QUEENSRYCHE

My favorites in defending order are the warning, the ep, rfo, empire and o:m bringing up the rear.

I'm a relative newcomer to the 'ryche having only listened to them for a year or two now. I started out with o:m first and loved it. Having heard nothing more than than that I thought the sequel should be awesome. so I checked Out o:m2... Was that ever anticlimactic. Absolutely cringe inducing stuff. I have made a cursory glance over the rest of there latter day output and the reaction is always the same (shudder).

Like many of you as well, the sheen came off of o:m pretty quick. Not alot of staying power for me, but the first two, empire are all much stronger albums. The warning never gets old to me, I might even consider it one of my desert island discs.

I thought that American Soldier was good, getting a bit boring to the end. But I had no (or extremly low) expectations, and being that it was my 2nd post PL album my opinion may be different. The first one I got was OP:II and it was terrible, but again I'm not that big of a fan of the first one - RFO is much better.

LaTorre sounds good, though it seems to me he hurts himself singing some of the material.

I do not own, nor have I ever heard, Promised Land. Is it worth buying?

I have everything up to Empire, and then Mindcrime II as the only recent album. I've heard Hear in the Now Frontier and thought it was dull and lame.

So what's the verdict on Promised Land? Essential? Just mediocre?

Promised Land is my 2nd favorite of theirs. Though its not as metal as their previous works.

"Promised Land" is absolutely not essential. But it's worth hearing. Once or twice.

I think the last great album form them was Empire. I bought Promised Land as a new release and was disappointed by it. I kept for the longest time hoping it would grow on me but it never took hold and I sold it off. I never purchased anything by them since except for Mindcrime II.

Mindcrime II is ok I suppose but it's a release I don't listen to very often (I may get rid of it,but I'm on the fence about it).

Promised Land is, IMO, Rage For Order's more organic, earthy cousin.

It takes the dark, weird vibe RFO has and removes the digital/computerized aura surrounding it and replaces it with the sound of a band playing in a room.

It's a very moody, brooding, melancholy, dark album. It's very melodic. It's not Metal...at all...but it's very Queensryche.

Sadly, it's the last great Queensryche album.

I generally don't listen to much of their output since Empire. I had Promised Land and HITNF at one time but ditched them. I've gotten free promo copies of Mindcrime II, Greatest Hits and American Soldier, but they don't get much attention.

The last QR album I purchased was the covers album. I like it, but I think I'm in the minority on that one.

I pretty much got off the boat after Empire. I've picked up a couple of their later albums since then (Here In The Now Frontier and Mindcrime II) and both of those were pretty "meh" so I haven't bothered with anything else.

This band is too light for my taste. The reason I'm still digging this band with their early stuffs is because of Geoff's magnificent voice.

Unfortunately Queensryche has been Geoff Tate featuring members of Queensryche since the release of Tribe (when he told DeGarmo that his "services are no longer required") - here's Tate's latest promo picture:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Promised Land is, IMO, Rage For Order's more organic, earthy cousin.

It takes the dark, weird vibe RFO has and removes the digital/computerized aura surrounding it and replaces it with the sound of a band playing in a room.

It's a very moody, brooding, melancholy, dark album. It's very melodic. It's not Metal...at all...but it's very Queensryche.

Sadly, it's the last great Queensryche album.

This is a great description of Promised Land!!!!!!!!! A more atmospheric and proggy 'ryche.

What about "Dedicated To Chaos" ? I thought that one was pretty good.

Vexer6 wrote:

What about "Dedicated To Chaos" ? I thought that one was pretty good.

You and Geoff are the only 2 to think it's "pretty good" I believe.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

I think Mindcrime is a snoozefest. My favorite is the EP. I bought HITNF when it came out and I found it to be meh.

Compared to what came after?

Obviously they started SUPERIOR with the EP and went steadily downhill until 2012 when the big kitchens and bathrooms were not BIG enough and the aging tang took over the finances [yes - this happened well before '12 in the case of Tate]. But, Operation Mindcrime a "snoozefest"?

