CD Odyssey Disc 491: Queensryche

Before I begin this review, I’d like to apologize to the band – I was unable to find the lower case ‘y’ accompanied by an umlaut.  Frankly, if I wasn’t going to search for the umlauted ‘o’ in Blue Oyster Cult, these guys were not going to get that kind of treatment.

Disc 491 is… Empire

Artist: Queensryche

Year of Release:  1990

What’s up with the Cover?  This graphically simple cover appeals to me.  A nice mix of strong, saturated colour and – since this is metal of a sort – a lot of black.  Also, a big silver “Queensryche” symbol.  What is it about bands that spell their name with umlauts, that they need a symbol of their own? (As noted above – the ‘y’ in Queensryche is supposed to have an umlaut – I promise not to mention it again).

How I Came To Know It:  I knew Queensryche way back in the early eighties when I saw their video for “Queen of the Reich” on the MuchMusic Power Hour.  I loved the song, but never bought their album and still don’t own that record.  I bought this one because I had heard good things about it critically and although it was monstrously overplayed twenty years ago, I have a soft spot for “Silent Lucidity.”

How It Stacks Up:  This is my only Queensryche album at present, so it can’t really stack up.  I have a feeling they have better and worse offerings, but at this point that would be idle speculation on my part.

Rating:  2 stars, but almost 3.

I admire a band that’s willing to reinvent themselves, even at the loss of some of their fan base.  U2 did it, Pearl Jam did it, Tom Waits did it.  Queensryche is not at the same level as those artists, but damn it, they did reinvent themselves, and that takes guts.

When I grew up, I was a big heavy metal fan, and for all the honest camaraderie among headbangers there was a judgmental element to any style of music that was considered even slightly outside the true metal sound as we defined it.  I used to refer to Def Leppard and Van Halen as “tinsel” because their hard rock sound didn’t rock hard enough.  This was despite the fact that those bands’ very early records actually have a lot going for them.  Hey, kids can be cruel and when it comes to music.

Queensryche was the opposite; they were a true metal band that decided that wasn’t enough, and began branching out into different, more progressive sounds.  “Empire” is an example of that decision.

The metal elements are still there, particularly the tone of Chris DeGarmo’s guitar and the high, symphonic voice of Geoff Tate.  The arrangements of the song are also very classically metal; riff driven, and ultimately melodic.

However, on empire the power of their Power Metal is tamed down, with more than a few quieter tracks, culminating in the middle of the album with the downright sedate “Silent Lucidity.” This song soared the charts in its day as it crossed over into the mainstream, and yet through some strange magic, didn’t lose the affection of metal heads.  It helps when a song is this pretty.  It begins with just a little isolated guitar picking, and if it weren’t for that ambient synthesizer to give the thing depth you’d think it was a Simon and Garfunkel remake (more on that later, though).

Even on more rockin’ tracks, like “Another Rainy Night (Without You)” the song really only kicks into gear for the hook and chorus.  The rest of the song is more ambient and moody than rock-driven.  In some ways it reminds me of a throwback sound to bands like Deep Purple, but it is clear the band is trying to add a lot of modern elements as well.  It mostly works from a production standpoint.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find the songs consistently memorable.  They are solid enough rock songs, but as Sheila correctly pointed out when she heard it earlier tonight on our drive home from the gym, it could be almost any generic hard rock act.  Worse, in places it sounds a bit too much like Def Leppard and other ‘tinsel’ acts.  I’m over most of the foolish musical snobbery of my youth – note that I praised U2 earlier – but if the sound ever approaches tinsel it loses me.

Also, while I admire the band’s willingness to experiment, it also means that the record lacks a bit of focus, and although the original record is only eleven songs, it seems to drag in places.

This particular CD drags a lot, being that it is the digitally remastered version and they’ve added three bonus tracks bringing the total music to around 70 minutes.  I actually didn’t mind one of these tracks, the semi-humorous “Last Time in Paris” which is the recounting of a gig gone wrong.  It’s “Lost in Translation” meets “Hard Day’s Night” with power chords.

Returning to Simon and Garfunkel, Queensryche another bonus track takes a run at re-imagining the folk classic “Scarborough Fair.”  This is a lot stranger than the gig in Paris.  The whole song is sung at the low end of Tate’s range, and the effect is to take away his greatest attribute (his high range) and replace it with a vocal that sounds like a kid trying to speak in a deep voice.  At one point in the middle of the song, they add in some heavy metal guitar and a bass-line that is reminiscent of Tool in its splendor, but as soon as they discover it they retreat back into the strange plodding measure the song begins with.  Queensryche just can’t resist trying to do a little bit more.  The result is that a promising idea just can’t get started long enough to draw you in.

Overall, I admire this record and I can see why it is beloved by a lot of fans.  It is at least three stars in terms of the quality of both the writing and the musicianship.  However, I have to be honest with my own reaction to it, which is a decidedly offhand shoulder shrug.  It isn’t enough to admire a band being brave; I also have to like what results, and for me “Empire” is simply OK.  If you like it more than that, I couldn’t fault you, but you’ll have to get your own blog to read about it.

Best tracks:  Best I Can, Jet City Woman, Another Rainy Night (Without You), Silent Lucidity and (from the bonus tracks) Last Time in Paris.