Official Queensryche thread: Kickstart the next album

[Ben_Jamin]

I think it's a good album and quite a bit better than the previous self titled.  Queensryche has been through the mill and they've come out of it quite nicely.  The material is exactly what I expect from a Queensryche album and that's what bands should do, give the fans what they expect.

I disagree with the last statement. I don't think bands exist purely for their fans. Bands should make the music they want to. Whether what they make is what the fans want or not doesn't matter. (It may matter in terms of $$$, but not necessarily in terms of being a band)

I didn't say "existing purely for fans".  I said bands should give the fans what they expect.  The same way they construct certain setlists based on feedback they get from the fans.  After all, we are paying for the albums and the tickets.  Sure, bands are free to do whatever they want.  But, if they venture too far from what the fans want (especially long time fans), then it will hurt them and the fans as well.  Queensryche is definitely thinking about their fans and not just about themselves.  It's very evident in the style of music on this latest release.  It sounds like Queensryche.

Isn't giving fans what they expect the same thing?

I don't mind newer Queensryche, it's just not what I'm into right now though. I wish Todd had a lower register like Geoff.

[Calvin6s]

I wish Todd had a lower register like Geoff.

That would be nice (especially since I prefer it to the *high notes*)

New Queensryche is more that they are much better now than they were 5 years ago, but not better than they were 20 years ago.  In the end it boils down to I'm happy they have songs I can enjoy again.

[Enigmachine]

but not better than they were 20 years ago.

IMO yes they are. I also prefer TLT's voice to Tate in his prime.

[Ben_Jamin]

Saw them this past Wednesday opening for The Scorpions. They put on a good show. Todd's voice was awesome in the high parts but struggled as it was outdoors and it's pretty dry, windy, even he said so himself as he chugged water before playing QotR.

I wish they played Empire in full though.

[Lowdz]

I think it's a good album and quite a bit better than the previous self titled.  Queensryche has been through the mill and they've come out of it quite nicely.  The material is exactly what I expect from a Queensryche album and that's what bands should do, give the fans what they expect.

I disagree with the last statement. I don't think bands exist purely for their fans. Bands should make the music they want to. Whether what they make is what the fans want or not doesn't matter. (It may matter in terms of $$$, but not necessarily in terms of being a band)

I didn't say "existing purely for fans".  I said bands should give the fans what they expect.  The same way they construct certain setlists based on feedback they get from the fans.  After all, we are paying for the albums and the tickets.  Sure, bands are free to do whatever they want.  But, if they venture too far from what the fans want (especially long time fans), then it will hurt them and the fans as well.  Queensryche is definitely thinking about their fans and not just about themselves.  It's very evident in the style of music on this latest release.  It sounds like Queensryche.

Isn't giving fans what they expect the same thing?

I don't mind newer Queensryche, it's just not what I'm into right now though. I wish Todd had a lower register like Geoff.

I agree. I've always said bands can do whatever they like but if they radically change their sound and I don't like it, that's their problem, not mine.

[KevShmev]

. I've always said bands can do whatever they like but if they radically change their sound and I don't like it, that's their problem, not mine.

Actually, that really is your problem, not theirs.

[bosk1]

After now having plenty of time to digest this album and put it into context, I would say that this is easily the 4th strongest the band has ever done, and I would put it behind only Mindcrime, Empire, and Promised Land (and some days, it might beat some of those).  REALLY solid album. 

[Lowdz]

. I've always said bands can do whatever they like but if they radically change their sound and I don't like it, that's their problem, not mine.

Actually, that really is your problem, not theirs.

They don't get my money. I don't lose anything.

[TAC]

After now having plenty of time to digest this album and put it into context, I would say that this is easily the 4th strongest the band has ever done, and I would put it behind only Mindcrime, Empire, and Promised Land (and some days, it might beat some of those).  REALLY solid album.

Due to Music Listening Time Constraints  I really haven't listened to it as much as I should have. But really, the competition to be a Top 5 QR album isn't that tough. Obviously there's Mindcrime. Then any combination of Warning (my fave), Rage, Empire, and PL (which I don't care for), but really what else does Condition Human really have to battle with to gain a #4 or #5 spot? I'm not saying it's not deserved. It's a solid album rooted in "Classic" era QR.

