Queensrÿche - The Verdict

I’ve not had the desire to keep up with either version of Queensrÿche since the pair of super contrived and mind-bogglingly inept albums from both incarnations of the band (Dedicated to Chaos and Frequency Unknown), made all the more contextually off-putting by the petty lawsuit surrounding the rights to the band name, one-two-punch knocked out my interest in their modern output altogether earlier this decade, at least for the time being.

Obviously, I’ve come back around to hear what the Todd La Torre-fronted, lawsuit-winning version of the band are up to because of course plenty of bands just have their one atrocity (or a couple) that they later make up for. Metallica made up for St. Anger with Death Magnetic, Morbid Angel had Illud Divinum Insanus which they later made up for with Kingdoms Disdained, and Iron Maiden made up for their less consistently enthralling work in the ‘90’s with Brave New World. I was open to hearing similar redemption from Queensrÿche, and I figured if they weren’t back on track by now, then they probably never will be. Thankfully this new album is not the disaster that Dedicated to Chaos was, so they’ve at least climbed out of that pit of despair, but their are still far from what they were when they put out Operation: Mindcrime and Empire.

While old age does not necessarily confine a band to a shadow of their greater self (see Judas Priest’s album last year), Queensrÿche are clearly not the blazing light of American classic heavy metal they used to be. After years of repeated trials of recapturing the magic that got them where they are and a few strongly denied attempts at moving on into new musical territory, they find themselves really just living in their own shadow from album to album, an unfortunate fate for any band with the evident potential to do great things (to peak early on and be reduced to fans mainly being much more excited to hear old hits from tour to tour). But the band still have that experience in them that shows in their performances from album to album, and this one is surely a decent exhibition of their talent. La Torre may not be the iconic voice of Queensrÿche, but he’s certainly plenty capable of going toe to toe with Geoff Tate and filling his shoes, and the rest of the band can at least capture the stylistic essence of their glory days down to a tee, as they should be able to at this point.

But really that’s all this album amounts to. It’s not carrying that urgency that the band used to and it’s neither lyrically nor musically memorable. I listened to it a few times, alongside the band’s classic work, to try to make sure I wasn’t just letting my nostalgia goggles make those albums seem so much more powerful than this one, and while none of the songs here are outright awful, they really don’t make a strong case for their own existence.

Metalheads stuck in the past will sometimes talk about the homogeneity of newer styles of metal when it comes up, but this album is just as homogenous as any death metal album that sounds like one long track, to the point where there’s not really even a point in getting into the details of the track list. With those struggled, repeated listens I gave this album, I only came away with the confirmation that it is indeed the product of a band continuing to make sequels to older albums not from a wealth of creativity but because that’s just the thing to do for them. I wasn’t really expecting anything positive or negative from this album, and I kind of got exactly what my first guess would have been about it: a continued attempt to do the band’s legacy and stature justice by hoping some creative miracle will bless them with a late-stage classic as they continue to play it safe.

Play the hits/10