Artist: Queensrÿche
Label: Rhino Records
Release: 2009
Runtime: 60.36
Rating: 4/5
Queensryche! A band that left an unmistakable mark on the rock/metal map for all eternity, yet somehow started drowning musically in the output that followed the album “Promised Land” (1994). Queensryche only began clinically coming back to life with “Operation Mindcrime pt. II (2006), and “American Soldier” is the proof that leaves no doubt: you don’t have to be afraid anymore when you come face to face with it in online shops or in a real brick-and-mortar CD store. You can trust it 100%. Queensryche are finally back!
We really can’t compare the new album to the past output that put them among the biggest rock/metal bands of our time, because that would automatically drag it down. Geoff Tate conceived an album whose individual song stories are interwoven like different personal confessions of Vietnam War veterans. Word is that Geoff Tate did a few interviews with these surviving heroes for the occasion and poured them into the language of a musical sermon. Some interview inserts are used as seasoning within the songs, e.g. in Unafraid or in If I Were King. Elsewhere, Queensryche masterfully pull an extra, wide-ranging maneuver to break up the monotony, finely highlighting a particular emotion. In the calmer Middle Of Hell, for instance, an alto sax even sneaks into the backing of the chorus, with the effect that you say to yourself: “Well, I really didn’t expect that!”, yet at the same time it fits the feel of the composition perfectly.
The new Queensryche remain art rockers. The sound is “Seattle”, with that touch of gritty smear when it comes to distortion. That was sought after especially in the era of the main culprits on the planet who sparked “grunge”, whose heaven was located right in Seattle. But Queensryche are art rockers! The choruses are what bring “American Soldier” all the attention it needs, and they convince you it’s an excellent album. In the studio, the guys tried to reproduce a man in action and reaction, with soul and body, thrown onto the battlefields of Vietnam, as well as a man who can’t hide the painful scars he has to live with in the traumas that tie him to the horrors he survived in that same war.
The form of the basic motifs is condensed, clear, flowing, and easy to consume and process. As already mentioned, soaring, powerful choruses stand out in them, which the opener Silver confirms right away. Queensryche remain recognizable in everything, yet at the same time they offer a different album, one that’s hard to compare directly with its predecessors in the compositions. Within these simple forms of the lead riffs, Rockenfield’s drums constantly look for plenty of room to maneuver for their expression, best documented in the mid-tempo, punchy ballad At 30 Thousand Ft, which is especially gloomy in its crafted atmosphere, and into which Wilton’s solo is woven, with an eighties guitar effect reminiscent of The Needle Lies.
In terms of production, Queensryche once again don’t disappoint. The especially voluminous A Dead Man’s World showcases an excellent, dynamically contrasting drift, with most of the sound generously tucked into the bass line. Rockenfield is an important factor on the album throughout, bringing dynamics into the songs with his varied drum work and further deepening the dramatic moment, which feels relentless over the hour of listening. Yes. “American Soldier” is a very dark album. It effectively “lives and suffers” in the traumas of war veterans, yet stays listenable the whole way through and not too heavy to take in. The songs mostly aim for a mid-tempo pace. This makes the juicy sonic curtain that adorns the compositions stand out even more. How strong writers and composers Queenryche are and remain (especially when it comes to finding polished melodicism) is confirmed on the new album too by the excellent ballads Remember Me and Home Again, which make sure the peak of “American Soldier” is guaranteed in its closing stretch.
The Killer is the strongest of the hard-hitting songs on the album when it comes to the sheer catchiness of the chorus, and it’s written straight-up as a hit single! So the album is full of variety in its basic lead motifs. Tate dove deep into bringing the chosen concept to life. The songs radiate different emotional states. From anger, aggression, a desire for bloodshed, to everything that stems from the burden of guilt, the state of a heavy bad conscience that grows over the ego like an invisible shadow. Queensryche aren’t trying to recapture the greatness of the glory days of the early nineties, but have finally “kicked” in the right place. They’ve taken a healthy step forward. A developmental step in the right direction. Experience, rich knowledge, and great compositional maturity are brilliantly capitalized on this time. What “Operation: Mindcrime pt. II” (2006) hinted at has finally come into the world in full. An album that was meant to be born at least 10 years earlier. At last, it’s here!
Lineup
Geoff Tate – vocals
Michael Wilton – guitar
Eddie Jackson – bass
Scott Rockenfield – drums
Production
Jason Slater
Track list
01. Sliver
02. Unafraid
03. Hundred Mile Stare
04. At 30,000 Ft.
05. A Dead Man’s Words
06. The Killer
07. Middle Of Hell
08. If I Were King
09. Man Down!
10. Remember Me
11. Home Again
12. The Voice
