It was a great follow up, and I am also looking forward to the next one. But there's just no connection for me, and it is "just another release".
I guess I'm just feeling cynical. Like the band disappears for almost 20 years...
TAC -- the band has evolved quite a bit, and I can easily see what you mean. I share the sentiment, and I'm about as big a Queensryche fan as they come.
Let's be honest. The band from 1981-1992 followed a pretty digestible path for most metal heads. Sure, Empire was more polished and commercial, but pretty much every band was doing that in 1990. I mean, listen to Images and Words and Parallels in 1992 -- same vibe. So, while there may have been some rumblings, the...evolution was sort of expected.
In 1994, I totally understand why you (TAC) don't really dig the record. It was a pretty drastic departure, looking at it just at face value. I balked myself at first. The "metal" aspect of Queensryche was ripped out, with the exception of Damaged, and replaced a bit by dark, mid-tempo songs and acoustic bits. It's completely Queensryche in every way, but its an extension of the direction I think Tate really wanted to move, as opposed the style preferred by a guy like Wilton. Remember, Tate was in a really bad place 1993-1994 -- divorce, living on his boat, etc. DeGarmo help bridge them all, and you got Promised Land. It was as honest and personal a statement as Queensryche (Tate and DeGarmo writing the lyrics) as you could get.
But love it or hate it, Promised Land was certainly Queensryche, although it was the first REALLY drastic turn. They lost a lot of interest and connection with the old audience (ring a bell here, TAC), although they still maintained most of the core audience.
Hear in the Now Frontier -- again, another HUGE shift. Not...unnatural, given sort of the stripped down way they were heading a bit with Empire, and then Promised Land in some spots. But production wise, completely the opposite from what Queensryche was known for. And writing-wise, the way they did it -- come up with tunes, don't re-write too much, just go and record. That sort of process...obviously didn't work for them totally. And thus really soured A LOT of people that just moved on.
And every record after that has been suffering from the same spiral, even MC II, which never really sounded like a sequel.
Until...the self-titled. The spiral stopped. It regained some attention. It was a familiar sound, but certainly different, for all the reasons I talked about above (how could it not be, without Tate AND DeGarmo). But it had style qualities that really tied it in with where they were with Empire.
So I totally get that...lack of connection. I disconnected (pun very much intended) myself quite a few times. The first time was in Slater's studio listening to Mindcrime II. It didn't sound...right. And then he told me the truth behind the record (which, in all honesty, it sounds good for any other band, and the fact he wrote it all with Stone, that's impressive...but not as a QR album), and I just fell flat and didn't want much to do with it.
The second time was the Mindcrime at the Moore shows. I was up there with the wife that weekend with friends. We walked out disgusted at the end. Mindcrime was turned into cheap rate off Broadway (by many blocks) theater. It was just so melodramatic. I was so sick of it all.
The final time was a few years back. I was gung-ho for the change, and after we got it, after various things (important to me, but not everyone else) following the self-titled album release and tour...I just wasn't feeling it. I tried with Condition Human. Again, good album. But things sort of soured for me after a bit. Probably not at all the music, just other stuff. But now, a couple years later, I listen to Condition Human and go "hey, that's a pretty good band. They sorta sound like Queensryche." It is Queensryche, of course. But it's...different, for obvious reasons. Just like MC II, American Soldier, etc. It's not...the same. (For the record, I like the self-titled a bit more than Condition Human.)
So, I am with you. There's no connection any longer. I wish them the best, and I will always follow what they do, but I am very content with being a hardcore fan of the original lineup of Queensryche, and just a casual fan of everything else. I am also looking forward to what they do on TLT-QR III, but more in a "oh, cool, I wonder where they will go next," way, instead of a "I AM COMPLETELY STOKED" way, like I always used to be. Just not over-the-top invested and "connected" any longer, unless there is some sort of live release of the original band, or whatnot. Then I'd be really connected and invested in what that was.
Topic: The Queensr˙che Discography Thread (Read 106929 times)
