QUEENSRYCHE - Queensrÿche

The real ones

After Promised Land, Queensrÿche began to fall. I won’t go into details now, because the details are pretty nasty, what’s certain is that they kept falling until 2012, when they hit rock bottom and broke up. But, before that, the whole thing ended in swearing, spitting and suing. The final result is that now we have two bands called Queensrÿche each of them claiming that they are the real ones. And we’ll keep having this fun at least till November when the next court date is set. 

Geoff Tate moved faster and, aided by a merry band of mercenaries, brought to market two months ago the year's first Queensrÿche album, with the message F.U. on its cover. His former colleagues (Wilton, Jackson, Rockenfield) claim that they are more decent and subtle, but are arrogant in turn by calling their album simply Queensrÿche. As I said, everyone is very careful to show that their Queensrÿche is more real than the others’. Everybody’s just, oh, so real.

While Geoff Tate’s Queensrÿche  claims, obviously, the original voice, and hence the real one, Todd LaTorre’s Queensrÿche claims the original, and hence real music. So, a line was drawn and it was decided that the real Queensrÿche sound is that from the period 1984-1990, 1994 at most, and songs were included on the album according to this resolution. Without taking into account that most of the songs from that time were written by someone who is now absent. And has been since 1997. It may look like a detail, but I don’t think it is.

In any case, the band manages to reminisce with almost incredible mastery on that chapter of their discography, and LaTorre’s vocal performance has a decisive contribution: he perfectly imitates Tate’s voice, which he has always expressed an endless admiration toward. I feel like I’ve travelled back in time and I’m listening to a short dose (the record running time is 35 minutes) of Operation: Mindcrime played like on Promised Land. Or vice-versa. 

The boys begrudgingly admit that they had been wanting to play like that for a long time, but the one who shall not be named, the one with the F.U., wouldn’t let them. It wasn’t my intention to go into all the gossip, but what can I do if they do? Returning: so, we’re back in the 90s, after Promised Land, with the same producer, James Barton, and we’re continuing from then. Century Media, smelling the potential for success of this approach, was in immediately: it is a calculated album, without risks, and it will regain some of the old school fans.

But it will fail to impress anyone who thinks that "progressive" means looking forward, not back. Nor will it impress those who only expect one thing from Queensrÿche: good songs. The ones on this album are far from the brilliance of the classics (except Where Dreams Go to Die). And if you can no longer rise to that level, any return is a reason to be saddened.

This album and the circumstances surrounding it remind me of Dream Theater’s 2011 album, A Dramatic Turn of Events, also released after a dramatic breakup, also bringing a return to a classic sound. The difference is that for Queensrÿche the breakup was more "dramatic" and the new songs, not as good. The similarity is that both bands are at "a new beginning". The difference is that for Queensrÿche this new beginning depends on a court decision. We’ll see in November.

Klawz Nota: 8