Heavy Metal Queensryche

[Magic]

I have decided to put on my Skull Candy and listen to Queensryche from first EP to last album. I’m going to even throw in Tate’s Queensryche album, Frequency Unknown.

I will post up mini reviews as well as any other tid bits I find like this one to kick off the EP

L to R: Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, Geoff Tate, Scott Rockenfield, Chris DeGarmo

Full EP Vinyl Rip

The whole EP is good, as most of you already know.
Queen of the Reich didn’t have the best sound quality but holy shit….it is still in your face excellence. Songwriting credits go solely to DeGarmo. He knew how to write songs!
Nightrider is also a blistering track. Geoff Tate‘s vocals really make this track. Not bad, considering he has said he didn’t even like heavy metal.
Blinded showcased a primal, ear blasting scream. Outstanding!
Lady Wore Black had the best production on the EP. My personal favorite. The hooks, the vocals, the solo, the melody….this song gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.

 

[Magic]

Circa 1984

Full Album Vinyl Rip Playlist

Some of the best Traditional Heavy Metal! The Warning! An opening track that is an omen to others…Back in 1983 - 84 these 5 guys became formidable opponents for English bands Iron Maiden & Judas Priest and definitely made USA bands Metallica & Anthrax quake in their boots.

My picks..it’s no secret I love ballads and songs that are ballad-ish. So..that being said, I really like No Sanctuary.

My next pick, Take Hold of the Flame. Tate has got some wicked high tuned pipes.

My last top pick, Roads to Madness. The story is exquisite. This song is on the progressive side but IMO, the best written song on the album.

The whole album is good. I didn’t hear a weak, fluffy track on the whole album. I would call this album well thought out with special attention to mood and atmosphere.


Here’s Geoff Tate telling The Metal Voice back in 2015 what went down with The Warning…

“It was a real disappointment to everybody in the band at the time, ’cause it was taken out of our hands and mixed by somebody who didn’t care about it and didn’t want the input of the band in mixing. So that was quite a shocking experience. But, yeah, I think the mix of that record definitely could be… Well, I hate to terms ‘better’ or ‘worse’ when describing music, but the mix could have been more in line with what the collective vision was at the time rather than an outsider coming in and just hearing it for the first time and throwing it down and putting the faders up and saying, ‘Okay, it’s done.’ But that’s one of those lessons you learn as a young band that’s on a tight ship.”

 

[Magic]

Circa 1986

Queensryche took on a very goth look in 1986. This look was, different (I’m being polite). The gothic subculture, which was music-based, got its beginnings in the 60’s but really took off in the 80’s. Don’t let the look fool you, the album is in no way gothic!

Whoa! The album opens with Walk in the Shadows which has a spectacular dual guitar assault. The bass is thumping and the drum rhythm is perfect. Tate & back-ups are on melodic cue.
Next up is one of my picks, I Dream in Infrared, with a slowed down tempo, almost ballad-ish. Awesome, solo. Tate is an amazing vocalist; in my top 5 greatest list.

The Whisper….very cool whisper vocal effects. A song written by DeGarmo, who is one of my favorite songwriters.
Next up is a cover song, Gonna Get Close to You. Tate sounds diabolical! The added keyboard effects make the song creepy.
The Killing Words, a ballad, which is heavily keyboard driven….is ok. Not on my top picks, though. The guitar solos are decent. I just find the songs lyrical value a bit bland.
Surgical Strike definitely highlights the drums. Midsong keyboards & guitar solos rock their ass off!
Neue Regel (New Reign), Very artsy fartsy song. Over processed, and a bit too much going on. Not a fan of this one.
Chemical Youth (We Are Rebellion)returns to hard hitting heavy metal. Rebellious for sure..
London, this is my top pick off the album. The vocal layers are spectacular. The dual guitar solo is epic. A grandiose song..

Screaming in Digital. It’s exactly what the name implies….synths, electronic & digital. Don’t write it off as rubbish. The guitars and double thumping drums are massive.

My next pick, I Will Remember, a true ballad, written by DeGarmo. Beautiful vocals that are heartfelt. Love the sorrowful, flemenco style guitars.

Outstanding Album, except for the couple songs I noted above. Queensryche really flex their progressive style on this album. They brought out the keyboards & synths but didn’t over do it.

 

[Magic]

Before I go any further, I want to share a graduation picture of Geoff Tate.

looking at this picture, you would never dream he would go on to be one of the biggest voices in heavy metal.

 

[Magic]

Circa 1988

For the purpose of the conceptual story of Operation: Mindcrime & Mindcrime II, I will lump both albums together (plus that’s how I chose to listen to them) even though OMII is missing DeGarmo, Rockenfield, and Wiki claims the guitar tracks were re-recoded & session musicians were used. The album credits both Wilton & Jackson.

I am not going to rehash the musical story because most of you know the story or you can check out the wiki links.

