So, this morning I went through the TLT catalog, including the three new songs from The Verdict. It is an interesting trip. I haven't listened to the self-titled or Condition Human in years.
The evolution of the "new" Queensryche after Tate and DeGarmo (and now Rockenfield) clearly has positioned them as a band of their own, as opposed to an extension of the original lineup. That's only natural, considering that aside from Wilton, all the songwriters of this band now are new, and not connected to the classic era in the band much (Jackson and Rockenfield did not write much at all from the EP through Empire, and only slighly increased on PL and HITNF).
On the self-titled, I think it is pretty obvious the band reset the template, using Mindcrime/Empire as a launching point for their sonic direction. As a result, a lot of the elements are familiar as "Queensryche," and La Torre does his best to stay within that Tate mold, albeit with a little more layering to his voice (his voice is thinner than Tates, so it needed a bit more in terms of layering, which is only natural.
To be really honest, I think this record, as short as it is, is really the most memorable. I think the choruses are more melodic and memorable, and while the mastering is terrible, the mix is good. It's hard to listen to because of the mastering, but I love the balance of everything in the mix.
My favorite songs haven't changed much. Fallout, Don't Look Back, and Open Road. Fallout is sorta how I envisioned a modern Queensryche to sound (although it could have used a bridge), Don't Look Back harkened back to The Needle Lies/Speak/Resistance, and is a classic Wilton track, with some great high vocals. Open Road (although too short), has that mood good Queensryche closers have, and I dig it more than A World Without. It just sounds more believable.
Solid overall record. A bunch of warts, probably due to being rushed, but given the circumstances, I really think its a solid album.
Condition Human, to me, is the "real" debut of this version of Queensryche. It gave TLT the opportunity to be more like himself, and I think the band felt free to just "play." Its darker, a little more modern in spurts, and more technical. It takes on what I call a more "No Exit" Fates Warning era approach, and sorta sparks me thinking this is what QUeensryche may have sounded like if they decided after Mindcrime to not embrace a warmer, more hard rock sound, and just went on an extension of metal.
Todd sounds more like that era's Ray Alder to me in spurts, and the music is a little less melodic on some tracks. Unlike many, I'm not really fan of the ballads. They seem like 80s hair stuff. Bulletproof and Just Us could have been released in 1989. They aren't bad songs, just not really what I was looking for.
I do, however, really dig Eye9. That song is more where I expect QR to be in terms of "ballads." Its just more moody and a better representation of what I like personally.
But the less emphasis on good melodies, and frankly, good hooks (having a hard time hearing them in this record) really drags it down for me.
To put it frankly, Condition Human (the record) sounds less like classic Queensryche than Queensryche (2013), and more like a band that is finding its legs. And that's not a bad thing. There are some definite high points. Eye9 is fantastic (love the groove), and while I'm no fan of the lyrics in Guardian, I love the song musically. Hellfire is great too.
Condition Human (the song) is a bit of a retread of other long QR songs. I think, honestly, they should have left that song off. Or didn't work so hard to make it long. The whole bridge part sounds like they are doing Suite Sister Mary again. Its sorta ridiculous. Had they cut the bridge, and just gone into a solo and then the outro, I think it would have been more unique. But the bridge really makes it sound like a retread.
Listening to the three tracks released so far from The Verdict, I hear more progression into becoming their own band, as opposed to following in "Queensryche's" footsteps. I don't hear a lot of the classic QR melody in these. And I guess that's smart, because those melodies were DeGarmo and Tate, and this isn't their band any longer.
But I'm also not hearing the hooks and at least to my ear, while I absolutely can see why people will enjoy these songs, they don't necessarily have what I personally have enjoyed from QR over the years. And again, that's totally fine, and completely natural, because it IS a different band. And based on these three songs, I am going to guess that this will be the epitome of this era of Queensryche. You'll hear a band fully in the hands, creatively, of La Torre-Jackson-Wilton as the primary writers and arrangers. With Lundgren stepping up even more too, from what I can tell from the credits.
Queensryche in name, but at least to my ears, a very different sounding era, leaving a lot of the classic QR elements behind and venturing forward. Probably what they should do. But will probably leave a lot of folks behind as well that had been holding on.
Will be cool to hear the entirety of The Verdict and see if the sonic evolutionary thread from Condition Human is indeed progressing. So far, it sounds like it is. Not necessarily for me, because I'm not really enjoying it. But for the band, its probably exactly what they need and following their muse without the spectre of Tate/DeGarmo over them.
Topic: Official Queensryche thread: Kickstart the next album (Read 694575 times)
