The whole Queensryche break-up thing is just sad. After Chris Degarmo left the other four soldiered on releasing new albums at a brisk rate followed by heavy stints of touring. Not every release hit the spot with the die-hards. The band wanted to grow, the fans wanted old school. The cabaret thing was a mistake and then Geoff Tate lost the plot.
So now we have two Queensryche’s for the moment anyway until the judge rules in November. Tate was first out of the box with the underwhelming Frequency Unknown. Rushed, poorly recorded with a cast of thousands. A band indeed.
A couple of months later and the Wilton, Rockenfield, Jackson, Lundgren band release their self-titled and rebooted version with Todd La Torre having big shoes to fill. They have taken the more dignified route waiting for the music to hopefully do the talking. They already have 2 strikes against them:
Strike 1: a new singer is often the end of the band.
Strike 2: the perception since Degarmo left was Tate steering the ship.
I wasn’t expecting much from this but damn am I impressed. Let’s face facts, Degarmo was the principal songwriter for their biggest selling albums. What the band have done is try to recapture that classic sound and for the most part they have succeeded. Tracks like the opener Where Dreams Go To Die and Redemption could be taken from Rage or Promised Land. That’s a good thing. After listening to this I’m just glad they tried. Best track for me is A World Without but there’s not a duff track on this. Solid songs, well written, well performed and sounds great as in classic Queensryche great.
Todd La Torre does a great job here and does sound uncannily like Geoff Tate at times. Lets call a spade a spade and say he’s a better singer now. He is well able to sing the really old stuff from The Warning.
It is a little too short though, there are only 9 tracks as 2 listed are short instrumentals. So where are the accumulated tracks that never made it onto the last couple of Tate led albums? It is only a small gripe though.
So there you have it, I had high hopes for Tate and no hope for these guys. I was wrong.
Richie.
