?", my favorite Ryche song, over "Empire", especially since I think the former was a bigger hit anyway.
Still, there are several advantages of Greatest Hits that far outweigh its' minor disadvantages, and they are enough to make it a fine introduction to the band. All the tracks have been remastered, which gives the often substandard sound quality of the 80's material a huge push, and whatever complaints I may have with the track selection, it really is excellent overall - "Walk In The Shadows", "Silent Lucidity", "Bridge", "Take Hold Of The Flame", and "Queen Of The Reich" certainly can't be denied. Plus, there are two added tracks that were available only as bonuses on the Japan releases of Promised Land and Hear In The Now Frontier - a really soaring full band version of my second favorite Ryche song "Someone Else?" (though it's not quite as great as the original) and the pretty "Chasing Blue Sky" respectively.
HIGH POINTS: Chasing Blue Sky. LOW POINTS: None.
Ahh, a greatest hits album. I can't say it wasn't about time. They've been making music since 1983 and this was their first best-of collection. There are errors in the song selection, of course, but not too many. It's good to see that they included both the band's title song and "The Lady Wore Black" from the debut. I pretty much agree with the choices from the second album, although it may have been nice to have "Roads To Madness" too. The Rage for Order selections are more or less good, but when it comes to Mindcrime I start to have a few problems. Why include "Eyes Of A Stranger" when it is so much weaker without the rest of the album to back it up? It would have been a heck of a lot better if they had included "Revolution Calling" instead. I'd say the same thing about "I Don't Believe in Love," but I don't think it would have been possible to make a decent collection of Queensryche's greatest without including that one.
From the sell out album I pretty much agree with all of the choices (you sort of had to include "Silent Lucidity" and "Jet City Woman" on here). "I Am I" was a good Promised Land choice, but man they should have included "Someone Else?" instead of "Bridge," though I can't think of a better song from Hear In The New Frontier than "Sign Of The Times." Then we have two tracks from Japanese releases. The first is "Chasing Blue Sky," a nice and gentle tune that has a great catchy melody and a wonderful mood. The other is a longer full band version of "Someone Else?" that brings up a few problems for me. If the original had not been released then this would have still easily been the best on Promised Land, but since we do have the original I just can't help but think about how much worse this version is. The added lyrics and length do not improve the song at all, and having the whole band just takes away the personal feeling that was in the first one. Not to mention that this is no longer the greatest vocal performance ever. It IS a very good song, even if it doesn't top what has become my favorite Queensryche song ever.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Losing Myself. LOW POINTS: Desert Dance, Falling Behind.
Queensryche have certainly shot themselves in the foot among their fans because of their supposedly 'inferior' and certainly less distinctive and emotional output over the last few years, and while I'm certainly willing to defend Q2K as an unjustly trashed album, I'm afraid I can't really stand by them for this pile of uninspiration. Yes, Chris DeGarmo actually returned to the studio with the band for a period and gets co-writing credits on half the songs (though to label it as something 'featuring the original lineup' may be a stretch, especially since he didn't even tour with them), but that certainly does not justify this being hyped yet AGAIN as another Operation: Mindcrime when it isn't anything stylistically different from the last album, and it's (in my opinion) much weaker in quality. I know, I know, I realize the vocals and lyrics on Q2K had very much of a lazy, uninspired quality to them as well, but at least there were really catchy melodies, good riffs and guitar textures, plus the arrangements weren't as ridiculously straightforward as they are on here.
To add to those weaknesses, a couple of the songs on here quite possibly rank as the absolute worst they ever wrote, in particular "Desert Dance". More than anything else, this is a classic example of a band trying hard to write something to 'get with it' among the young crowd - specifically in the form a dumbass nu-metal song. The lone saving grace is the neat Eastern-style guitar bursts at the beginning, but the chorus and verse riffs are miserably generic and simplistic crap worthy of Disturbed, and Geoff Tate's chants of 'KEEP REACHING... COME ON.. KEEP REACHING' are Chocolate Starfish rap metal-style laughable. In addition, "Falling Behind" is a limp acoustic ballad that goes exactly nowhere in terms of actually creating remotely interesting melody or atmosphere. Just lazy and awful stuff - man, what an ironic title. BLAH.
