Queensryche - Queensryche
This is the non-Geoff Tate incarnation of Queensryche, for those keeping track of all of the drama surrounding the band(s). For those in the dark about it, longtime vocalist Geoff Tate split and started up another band using the Queensryche name. The remaining three original members, Eddie Jackson (bass), Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Michael Wilton (guitar) are also still using the Queensryche name. The reality is that both current incarnations of Queensryche don’t sound all that much like the original lineup. Without Chris DeGarmo, they really don’t have the same technical prowess and Progressive Metal style. This self-titled LP is more straight-forward Hard Rock/Heavy Metal without a lot of frills. The riffing is solid and the songs are pretty rocking, but without DeGarmo’s influence, it sounds kind of generic. I thought that Alpha Tiger (also on Century Media) would have trouble differentiating themselves from Queensryche because their vocalist sounded a lot like Geoff Tate, but now that I’ve listened to this album, I’m having a hard time telling the two bands apart. Queensryche went the “Ripper Owens” route and got ex-Crimson Glory vocalist, Todd La Torre, who is also a Geoff Tate clone. La Torre sounds so much like Geoff Tate that if you didn’t know better, you’d swear that it was him. I know that you need someone with the same range as Geoff to pull off their early material. The fans want to hear the good stuff and someone without the right range wouldn’t do the early Queensryche songs justice. Todd La Torre really doesn’t bring anything to the table that wasn’t already there, though. Neither does the rest of the band. Todd is content to be Geoff Tate Lite and Queensryche, the band as a whole, is content to go through the motions. Face it, this isn’t the same band that did Operation: Mindcrime. It was a masterwork. I’m not expecting that kind of greatness. That album caught lightning in a bottle and they were never able to replicate the success it had or even come close to being as musically awesome after that. Still, I expected at least something different and interesting from them. This isn’t the abomination that Geoff Tate’s Kings & Thieves LP was, though, which is something that I’m profoundly thankful for. I don’t think I could handle another shitty album like that. Maybe these guys should go back to calling themselves The Mob because without Chris DeGarmo and Geoff Tate, it’s almost like listening to Judas Priest without Rob Halford and K.K. Downing or Black Sabbath without Ozzy (or Dio) and Tony Iommi. While this LP is unadventurous, it doesn’t suck. It’s good Rock & Roll but it just doesn’t feel like Queensryche anymore.
(1) Comment(s)
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Jon Konrath said:
I haven’t listened to this album all the way through - just the previews, which led me to not buy it. It sounded like it had its moments, but it reinforces the idea that DeGarmo was responsible for so much of the songwriting success of the band. They did albums with him with varying styles, and that’s fine - I like to see a prog rock band progress. But without his ability in the actual songwriting, their stuff is pretty meh. I don’t mind La Torre’s voice - even though it doesn’t sound as robust as vintage Tate, he’s been slowly losing his voice for years, so it’s pretty much a push. I think this album would easily be a point or two higher if it didn’t have such crap production, though. They have the “loudness syndrome” and everything sounds compressed with muddy low end, like half of the other bands out there. Oh well, I’ll just stick to listening to Empire.
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