I'm still working on the Priest counter review.Also, as a singer, I'll be critiquing Geoff Tate most of the time on this review, but still.
Queensrÿche EP - 1983
This was their demo. It wasn't meant to be released but it was so good there it was. They practiced for 3 or so years in a garage before goin out live and they tricked Tate into joining. They had the demo, no singer and they said we need a singer for our demo. They were signed right away. Called Geoff.. well we got signed.. wanna sing for us now? We need a singer for shows! The firs vocal on "Queen Of The Reich" says it all. A "Highway Star" sort of intro Tate explodes into that song. Blazing high E's. The EP had a song added to it later from the Rage For Order days, although it was played live during the EP tour. High points - Queen Of The Reich, The Lady Wore Black. Low Points - Not enough songs for that!
8/10
The Warning - 1984
The first real album. The order for the album was different than what was released as the record company wanted the first single, "Warning", as the lead off track. When put in the correct order:
NM 156
En Force
Deliverance
No Sanctuary
Take Hold Of The Flame
Before The Storm
Child Of Fire
Warning
Roads To Madness
The album bookends with sounds effects and a scream from Tate. Overall a good debut album, even though it kinda sounds like wannabe Maiden/Priest. Oh yeah, Chris DeGarmo is a god! High Points - Take Hold Of The Flame, Roads To Madness. Low point - Warning
8/10
Rage For Order - 1986
Here it is. Queensrÿche's first peak. This record is what the band wanted to be. Their sound is fully realized. No longer do they sound like Maiden. Tate is amazing. The songs aren't all in the same key (like the last record was) and he gets to show off more of his singing ability. High Points - Neue Regel, Screaming In Digital. Low Point - Chemical Youth (We Are Rebellion).
10/10
Operation: Mindcrime - 1988
Mindcrime. Their first break at commercial success. This has to be one of the BEST concept records ever written. It stacks up with "The Wall" and even has a tribute to "The Wall" with the beginning of Eyes Of A Stranger. A little tribute to Empty Spaces. The story is brilliant. Nikke brainwashed by Dr. X to kill the people that **** him off. The songs are amazing. Not a clunker in here. A perfect album. High Points - Revolution Calling, Suite Sister Mary, Eyes Of A Stranger. Low Points - None.
10/10
Empire - 1990
More commercial music, not that it's bad. This is the record that I first listened to QR on my own. It's good, but now I prefer most of the others. A lot of the songs may be overplayed, but that doesn't always take away what great songs they are. Chris DeGarmo's Silent Lucidity is an amazing song. But one thing I have to point out on this record. Geoff Tate sounds like a different man. No longer could he hit an effortless high G. He had to scream to hit a high E. This record is still good though. High Points - Della Brown, Silent Lucidity, Anybody Listening? (best song on here IMHO). Low Points - Jet City Woman (I hate it), One And Only, Hand On Heart.
9/10
Promised Land - 1994
With PL I think they took all of their Empire money and then made a record they wanted to do. This is a very dark record and a very personal one to the band. Mid life crisis type stuff. The production is top notch, the playing is inspired. This is peak number 2. High points - Out Of Mind, Someone Else?. Low Points - none.
11/10
Hear In The Now Frontier - 1997
This record marks the last full album with Chris DeGarmo. EMI went down and this record got little to no promotion. The tour didn't go very well, with barely 3000 people showing up in some cities. The songs aren't bad, but it doesn't sound like Queensrÿche. Their wall of sound is gone. It's very stripped back and somewhat lifeless. They even let Chris sing a song, and it was just ****. High point - Hit The Black. Low points - most of the rest but really All I Want.
3/10
Q2K - 1999
With new guitarist Kelly Gray joining the band to fill DeGarmo's place they started again. But this really didn't work. Chris WAS Queensrÿche's sound. Tate is a lot of it too (as shown by his solo effort in 2002) but the songs here are just lame. Most are about love which is not a normal QR subject. And most of the love is for Tate's wife. BOOORING!
High Point - The Right Side Of My Mind. Low points - Most of the rest.
2/10
Tribe - 2003
DeGarmo is back! But only briefly. When Kelly Gray was fired the band brought in Mike Stone. Then Chris wanted in and stone was let go. But Chris left before the album was complete. So they brought back stone, who is still in the band to this day. The record is good, but it's just not really Queensrÿche to many. It sold poorly, probably due to the backlash of the DeGarmo tease. I personally like it though.
High Point - Open. Low Point - Losing Myself (Stone's song.)
5/10
Operation: Mindcrime II - 2006
A project in the works for a while with most songs written by Jason Slater (the record's producer), Mike Stone and Tate. It's a nice wave of old QR sounds, such as a harmonized guitar solo on every song. But it's 6 songs too long. After Dr. X is killed (A Murderer?, track 11) it should have ended. Not song sappy love story with Nikki killing himself to see Mary in heaven. LAAAAAME! But the record does have a guest appearance by Ronnie James Dio as Dr. X on The Chase.
High Points - Hostage, The Chase, A Murderer?. Low Points - Tracks 12+
7/10
Take Cover - 2007
A covers album. Part of QR's 2007 creativly beat triple header: a live album, greatest hits package and cover album all within 9 months. The choices aren't too badn. Each member was allowed to choose two songs that everyone else had to do, no questions asked. The ****** part of this is the production. The coals sound like total ****. They're awful. Tate sounds like he's hurting at points and at others his technique is all wrong and it ruins the song. The best song on the record was recorded live on the Q2K tour in 99/00. A 10 minute version of U2's Bullet The Blue Sky. Everyone is sooo into it and the track is a great closer.
High Point - Bullet The Blue Sky. Low point - vocal production on every other song.
2/10
Now some of their newer efforts aren't up to snuuf but I have to say this: I love this band. This band has influenced me a lot in the past few years and I've seen them three times in 2 years and met 3/5 of the guys at the third show do to my dad winning the singing contest. The three I met (Stone, Tate and Michael Wilton) were all good guys. Tate was in press conference mode, Was kind of off talking to others most of the time.. but Stone. He was great. He was the last of 5 people in the room when we left. Great guy, nice talking to, even took getting made fun of well.