I can't quite fully make up my mind on the quality of the rest. Fortunately, nothing else is really bad, but there's also nothing that would actually be worth a four year wait or Mindcrime hype or anything. I do have to say their attempt at imitating the low spoken word vocal style of "Spreading The Disease" on the title track actually does work very well, but then the chorus descends into annoyingly lazy, generic silliness ('we're the saaaame TRIBE... same, same, same, same...') Among the other 'promising failures', "The Great Divide" tries to be a solid reflection on the 9/11 tragedy, only with very little passion apparent in the vocals or lyrics (or anything above a just so-so melody), the single and 'opening' track "Open" sounds like a catchy Easterny rocker until you realize there's very little going on underneath the surface besides the merely decent riff and chorus, and most of "The Art Of Life" qualifies as more of a pretentious spoken-word philosophical essay than an actual song, and only the minimalist sloooow grinding guitar backing supports them.
With that being said, Tribe certainly isn't a terrible album - I still believe this band is far too talented to create a total piece of crap, even if this is by far their weakest effort to date. Only the two lowest points are truly worthless, and there are also a few genuinely good songs. While not quite standing up with earlier classics, "Losing Myself" is a fun road-weary pop tune that incorporates techno-ish tinges which actually add to the atmosphere, and "Rhythm Of Hope" is a good enough attempt at capturing the dreamy, orchestrated "Silent Lucidity" vibe, with passionate Tate vocals that are a rare occurence on this album. I suppose "Blood" is an okay (if generic) despairing number, and then there's the closer "Doin' Fine", which, while still good, pretty damn successfully shatters to bits Queensryche's reputation of thoughtful closing tracks. The uplifting guitar line and poppy vocal hooks are really genuinely beautiful, but man is this is about as corny a 'happy ending' track as there is. 'We could all use a little sunshiiiine...'! 'Look around, everything's better now'! 'Realize deep down we're the saaaame'! NOW LET'S ALL JOIN HANDS AND SING ALONG IN A CIRCLE, KIDS!!!
You know, there are some albums that sound perfectly enjoyable at first, but seem to get more and more shallow upon further listens. This is one of them. A good percentage of it ranges from okay to good, but that factor (and the overall laziness) causes me to drop the rating. Surprisingly, there are a few out there that consider this a return to form that's far better than Q2K, but I'll be damned if I know why that is. I hope they can do better than this next time out, though I fear this band has long settled into a groove of laziness that they'd be hard-pressed to overcome. Ah well... it happens.
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COMMENTS
Wow!!!! Nice review. You really hammer the guys. Quite deservedly, let me add. However, you are cruel fella. I think it all comes down to this:
DeGarmo has been losing it since the mid 90s. They called him in for recording as a marketing tool. He had minimal input in this record. The problem is Tate. Not only has lost sight, focus, speech and brains but is dragging the band toward a cliff. I think it was Wilton who said that Tate the princess was trying to stuff his own solo material into the record, I take successfully. But not only that: Rockenfield plays like a 78 year-old retired playing in an Elvis tribute band, and the rest don't do much better. To my surprise, Tate the princess sings very, very good. Too bad the guy's musical taste is hammering this GREAT band.
As to highs and lows, I totally disagree with you. I think Open, Desert Dance, Rythm of Hope and Tribe are good or above,
Losing Myself, Great divide and so are listenable under special situations, and Blood, Art of Life and Doing Fine are plain pathetic, like a bunch of depressed psychos improvising a few riffs.
Well, I dunno whether or not this one is better than Q2K....
They need a goddamn big-balled producer to grab'em by their necks, throw 'em into studio, and say that until they do something worth his 60 minutes they are not walking away. Cut the crap, the accoustics, the deep political or philosophic songs and just GO F***ING DELIVER!!!