I find it to be overrated and uneven with many filler tracks. I also hate the story - but then again I generally dislike all concept albums.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Vexer6 wrote:

What about "Dedicated To Chaos" ? I thought that one was pretty good.

You and Geoff are the only 2 to think it's "pretty good" I believe.

Sound about right! I listed it #1 in my worst albums of 2011 list. What a piece of smurf poo of epic proportions!

For those who think OM is boring, have you tried cutting out the non song parts? And I saw them do that live and man, it was an experience.

I really dig Promised Land, probably more so now than when it first came out. I'm so burnt on Empire that I can barely listen to it any longer, but Promised Land wasn't overplayed so still sounds fresh to me.

I would say it's an essential record for Queensryche fans, probably not essential for the "metal only" crowd.

thejokeriv wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Vexer6 wrote:

What about "Dedicated To Chaos" ? I thought that one was pretty good.

You and Geoff are the only 2 to think it's "pretty good" I believe.

Sound about right! I listed it #1 in my worst albums of 2011 list. What a piece of smurf poo of epic proportions!

Like other 'Ryche albums post-PL, it has a couple of moments that are cool enough...but nothing that really pushes me to listen more than once...about an EP's worth of good songs.

http://www.heartofmetal.net/t18434-queensryche-dedicated-to-chaos

Dark Horseman wrote:

For those who think OM is boring, have you tried cutting out the non song parts? And I saw them do that live and man, it was an experience.

I saw the Building Empires tour and the Operation:Mindcrime part was amazing - solidified it as one of my favorite albums. Was a top ten concert of all time for me.

Promised Land - IMHO, a good album and worth getting. Just don't expect it to be a metal album. It took me a bit to warm up to it. I still feel that it is a bit short and one or two more heavy rockers would make it a great album. Still, I think it was the start of the downward slope for them.

thejokeriv wrote:

Looks like Rob Halford during his "Two" era....

thejokeriv wrote:

Dark Horseman wrote:

For those who think OM is boring, have you tried cutting out the non song parts? And I saw them do that live and man, it was an experience.

I saw the Building Empires tour and the Operation:Mindcrime part was amazing - solidified it as one of my favorite albums. Was a top ten concert of all time for me.

Promised Land - IMHO, a good album and worth getting. Just don't expect it to be a metal album. It took me a bit to warm up to it. I still feel that it is a bit short and one or two more heavy rockers would make it a great album. Still, I think it was the start of the downward slope for them.

Years after I got rid of Promised Land, I heard some tracks from it on their Greatest Hits album and thought they sounded better than I initially rembered them. I'm not in any hurry to get the album, but I'd agree that it's probably aged better than when it was a new release.

Promised Land is the last good Queensryche album. Everything got progressively worse after that one. Most of the newer stuff isn't even worth a listen. I actually had never checked anything out past Hear In The Now Frontier until over the past month. They were never the best band in the world, but all those records are so bad it's ashame.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

There are good songs beyond Promised Land...but as whole albums, they're lacking. I rarely break out the post-PL stuff. I find something to enjoy about them to an extent...but the first 6 are magic.

These are pretty much my thoughts, though I do think Hear In The Now Frontier is a great album. Yeah, it's different, but the song quality is there. The songs are really good, in my opinion.

The albums that followed, while also different, just don't have enough solid material to call them good albums. I enjoy a number of songs between them, but that's it. Q2K is probably the best of that batch. DeGarmo's input couldn't save Tribe. And I still think American Soldier is pretty horrible aside from "At 30,000 Feet," which I think is a great tune. Mindcrime II had a few great songs, like "Re-Arrange You" and "The Hands," but it was far from great. Probably the best after Q2K.

I still don't own Dedicated To Chaos. And when I don't buy an album by a band I love, you know there's a problem. Haha.