Label: Century Media Records
Release date: 24.06.2013
Production:
James “Jimbo” Barton
Album length: 35.15 min
Genre: Art Metal
Queensrÿche without Geoff Tate. Queensrÿche with Geoff Tate. I just mentioned two bands. Two Queensrÿche bands. The classic Queensrÿche parted ways with Tate and brought in Todd La Torre, who had previously helped bring Crimson Glory back to life for a while. Tate, exiled, bitter and especially furious, rallied a bunch of buddies after the boot and now runs his own version of Queensrÿche. So the scene is stuck in a needless mess, dictated by clashing egos rather than common sense. The only ones rubbing their hands over it are the lawyers, nobody else.
The lineup of Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield, Michael Wilton, Parker Lundgren and, new to the fold, Todd La Torre looks, judging by the past work of both of today’s Queensrÿche camps, like the more credible heir to what was left after Tate walked out, even though he is 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 obediently followed orders all those years. Until the recent split. Really strange. But there’s no other way to picture it than them keeping quiet the whole time and just doing whatever Tate told them to.
In his fury, Tate founded his own Queensrÿche right after leaving and basically carries on in the musical direction of the Queensrÿche albums released in the new millennium. His former comrades, meanwhile, made a simple move in that situation. They pulled together material for an album that finally connects with the work spanning 1983-1995. So the new album sounds very classic. Simply out of the need to “survive.” To win back the fans of the old Queensrÿche albums, they just had to do it. Not only will everyone be even keener to go to their shows after hearing “Queensrÿche,” Queensrÿche might even sell a few more copies of the album (which they’ve probably been missing ever since “Promised Land”). The new album hits straight at what Queensrÿche did in the eighties, and also on the album “Empire” (1990).
But we shouldn’t look at “Queensrÿche” too nostalgically, emotionally and enthusiastically. That can blind us and seduce us fast. More or less, the “Queensrÿche” album is merely a neat 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 never be better than it. Or even equal. The chemistry in the band is simply completely different from the eighties, when Queensrÿche left a strong mark on the development of metal with their inspired, revolutionary work. 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 same passion, untamed hunger to prove themselves, creative enthusiasm and confessional character as the classic Queensrÿche works, even though stylistically (happily and desirably) the new album ties into the classic era. For survival’s sake, Queensrÿche also picked a meaningful title for the new album: “Queensrÿche”! Even the titles hint at it. The opener X2 is basically a cleverly repackaged summary of Anarchy X from “Operation Mindcrime.”
The old sound is coming back in the production too. Harmonies in thirds, nothing but classic riffs cut to eighties-school taste, and the production has brought back the crushing echo of Rockenfield’s thundering drums, 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 thinned-out production of the rhythm section. You can feel it wants to capture the eighties past, but it gets there ineffectively, with quite a bit of reserve.
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, the song Where Dreams Go To die strikes straight at the era of creating “Operation Mindcrime” and “Empire,” and through all of 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 works. The two guitars work in dialogue, as if Chris De Garmo had rejoined the band alongside LaTorre.
The album is extremely short, barely 35 minutes! The songs are short, direct, concise. The band has offered a nice crop of varied songwriting solutions, and “Queensrÿche” is a pleasantly diverse record. It was always typical of Queensrÿche as a band to leave a few seriously memorable chorus hooks on their albums. “Queensrÿche” has a few too. The first one you can sing to yourself forever, in all its catchiness, is captured in the chorus of In The Light. That song would be a classic today if it had been written in 1988. Toward the end there’s also the chorus of the sped-up Fallout, which was released as a single too. The dark half-ballad A World Without is a special cross between Sister Mary Suite and the energy of the chorus-driven songwriting on “Empire.” Pamela Moore shows up again as a special guest on vocals! Excellent chorus! A special anthemic quality is distilled in the chorus of the faster album pulse-raiser Vindication. The guys were careful this time in writing the material. More or less throughout, it’s subordinate to repackaging ideas from their old songwriting school.
On the other hand, it’s precisely the album’s big and pleasing variety of motifs that proves Queensrÿche had to use ideas created quite a while ago and stashed away in a drawer. They waited several years to be realized. The right time has come and they found a place on the album “Queensrÿche.” But they weren’t specially “painted over” or fiddled with otherwise. The band was in a big hurry to get the new album out.
All of you who have missed the classic Queensrÿche for years will enjoy this album the most. They’re here. Geoff Tate was sacrificed, but Queensrÿche survived. Regardless of the fact that the album “Queensrÿche” has found contact with the eighties, it’s also a new beginning for the band. One that can now breathe fully and look unburdened to the future! Now let’s ease up on the band and let it breathe too. It has been through real hell. With the band’s next moves, let’s allow ourselves to be seduced and surprised.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.5 / 10
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
Lineup:
Todd La Torre – vocals
Michael Wilton – guitar
Parker Lundgren – guitar
Eddie Jackson – bass guitar
Scott Rockenfield – drums, orchestral arrangements
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Pamela Moore – vocals on track no. 8
Andrew Reiher – violin, orchestral arrangements
