Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Queensrÿche
Label: Century Media
Released: 2013
Length: 35:15
Rating: 4/5
Queensrÿche without Geoff Tate. Queensrÿche with Geoff Tate. I just mentioned two bands. Two Queensrÿche bands. The classic Queensrÿche split with Tate and brought in Todd La Torre, who had earlier helped out a Crimson Glory that was revived for a while. Banished, insulted and especially furious, Tate gathered some buddies around him after getting the boot and now runs his own version of Queensrÿche. So the scene is stuck with a needless mix-up, dictated by clashing egos rather than common sense. The only ones rubbing their hands are the lawyers, nobody else.
The lineup of Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield, Michael Wilton, Parker Lundgren and now Todd La Torre is, judging by the recent output of both of today’s Queensrÿche camps, the more credible heir to what was left after Tate walked out, even though he’s just as entitled to use the Queensrÿche name. After »Promised Land«, Tate’s ego forced its musical vision on the rest of the band, and they dutifully followed orders all those years. Until the recent split. Really strange. But you can’t picture it any other way: they kept quiet the whole time and just did what Tate told them.
In all his anger, Tate founded his own Queensrÿche right after leaving, and he basically carries on the musical direction of the Queensrÿche albums released in the new millennium. His former bandmates, in that situation, made a simple move. They pulled together material for an album that finally plugs back into the records bracketed by the years 1983-1995. So the new album sounds very classic. Simply out of a need to “survive”. To win back the fans of the old Queensrÿche albums, they just had to do it. Not only will everyone, after hearing the »Queensrÿche« album, be even happier to go to their shows, they might even sell a few more copies of an album (something they’ve probably been missing ever since »Promised Land«). The new album hits straight at what Queensrÿche did in the eighties, and on »Empire« (1990) too.
But we shouldn’t look at »Queensrÿche« too nostalgically, emotionally and enthusiastically. That can quickly blind us, seduce us. For the most part, »Queensrÿche« is just a successful replication and revival of the old spirit, which in today’s situation can only be a safe and decent approximation of the original. It can’t possibly be better. Or even the same. The chemistry in the band is totally different from the eighties, when Queensrÿche left a strong mark on the development of metal with their inspired, revolutionary records. La Torre is an exceptional musical figure. A layman could easily mistake him for Tate on the new album. Still, the chemistry in 2013 is completely different, and the songs don’t radiate the passion, the untamed hunger to prove themselves, the creative enthusiasm and the confessional character of the classic Queensrÿche records, even though stylistically (happily and desirably) the new album ties into the classic era. For the sake of survival, Queensrÿche in this situation also picked a telling title for the new album: »Queensrÿche«! Even the titles hint at it. The opener X2 is basically a neatly repackaged recap of Anarchy X from »Operation Mindcrime«.
Otherwise, the old sound is creeping back into the production. Harmonies in thirds, nothing but classically cut riffs to the taste of the eighties school, and the production has brought back the thunderous echo of Rockenfield’s drum stomp, though it’s still noticeably far from the production perfection of the classic albums. And that’s actually the new album’s main flaw. The weakened production of the rhythm section. You can feel it wants to capture the eighties past, but it gets there ineffectively, with a lot of room to spare.
La Torre’s vocals, as I said. They couldn’t have found a better replacement for Tate. The seemingly irreplaceable Tate has been replaced! Right after the opening X2, Where Dreams Go To die hits straight at the era of »Operation Mindcrime« and »Empire«, and all through it the band’s genuine bond with the “old school speed” metal roots of the first half of the eighties blows through again (Vindication). The rest of the album uses the same recipe and will be tailor-made for nostalgics of the band’s classic records. The guitars work in dialogue, as if Chris De Garmo had rejoined the band alongside La Torre.
The album is extremely short, barely over 35 minutes! The songs are short, direct, concise. The band offered a nice crop of varied songwriting ideas, and »Queensrÿche« is an all-around lively record. It was always typical of Queensrÿche to leave a few seriously memorable chorus melodies on their albums. »Queensrÿche« carries a few too. The first one you can sing forever, in all its catchiness, is the chorus of In The Light. That song would be a classic today if it had been written in 1988. Toward the end comes another one, the chorus of the faster Fallout, which was also released as a single. The dark half-ballad A World Without is a peculiar cross between Sister Mary Suite and the energy of the confessional choruses on »Empire«. Pamela Moore shows up again on vocals as a special guest! Excellent chorus! A special anthemic quality is captured in the chorus of the album’s faster pulse-raiser Vindication. The guys played it careful this time in writing the material. Pretty much throughout, they’re subordinated to repackaging ideas from their old songwriting school.
On the other hand, it’s precisely the album’s big, all-around variety of motifs that proves Queensrÿche had to use ideas written quite a while ago and stashed in a drawer. They’d been waiting years to be realized. The time came and they found a place on »Queensrÿche«. They just didn’t “paint” them up specially or fiddle with the motifs otherwise. The band was in a big hurry to get the new album out.
You’ll enjoy this album most if you’re among those who’ve missed the classic Queensrÿche for years. They’re here. Geoff Tate is sacrificed, but Queensrÿche survived. Regardless of the fact that »Queensrÿche« reconnects with the eighties, it’s also a new beginning for the band. One that can breathe fully and look unburdened to the future! Now let’s ease up on our strictness toward the band and let it breathe too. It’s been through real hell. With the band’s next moves, let’s allow ourselves to be seduced and surprised.
Lineup
Todd La Torre – vocals
Michael Wilton – guitar
Parker Lundgren – guitar
Eddie Jackson – bass
Scott Rockenfield – drums, orchestral arrangements
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Pamela Moore – vocals on track no. 8
Andrew Reiher – violin, orchestral arrangements
Production
James “Jimbo” Barton
Tracklist
1. X2
2. Where Dreams Go to Die
3. Spore
4. In this Light
5. Redemption
6. Vindication
7. Midnight Lullaby
8. A World Without
9. Don’t Look Back
10. Fallout
11. Open Road
