Ah, this will be fun. Queensryche was my favorite band from 1990 to 1999. I LOVE the first 6 albums listed. I like the next 4, but they are each flawed in some way. The last 2...
This is going to be a long post...
1. Empire - So many good tracks. One and Only is the only one I don't particularly care for, and I don't mind hearing that one. There is a good reason why this album burned up the charts. It was nice to see
good music actually get some mainstream recognition.
2. Promised Land - I think Promised Land is actually a "better" album than Empire. For the longest time, I had it ranked #1. But I just find myself listening to Empire more nowadays if I reach for an older Queensryche album. But great collection of songs. And the tour was just stunning. It took this album awhile to click, but when it did, I was sold.
3. Hear In the Now Frontier - I know I am in the minority, but I love this album. To me, Queensryche had been a band that was able up through this album to find a trend they liked at any given point in popular music and blend it with their style without outright
copying that style. This album is a great example. It is not grunge. But it is a good
reflection of grunge in the same way the EP and Warning were a good reflection of NWOBHM without
being NWOBHM. You can hear the influence, but it is still something different. This album took the more simplistic, stripped down, dirty grunge style and made it Queensryche. And the album has so many great, memorable songs because of that.
4. Mindcrime - This album was really my gateway into the band. It took me awhile to get it, but as with other albums, once it finally clicked, it hit home in a big way and really helped shape my taste in music and take it in a different direction. I used to rank this album a lot higher. I probably still would if the concept/story hadn't worn a little thin on me.
5. Queensryche - My only trepidation about ranking this album so high is that the album as a whole (as well as many of the individual songs) is just too short. But what a stellar return to form. Despite its flaws, this was a VERY solid effort. If a few of the songs were a bit more fleshed out, and there were a couple of more songs, this would be top 3.
6. Rage - Fantastic album. It seems a shame to rank it so low. It's just that the ones before it are so good.
7. Warning - This is where ranking starts to get tricky. This next grouping all have some really good songs, and some songs that fall flat. Here, the band were still finding their sound. There is also a lot of same-yness for me. But I give this album a slight bump over the others in this group simply because of some of the classic songs that came from it, like Roads To Madness and NM156.
8. American Soldier - This album is...challenging for me. Jason Slater wrote some great songs and had really captured the Queensryche sound, IMO. I also
generally REALLY like the concept. But there are a few flaws that drag it down. First and foremost is Tate's singing. He sounds awful in too many places. This is the first album where I felt like his performance was truly the weakest link. If not for that, I could overlook the other flaws and would rank this album a LOT higher. Second, the flow of the album is not good at the end, and the album really loses steam because of it. The Voice is a pretty good album closer. But it does not have quite the big, epic feeling of a lot of their closers. It tries, but just doesn't quite get there. And having the two ballads back to back right before it is a problem. The album just seems to die with a whimper despite closing with some pretty good songs. Third, Home Again. I love the concept of this song. And the lyrics are truly tear jerking. I even like the concept of having a child sing the child's part. The problem is that Tate's daughter is just not a good singer, notwithstanding that she was just a kid when it was recorded. Fourth, while the concept of the album is a really cool idea, the very subtle slant to it is, unfortunately, very glaring to me. I remember having a short conversation with Tate during the Take Cover tour when he was working on the concept for this album where I talked about my military service. The things he said just seemed off at the time, but did not register as that big a deal. But over time, after letting this album soak in, and piecing together other things he has said, it just leaves me feeling like Geoff Tate is utterly clueless about military life and what service people go through. And given how many he supposedly interviewed as part of this album project, that is very troubling to me and casts an unfortunate shadow over this album.
9. Tribe - Oh man, what could have been. There are some truly stellar songs on this album. But there are also some of the band's worst (not including D2C). This album really gave a glimpse into what could have been had Tate not driven DeGarmo away. The problem is that this album is just so inconsistent.
10. Mindcrime II - Man, as bad an idea as it was to even try to do a sequel to Mindcrime, this album really had potential. I think it starts off great, actually, and has some great songs. Slater had not
quite really gotten Queensryche's sound, but he wasn't far off. The songs and story start off pretty strong through the first half of the album. It has great hooks. Nice heaviness at times. Great callbacks to the original. An interesting story that really feels logical from the standpoint of looking at where the characters are almost 20 years later. But things start to become a mess at The Chase, both in terms of spotty song quality and the story going off the rails. This album would not have been quite up there with the classics. But with relatively few changes it could be a LOT better. There is a lot I like about the album. But as a whole, it fails.
11. Q2K - Oh well. They
were my favorite band. At least I have the history, right? DT releasing SFAM and then Queensryche following that with this meant that they were now out of the top spot for good. But at least we got 2 good songs (The Right Side of My Mind and Liquid Sky) and a few decent ones. And my wife and I had a fun, memorable trip flying into Seattle for the recording of Live Evolution and then road tripping across western Canada. So...thanks for the memories, Queensryche.
EDIT: I do have to say, it was cool that they did a reissue that included some bonus tracks. Until There Was You is not very good. And while Howl is better than a lot of songs on the album, I seem to be in the minority in terms of not thinking it is that great either. But still cool that they released this material.
12. Dedicated 2 Chaos - There is nothing likeable about this album. I waited until I found a copy in the used bin just so I could have it for completeness. I listened to it once and have no desire to repeat the exercise.
Unranked:
EP - Some solid songs. I just don't rank it because it seems unfair to rank a 4 song debut EP against full albums. I immediately really liked Queen of the Reich and The Lady Wore Black. Blinded took awhile. It wasn't until I heard the live version from Tokyo that made me really take notice of what a cool song this is. Nightrider never really clicked. If we are counting The Prophesy, which was included on the re-release, that is a solid track as well.
Take Cover - I can't really rank a covers album with their originals. A few decent efforts. Lots of bombs. And many of the bombs simply fail because of Tate. Too bad. Fun tour though.
I do not include FU because, despite having "Queensryche" on the album sleeve, it is NOT a Queensryche album. It just isn't. It has no original members of the band performing on it, and the band was still an active, viable entity at the time. It is a Geoff Tate album that was intentionally mislabeled to cause confusion among the fanbase and capitalize on the established band name.
Topic: The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread! (Read 909492 times)