Operation: Mindcrime

Operation: Mindcrime II

However, I am going to recommend you get your hands on this….

It’s a stunning theatrical stage performance of OM & OM II complete with video screens, and giving viewers the complete end of the story: What happens to Nikki & Mary. My only complaint for the DVD is not having the Tate/Dio duet “The Chase” so..here it is:

On to the albums:

Some say this is Queensryche’s best album. I agree. It’s a magnum opus.
The song structures are perfect. The production has that 80’s glam metal perfection. Geoff Tate found a middle ground with his vocals, also perfection. The dueling guitars, prominent bass, and ever flexible drums are musicianship perfection.
The first half of the album is upbeat, melt your face, heavy metal. The second half of the album is where the band whips out their prog muscles. The songs become longer, more symphonic, technically advanced, better orchestration, and more guitar distortion.
This is one of the best heavy metal albums I have ever listened to, and will give a solid 10/10.

I have seen some really poor reviews of OM II. Why? Maybe people were following all the band problems or maybe people just didn’t like the idea of having original band members missing.
For me, I noticed immediately a difference in sound & production quality. I also noted a more power/speed, super heavy influence. I’m ok with those changes.
The musicianship is decent. Tate still sounds awesome, minus the super high notes. We still get the killer dueling guitars. but something is missing….DeGarmo. Like I said earlier, he is one of my favorite songwriters. His missing musical influence is duly noted.
Let‘s get down to honesty. OM II was 18 years after OM. Tate’s voice was different. The band wasn’t trying to duplicate the original, they were trying to continue the story and compliment the original OM. I feel they pulled it off beautifully. Having Ronnie James Dio play the part of Dr. X..what a splendid treat!
I’m not disappointed with OM II. It has grown on me over time. I will rate it above average 8/10.

Operation:Mindcrime II album playlist

 

[Magic]

Circa 1990

Before I get into the album, I want to touch on reviews & criticisms I have read about Empire. I have read poor reviews & rave reviews. Most of the poor reviews dwell on the notion that Queensryche became commercial; went after the MTV money grab. Or the critics unjustly compare Empire to Operation: Mindcrime.
I want to clarify my stance on Empire and Queensryche at this point in their musical journey. The music writers have a vision, a statement or point they try to convey in the music. I don’t believe for a minute that they begin songwriting thinking, “this time we’re going to make hits for MTV and toss our creativity out the window. We‘re going to make millions.”
No. That is not my view of Queensryche.
Operation:Mindcrime is a masterpiece. Yes. I am very happy for the band for creating such a perfect piece of musical history. However, I am also intelligent enough to not expect any other creation from Queensryche to be exactly like that album. I am going to listen to and critique Empire as a whole new piece of music. So….you won’t see me making any album comparisons.

The Album.

Iwill begin with my album picks:

From the first single & video released off Empire, I was enamored with the album. Empire is a damn good and unique song. The song makes a statement about government, street life, and crime. I Just Love It!

Of course, I have to mention the ballad and my all time favorite Queensryche song, Silent Lucidity. Written by, you guessed it, DeGarmo. The Orchestration is stunning. That voice, the vocal harmonies, the musicianship…..it leaves me speechless.

Tate said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was no more special than any of the other songs that we were working on at the time. And the funny thing about that song was it almost didn't make the album. Our producer at the time said, 'I don't think it's as strong as the rest of the songs on the album. I think you should work on it some more or replace it with something else.' And at the time it didn't have all the orchestration in it; it was just acoustic guitar and vocal. And I think he was right — it needed to have something else done to it. And Chris DeGarmo, our guitar player, he sent it off to Michael Kamen, who did orchestration on it and had worked with us before on other albums and done movie soundtracks and everything. And Michael sent us back the orchestration and we put it up in the studio and we listened to it with the track. And Peter Collins, our producer, says, 'Okay, it's ready for the album now.' And he was right. It wasn't finished; it needed to have that finishing touch done to it. And we never thought that it would do what it did."

Another single off the album, Jet City Woman, is also excellent. It opens with a bass riff that is just as memorable as any guitar riff.

Della Brown, based on a true story of a homeless woman, is another very notable track. Killer bass, excellent percussion, and Tate’s voice alone reflects the sadness of the story.

Resistance, is a song that could easily have been on Operation: Mindcrime. It‘s heavy! The band opened their performance on the Building Empires Tour with Resistance.

By this time in Queensryche’s career, they had developed a “signature” guitar sound. You knew who was playing. Hand on Heart & One and Only definitely have that signature sound. Are they Fluff? Naw, not if you enjoy hearing them, which I do.

The album closer, Anybody Listening?, is a song seldom mentioned by critics, and it should be. It’s a Beautiful song with emotionally moving lyrics. Absolutely fantastic closure to the album.