[bosk1]

Well, they definitely have more than 5 incredibly strong albums that are better than the vast majority of what is out on the music market.  EP, Warning, Rage, Mindcrime, Empire, Promised Land, Hear in the Now Frontier, and American Soldier (minus points for the vocals) are incredible.  Add the self-titled (first Todd era) album into the mix, and that's 9 incredibly strong albums.  So, yeah, cracking the top 4 is quite a feat, IMO.

[TAC]

Ok Fanboy. Time to towel off!  Hear In The Now Frontier incredible? American Soldier (which I think is quite focused and solid) incredible? The s/t incredible?  None of these albums should ever be confused with being incredible.

Condition Human is light years ahead of the s/t and HITNF, and while AS is actually pretty good, it's not in the same league as CH. But I still maintain that it's not because of the strength of CH, but rather the weakness of the rest of the discog. After PL, or for me Empire, there's not much to hang your hat on.

I'm not ragging on CH, mind you. I just don't think it takes all that much to get to #5 on a QR Top album list.

[Kwyjibo]

The EP is too short (that's because it's an EP) and sounds too dated to be incredible. HITNF has two great songs and a lot of mediocre ones, American Soldier isn't that bad but has that terrible song with Geoff's child singing. So I have to agree with TAC, CH is a top record, but in the QR discography are too many clunkers so that it isn't that hard to achieve.

Queensryche is a band that when they're inspired they cut out top material but sadly that wasn't the case for many years/records.

[TAC]

Hey, I love the EP. But I don't really count that. And honestly, I have no idea how they pulled American Soldier out of their ass. They actually sound like a band interested in making an album.

[KevShmev]

Calling HITNF incredible is like saying Amy Schumer is drop dead gorgeous.

[bosk1]

Hear In The Now Frontier incredible? American Soldier (which I think is quite focused and solid) incredible? The s/t incredible? 

To each of those:  Yes.  With the exception of American Soldier, each of those is easily album of the year in the year they were released.  Easily.  If just about any other band of their era put out an album as strong as any of those, it would probably be in their top 3 all time.

American Soldier ...  TheyJasonSlater actually sounds like a band man interested in making an album.

Fixed.

[King Postwhore]

I'm in the minority but I love HITNF.  The new album is very good.  Not as high as bosk1 but somewhere in the middle.

[TAC]

Hear In The Now Frontier incredible? American Soldier (which I think is quite focused and solid) incredible? The s/t incredible? 

To each of those:  Yes.  With the exception of American Soldier, each of those is easily album of the year in the year they were released.  Easily.  If just about any other band of their era put out an album as strong as any of those, it would probably be in their top 3 all time.

WHAT?? People on internet music forums say the silliest of things!



Anyway, Bosk, I'm glad you posted your original point, as I have been thinking about CH over the last couple of weeks. I've been meaning to play it, but I just haven't had the time. I just cut my front lawn to it, and yes, it's an excellent album deserves to be rated at #5.

[TAC]

As far as AOTY status, while 1997 was a slow year, I'm taking Bruce Dickinson's Accident Of Birth and even Fates Warning's APSOG over HITNF and I thing APSOG is way overrated. I'd take Divine Wings over it too.

Just looking over your DTF AOTY thread for 2013 (I can't believe I didn't post in it), there were a number of albums I'd put above the s/t, namely Avantasia's TMOT, DT12, and Saxon's Sacrifice (Which actually might be a TOP 3 Saxon album!!).

[KevShmev]

As far as AOTY status, while 1997 was a slow year, I'm taking Bruce Dickinson's Accident Of Birth and even Fates Warning's APSOG over HITNF and I thing APSOG is way overrated. I'd take Divine Wings over it too.

 

Let's not forget:

Radiohead - OK Computer
Flower Kings - Stardust We Are
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine
DT - Falling into Infinity
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape

All five of those albums obliterate Hear in the Now Frontier to smithereens.

[TAC]

Well, I'm probably taking HITNF over 4 of those albums  ...but I get your point.

[TAC]

I'll say this. One thing I've always loved was the band pic. It totally fit with what they tried to do on that album.

[King Postwhore]

It is a great picture.

[jjrock88]

HITNF is a good rock album, but I can't give it more praise than that. Just too much filler, but still some great songs on it.  I would never consider it to be an album of the year though.

