Artist: Queensrÿche
Label: EMI Records
Released: 1983
“Queensrÿche”, the famous EP by the famous Queensrÿche! The EP that sealed the fate of these superb American metallers from Seattle, and of plenty of fans who love perfectly hammered-out sonic thrill rides built on a distorted foundation! This EP actually existed even before the band was called Queensrÿche. A short intro is a must, because the years fly by and the Queensrÿche opus from 1983 to 1990 keeps gaining more and more historical weight. For rock music, of course!
The EP has four tracks. In 1981 the band had a demo of these songs ready, and Queensryche were still a band called The Mob back then. Geoff Tate, who did the vocals in the studio, was officially a member of The Myth at the time. “Heavy metal” never really did it for Tate, so he hesitated for a long time before officially joining Queensrÿche. The band tried and failed to land a deal, as plenty of labels turned the demo material down. In the end they put the EP out themselves in 1983! It was called “Queen Of The Reich”. Critics and the public alike showered it with high marks and huge approval, so demand was through the roof. Around this time the guys renamed themselves from The Mob to Queensrÿche, obviously fired up by the EP’s opening track. After the support “Queen Of The Reich” got, Tate accepted official membership and left The Myth. And that same year the band was rescued by a deal with EMI Records, who re-released the EP, this time under the name “Queensrÿche” (1983).
Let’s stay in 1983 for a bit. The N.W.O.B.H.M. was in full bloom, and Iron Maiden had seized the top spot on the ever more popular heavy metal scene. The Queensrÿche guys came of age on the strong inspiration of Judas Priest albums and the then-trendy, then-current Iron Maiden. The Americans had a powerful metal movement of their own at the time, too. It was more aggressive, with an even nastier display of speed in the guitar “sawing”, less romance and melody than their European counterparts, and more arrogance and darkness. Young and promising bands like Savatage, Helstar, Fates Warning, Metal Church, Liege Lord… were all around, and right there in the early days, of course, were our Queensrÿche with their EP.
“Queensrÿche” opens with the impressive riff of Queen Of The Reich, a unique riff, yet one that instantly points to the influences mentioned above. The track has everything. Excellent, furious, authoritative, multilayered vocals, dynamic interplay between the two guitars with a high degree of mutual understanding, and a pronounced sonic depth in the polished rhythm section. In early Queensrÿche those vocals brought in a darkness, which metal demands anyway, and that touch of obscurity gets smaller later on! The playing and execution of the five-piece show that the guys were tuned to exactly the same frequency right from the start. The result is that, within the limits of the genre the band represented in its early days, the EP’s material is flawlessly put together (composed, played, and produced). The band thus directly signaled that it had extraordinary potential and the gift for songwriting of “the greats”. The boldness of bringing in melody, following the melody, bowing to the melody. But with the right dose of aggression and eruptively distorted riff attacks, which heavy metal must have. The ideal common denominator, several factors that perfectionists crave to polish. Queen Of The Reich and the closing power ballad The Lady Wore Black hit these ideal proportions best, with a dynamic atmospheric switch between the dreamy acoustic pre-chorus and the hurricane of a chorus! Nightrider and Blinded, meanwhile, have even more of what the “youngsters” got fired up by. Anger, arrogance, and rebelliousness. Tragedies, in other words. Two darker-minded tracks and the typical link to the aforementioned bands of the US new-wave heavy metal generation, if I may put it that way. The EP showed that Queenrÿche had exceptional technical chops and a gift for songwriting, and its vividness also hinted that Queensrÿche carried remarkable potential for growth, since right from the start they made it clear they could play on a much higher technical level than the already highly renowned names of their genre (Iron Maiden).
In 2003, EMI reissued the EP “Queensrÿhce”. It has the original running order of the four tracks. What makes this reissue a must for your collection, though, are the bonus tracks. That’s 10 songs from a long-ago concert in Japan in 1984. It was released on VHS tape under the title “Live In Tokyo” and, of course, you can’t find it in any store anywhere. The band was touring at the time in support of its first studio album, “The Warning”. It underlines what was already mentioned in the previous paragraph. Technical flawlessness, which, shown live, is direct proof of the incredible shape the guys were in right at the very start, with a fierce hunger to prove themselves, to be the best. An immensely important and obviously rare document of the early live Queensrÿche in their golden classic lineup.
The following year the band put out the album “The Warning”, one of the most promising and ambitiously conceived, classically built heavy metal albums ever to come from the other side of the Atlantic. “Queensrÿche” is, for the band, a solid starting point and the sacred cradle where a great band was born!
Lineup
Geoff Tate – vocals
Chris DeGarmo – guitar
Michael Wilton – guitar
Eddie Jackson – bass
Scott Rockenfield – drums
Production
Neil Kernon & Queensrÿche
Track list
ORIGINAL EP “QUEENSRYCHE” (1983)
1. Queen Of The Reich
2. Night Rider
3. Blinded
4. Lady Wore Black
EP running time: 21.22
REISSUE BONUS TRACKS (2003):
5. Night Rider
6. Prophecy
7. Deliverance
8. Child Of Fire
9. En Force
10. Blinded
11. Lady Wore Black
12. Warning
13. Take Hold Of The Flame
14. Queen Of The Reich
Album running time: 60.03