 

[Magic]

Circa 1994

There was a really cool poster accompanying this album…

Despite some unfavorable online reviews for this album, I am in the ’Ryche’ geek camp that loves this album. It is exactly what I like to see a band do when they are at this point in their success……be creative with Their music. That’s exactly what Promised Land is; an eclectic mix. Acoustics, piano, bombastic orchestration, crazy sound mixes, deep textures & layers, and they created exactly what they envisioned…a mature bands masterpiece, IMO.

Most of the album chugs along at a slow, atmospheric, moody pace. For me, that is just fine. You do get some hard rockers, but even those are moody. The subject matter of this album; mental illness, human desperation, and corruption. It’s heavy material that gets presented beautifully in the songs.

One song in particular, Bridge, was released as a single. Bridge is written by Chris DeGarmo for his father, whom he lost during the making of this album. It’s an emotional, depressing song which gave me the feeling he didn’t have that needed Father-son relationship. Great song, though!

I rate this album highly. Not because it blew my face off, but because it is a creative collection that flows together nicely with outstanding mixing of effects and perfect production.

9/10

Speaking about the album to eonmusic in 2018, Tate revealed; "It’s one of my favourite albums that Queensrÿche did. That was an album that was very special to almost everyone in the band. It was a very special time for us”.

 

[Magic]

Circa 1997

This album catches a lot of negative reviews but I found the album enjoyable. Is it the best output from the band? No. I think some critics have to be over critical because an album sounds so different than what a band put out in the past.

Here in the Now Frontier is quite different from previous albums. There is a lot of grunge influence. I’m not forgetting that grunge was very popular during this time period, and I like grunge, so this album was good IMO.

Queensryche, I feel, tested out their grunge wings and devoted ‘Ryche fans were disappointed. A good example of a song with that grunge sound, Saved…

The next note worthy song on the album is “All I Want” which was written and sung by Chris DeGarmo. Great piano backed song…extremely different than anything Queensryche has ever done….or ever will do in the future…

My pick off the album “Spool”. Funky bass and soaring vocals. This is the Queensryche we all love!

My rating 7/10

 

[Magic]

Circa 1999

Q2K

Before I comment on the album I want to state I have never listened to anything from this album before, not even the 2 singles that were released. I went into this album clueless.

I know from my reading of reviews and articles that Q2K has a new lead guitarist, Kelly Gray, pictured below.

I also know that Queensryche now has one leader…Geoff Tate. This is the Tate show!

I don’t have too much to say about the Q2K album. The album is ok. Nothing spectacular but there are a few stand outs.

Queensryche continued with that grungy feel. The production is top notch. The musicianship is good, the vocals are good, it’s the lyrics & song writing that is mediocre. The album is totally mid-paced songs that I would consider to be an ok listening experience.

There were two song highlights for me. They lean towards being ballads, but are very good, IMO. Queensryche has always been excellent when it comes to beautifully done ballads.

When the Rain Comes

The Right Side of My Mind

It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t mention the hardest rocker, How Could I Know. Excellent!

 

[Magic]

Circa 2002.

Queensryche have been on hiatus.

Geoff Tate puts out a S/T solo album…it is an official Tate show!

Geoff Tate, the album, was a commercial success. I can understand why, too. The main show of the album is Geoff‘s vocals. He definitely has a beautiful voice.

The album is the farthest one could get from the style of Queensryche. The Geoff Tate album is contemporary rock / pop rock / AOR sprinkled with some electronic tricks and stunning piano accents.

This album is very chill. A cuddle up with your mate, album. The album was a pleasure to listen to. It’s not a romantic album, with sappy love songs, but a relaxing mix of songs.
My rating 7/10

Flood

Passenger

 

[Magic]

Circa 2003

For the first time since Queensryche began the band has become a 4 piece. They were being pressured by Sanctuary Records to get a new album together. So they asked Chris DeGarmo for help, and he agreed.
Something happened, though, part way through recording sessions, and DeGarmo left before the album’s completion, leaving Mike Wilton as lead guitar & adding Mike Stone as rhythm guitar.

Now that we know some background to the album, how is Tribe? Pretty damn good, IMO.

The album kicks off with “Open” which has all the original band members on board. A ‘Ryche’ highlight of the album.

Skipping to the next highlight, “Desert Dance“. Quite heavy, with all members present. Nice sound effects but an annoying repetitive “keep reaching” that almost ruins things for me…

Skipping on to a beautiful ballad, “Rhythm of Hope” which has an orchestral accompaniment and Geoff sounds fantastic! This one is minus any help from DeGarmo and proves that Eddie Jackson can write excellent music!

Skipping on to the two closing songs are Tate & DeGarmo creations. Excellent musicianship, but they lacked that ‘Ryche’ magic. “The Art of Life” is spoken word song and “Doin’ Fine“ is a quasi-ballad that ends with “No More GoodByes”


Tribe is melodic, with some hard hitting riffs, and great vocals. 8/10