The s/t was awesome but CH took it to the next level for the band. I haven't even remotely gotten tired of it. I would say CH is incredible

[wolfking]

HITNF is good if you can go into it with an open mind.

[jjrock88]

HITNF is good if you can go into it with an open mind.

Yeah it can throw you for a loop

[KevShmev]

HITNF is good if you can go into it with an open mind.

I went in with the most possible open mind, since my QR fandom was at its all-time high at the time, coming off Promised Land, one of my favorite albums ever, and I did listen to HITNF a lot, almost like I was trying to make myself love it, but aside from a few songs which have stuck with me, I eventually just accepted that it was pretty mediocre overall.

[bl5150]

HITNF is good if you can go into it with an open mind.

I went in with the most possible open mind, since my QR fandom was at its all-time high at the time, coming off Promised Land, one of my favorite albums ever, and I did listen to HITNF a lot, almost like I was trying to make myself love it, but aside from a few songs which have stuck with me, I eventually just accepted that it was pretty mediocre overall.

That's pretty much me too , except I had the same experience with Promised Land 

[wolfking]

I think it's one of those albums that yeah would have been difficult to take when it was released but something you can come back to now and discover some cool things about it.

[TAC]

HITNF is good if you can go into it with an open mind.

I went in with the most possible open mind, since my QR fandom was at its all-time high at the time, coming off Promised Land, one of my favorite albums ever, and I did listen to HITNF a lot, almost like I was trying to make myself love it, but aside from a few songs which have stuck with me, I eventually just accepted that it was pretty mediocre overall.

That's pretty much me too , except I had the same experience with Promised Land 

Same here.

I've always said, I can totally appreciate what they were trying to do with HITNF. I can. I just don't think it's very good. I do like a number of tracks on it though. Listening back on it, you can already hear Tate's voice slipping.

[Kwyjibo]

When HITNF came out I really tried to like it, after all it was a new disc by one of my favorite bands. I gave it all the chances I could, I returned to it for years trying to get it, trying to find something that I missed. But one day I came to realize that it's just a mediocre record, not as bad as others but not really good. Two standout tracks for me, couple of good ones and a lot of meh ones.

And yes, Tate's voice is already deteriorating, but I thought you could hear hints of it as early as Promised Land.

[Cruithne]

Whilst I've always loved HITNF I'd still say incredible is a strong word for it

I still wonder if CDG had taken himself off to do a solo/side project album with the material he wrote for that album (assuming that Tate's contributions to his songs were purely lyrical and DeGarmo already had melodies worked out for the vocals*) if fans of the band would be more positive about it - HITNF is a good album, it's just maybe not a good Queensryche album.

American Soldier though. I'm amazed anyone can feel anything other than apathy for that album. About the most positive comment I can remember about that album when it was released was "they're going in the right direction" which really is damning it with faint praise.

(As a side note, it took me ages to figure out where I'd heard it before, but the main riff at the start of Man Down is very reminiscent of the main riff to The Almighty's The Unreal Thing).

* I wish we knew exactly what Tate's contributions were on the early QR albums. I always thought the "Tate didn't write any music, only lyrics" part of the court declarations when they were wrangling over the QR name was a bit suspect - if he was just fitting lyrics to existing melodies it's one thing, but if he was given a blank slate in the form of a backing track and he had to work out the melodies himself then he did write music.

[?]

HITNF is a decent album, but I find the production too dry, and some of the songs are probably the worst ever recorded by the original line-up (Cuckoo's Nest, Get a Life, All I Want, Anytime/Anywhere). If those four had been dropped or replaced with Chasing Blue Sky and the sound was more along the lines of Promised Land, I think I'd love the record. However, this is the perspective of someone who's listened to QR for only 2 years - if I'd been a fan in the 90s, I'd imagine the album would've been a massive disappointment coming off the heels of PL, or at least a big shocker.

[bosk1]

Nah, Cuckoo's Nest is awesome, Get A Life is fine, and All I Want has some really cool, albeit subtle, things going on that are easy to miss.  I will agree with you that Anytime/Anywhere isn't so great.  But given that it and Hit the Black are the only real clunkers on the album, it's still a really solid effort from start to finish.

[TAC]

Bosk, while the list of decent songs on it is short, Hit The Black and Anytime/Anywhere definitely make it. I like those tunes. 

[bosk1]

Yes, but you have incredibly questionable taste, so that doesn't count.