25. Queensryche - Rage for Order
Rage For Order is the reason Queensryche is classified as progressive metal. The bands first full length release, The Warning, was very well received and an excellent record. However Rage For Order would maintain the quality with the addition of more complex song-writing and arrangements, and a very good use of synthesizers in general, let alone for the mid-80’s. The album features soaring vocals with precise phrasing, interplaying guitar work that shows how deep chemistry between two musicians can go, and a solid rhythmic backbone. To this day the record has only been topped by the band’s masterpiece, Operation: Mindcrime.
Opening with what has become a fan favorite, “Walk in the Shadows”, the album seems to slowly expose you to what Queensryche would become with this record. More experimentation is seen with “I Dream in Infrared”, and finally you are fully submerged in the new sound with “The Whisper”. After only these three songs I am in awe of both the composition and musicianship of the album. There is an early balance between the two that many bands have failed trying for, Queensryche did not. “Gonna Get Close to You”, certainly one of the riskier tracks on the album, and oddly its only single frankly creeps me out. Musically there are many aspects of the song I really enjoy including one of the simpler guitar solos that works very well with the song, but Geoff Tate can only tell me he’s going to get close to me so many times before I’m ready for the next track!
“The Killing Words” shows off how subtle use of the keyboards would be fully utilized to add an extra dimension to the album, and also shows how complex some of the arrangements and composition could get. “Surgical Strike” is a bit of a flash back to The Warning in the best of ways. An interesting drum rhythm under the verses, a catchy chorus, guitar solos that you wish you wrote, and a very short yet remarkably memorable instrumental section make the song one of my favorites. Next, “Neue Regel”, and later “Screaming in Digital” are direct descendants from The Warning’s “NM156”. Much like “Gonna Get Close to You” they feature the heaviest use of synthesizers, and are certainly two of the oddest songs on the album. Definitely both growers, after a few listens I think most will come to appreciate all the subtleties of these songs.
Next we come to my favorite track of the album, “Chemical Youth”. This song exemplifies all the best qualities of the album done in about four minutes, kicking your ass in the process. Although it is one of the heavier songs on the album, it shows off all the progression that Queensryche brought with them on the album. Complex arrangement, unusual drum beat and accent phrasing throughout the verses, awesome riffs and guitar work throughout, and a chorus that makes you want to head-bang uncontrollably. Finally, “London” and “I Will Remember” seem to continue the trend that “Chemical Youth” began. Both continue to showcase the near perfect merging of Queensryche’s early dominance of traditional metal with their more progressive leanings. This merging would be more refined and less obvious on the follow up album, Operation: Mindcrime, and would show its face once more on Promised Land, but after Rage For Order it was never again so precisely achieved.
Although I do consider Mindcrime the better album at the end of the day, Rage For Order certainly deserved credit for bring Queensryche to a level were they would be ready to deal with a monumental concept album. It is also important to note that a title track would be dropped from the final record, and later surface in instrumental form as “Anarchy-X”. After seeing the bands comments on the album and comments from the man himself, I can only thank Neil Kernon, the albums producer and mixer for both this positive evolution of Queensryche, and the merging of the old and the new. It’s no surprised that Neil was credited with additional keyboards on the album, considering from what I’ve seen, as a producer he was open to and was a catalyst for the evolution of Queensryche’s sound in so many ways. Neil also did a fantastic job with the sound of the album. The album was obviously recorded in the 80’s, yet even if I could, I wouldn’t change a thing. The guitars are subtle when they have to be and up front when that’s what the song needs. Everything seems in its place and even if the album sounds “dated”, for lack of a better word, I wouldn’t want the overall sound tampered with at all. This album shows Queensryche at or near their zenith in many different respects, and we are very lucky that they’d stay at the top for several years to come.
Favorite tracks: Chemical Youth (We Are Rebellion), I Dream in Infrared, Walk in the Shadows
Honorable mention: Tesla - Mechanical Resonance
Topic: Nick's Top 50 Thread v. Ending Themes (Read 63842 times)
