‘The Verdict’ Century Media Records 2019 Progressive Metal
It has been just shy of four years since Queensrÿrche released their ‘Condition Hüman’ album, which although good, fell short of the 2013’s self-titled album which heralded a huge return to form for the Seattle metal band under the vocal helm of Todd LaTorre following the departure of the iconic Geoff Tate. This year see’s Queensrÿrche return with their latest album ‘The Verdict’, but does it capture the magic that their eponymous album did?
The answer is yes, the time away from the band seems to have done them the world of good and although ‘Condition Hüman’ was a worthy successor, it did have elements of a band going through the motions, yet with ‘The Verdict’ Queensrÿrche are reinvigorated, the fire has been relit and contains some of their best song writing for the best part of a decade. LaTorre delivers a superb vocal performance, but that is not the vocalists only talents and ‘The Verdict’ shows that LaTorre’s vocal prowess can easily be matched by his skills as a drummer, writing and performing the drum parts himself.
Although ‘The Verdict’ is a far-cry from the golden age of Queensrÿrche in the 80’s, there are tracks here that are fantastic, ‘Blood Of The Levant’, ‘Propaganda Fashion’ and ‘Dark Reverie’ are some of the band’s best work with LaTorre as his voice soars elegantly throughout the album, giving memories of Queensrÿrche in their prime. However, yes, LaTorre does sound like Geoff Tate, there is no denying that, but LaTorre is more than bedded in now with Queensrÿrche and during ‘The Verdict’ the frontman has now found his own way of delivering his excellent lyrics from the angry ‘Blood Of The Levant’ and ‘Man The Machine’ to the beautifully sombre ‘Portrait’ or ‘Bent’, there is something here to appeal to every Queensrÿrche fan. ‘The Verdict’ is a strong album that continues to show that a post-Tate Queensrÿrche cannot just endure and survive, but also grow and blossom by delivering the goods once more with ‘The Verdict’ demonstrating that Queensrÿrche truly are in another golden age of their career.
92/100 Adam McCann
Queensrÿche
‘The Warning’ EMI/Capitol Records 1984 Progressive Metal
Back in 1984, a young, small and hungry band from Seattle was infusing heavy metal with progressive rock influences. Within the year, this band would be joining the ranks of Fate’s Warning and Savatage in this budding genre. That band would be Queensrÿche, a band that would go on to creature such progressive metal genre defining masterpieces as the seminal ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ and ‘Empire’. But before that, Queensrÿche would cut their teeth with their debut album ‘The Warning’. Fronted by the unique and instantly recognisable voice of Geoff Tate, Queensrÿche had already achieved some success on the back of their self-titled EP, but it was ‘The Warning’ which paved the way for the band to expand the music that it had been honing within the trenches of small venues.
Unfortunately for Queensrÿche, the production for ‘The Warning’ was taken out of the hands of the band and thus it was mixed according to how the record company thought it should sound. However, this is not exactly a bad issue, in hindsight, ‘The Warning’ does not sound as bad as the band was initially disappointed with. Furthermore, it does showcase the youthful pipes of Tate and exactly what the vocalist is perfectly capable of, hitting notes that at times, only dogs can hear, all backed up with exquisite supporting vocals courtesy of Chris DeGarmo, Michael Wilton and Eddie Jackson.
One of the best points of ‘The Warning’ is the ability to see exactly where Queensrÿche were heading, tracks such as ‘Deliverance’, ‘No Sanctuary’ and the hit single ‘Take Hold of the Flame’ laid the foundations for what would become ‘Operation: Mindcrime’, whereas the superb and best track on the album ‘NM 156’ could easily slide in alongside songs on ‘Empire’ with its exceptionally catchy odd-time signature verses. However, to compare ‘The Warning’ to two heavy metal masterpieces debases both albums and ‘The Warning’ is not without faults, the second half of the album falls particularly flat, whilst the ten minute ‘Road to Madness’ fails to make an impact and it would not be missed on the album had it not been there. Because of this, it is tracks such as ‘En Force’ which hold this album together and provide a clear picture of where Queensrÿche were heading as a band.
Overall, it is often seen that it is equally as difficult to explore the band prior to their success as it is to explore their work in the 90’s and 2000’s. But what ‘The Warning’ shows is a young band that is under no obligations to anyone else but themselves, they are playing the music that they want to and because of this, ‘The Warning’ is thoroughly enjoyable. 72/100 Adam McCann
Quiet Riot
Metal Health
Epic Records 1983
Bang Your Head!
Often assumed to be the debut album by Quiet Riot, ‘Metal Health’ is actually the bands third studio album with their previous two albums having only been available in Japan. After the death of Randy Rhoads, Quiet Riot returned to the studio to record ‘Thunderbird’ and eventually came out with what would be ‘Metal Health’.
‘Metal Health’ took 1983 by storm with a cover of Slade’s ‘Cum on Feel the Noize’ equalling, if not surpassing the original, alongside a re-recorded version of ‘Slick Black Cadillac’ from their ‘QR II’ album and the instantly infectious title track, ‘Metal Health’ found itself placed in heavy metal history.
The album would find the band at their pinnacle, it was a rough ride up to the plateau and for Quiet Riot, it would also be a horrible descent. However, it wasn’t just the singles from ‘Metal Health’ which cemented its reputation, the fantastic vocals of Kevin DuBrow in ‘Breathless’, ‘Thunderbird’ and ‘Life’s A Bitch’ show the excellent dynamics which existed below the singles and makes the album just as strong.
One thing to mention about ‘Metal Health’ is that although Randy Rhoads is often held in high regard with Quiet Riot, it is his replacement in Carlos Cavazo which provides the shredding background for this commercial peak with Cavazo’s playing being utterly sublime, especially during the Sunset Strip style romp of ‘Run For Cover’.
With ‘Metal Health’, Quiet Riot helped refine the L.A. sound and released an album which when nearly 40 years on, still stands up to the test of time and sounds as fresh as it did in 1983.
87/100
Adam McCann
Bang Your Head (Metal Health); Quiet Riot, 'Metal Health', 1983; Epic Records