Queensrÿche Albums Ranked.

Hate list features? Feel free to skip this article and others in this series.

Here I’ll be ranking the albums by certain bands in order from Best (actually my subjective favourite) to worst/least good (subjectively, in my opinion). Number 1 is obviously the best. The lowest number is my least favourite.

Queensrÿche:

01. Operation: Mindcrime (1988) – An album so good they have released a live album of it in its entirety not once, but twice, with an additional third version as a bonus live album with the anniversary edition. This is the one you see in all the magazines, all the best metal albums lists, all the website countdowns, and with good reason. Not overrated, this one actually lives up to the reputation. Man do I love this record. I keep a framed vinyl copy on my wall as decoration. A concept album that doesn’t sacrifice good structure, and brilliant music just for the story, while also not going too far the other way and just sounding like a disconnected bunch of random tunes that you can only tell is a story because you’re told so. No, this is concept album perfection. Musically, it is also perfection, a brilliant melding of Hard ‘80s Rock, Metal, little touches of Prog without getting overblown, staggering lead guitar work, memorable drumming, utterly world class singing from one of the world’s best Metal singers back in his prime, and an expansive production job too. Masterpiece. I have such fond memories of discovering this. I can still remember in vivid detail the bus ride into Oxford to get it, in the basement part of the HMV where the Metal, Prog and other non-pop music was kept, and the staff who always had the music up waaaay to high.

Standout tunes include: “The Needle Lies,” “Revolution Calling,” “Spreading The Disease” & “Suite Sister Mary.”  

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02. The Warning + Self-Titled EP (1984 + 1983) – Although Mindcrime is the better record, when I think of Queensryche, the thing that comes into my mind, is the first 30 seconds of the title track to Warning, that vocal on its own ringing out, which then crashes into a metallic but rocky riff, and those brilliant, awkward, impressive drums. Mindcrime impressed me and I knew it was a great record, but Warning and the EP were what made me really fall in love with them. There was a period in my life when I was getting really physically fit and I used to always go for long walks, and my go to record at the time was Warning, (or both Warning and The EP together). When I went to see the band live, songs from this were some of the ones that made me smile the most and sing along the hardest. On their Live Evolution DVD, the songs from this era are my favourite section of that DVD’s era-by-era style setlist. As the music here is earlier, there is a bit more influence on the sleeve, it is a bit more of its time (and as such, it is incredibly charming and makes the fuzzy metalhead spot in my heart buzz every time I hear it). The EP is great because it is a short, sharp, filler free blast that covers a range of styles and gives a brilliant first impression, and the album is great because it takes everything the EP did and expands it, fleshes it out and gives you more. They’re both so perfect in their own way that I find it hard to rank one above the other, hence the joint number 2 slot. Standout tracks include: “Warning,” “En Force,” “NM 156,” “Roads To Madness” and “The Lady Wore Black.”

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03. Rage For Order (1986) – This one took me a while to get into. I mean, I loved “Walk In The Shadows” the first time I heard it, I’m not a savage, but with the moody atmospheric tracks and semi-ballads, not to mention the weird cover song, and all the stuff in the CD’s linear notes about how the fans were turned off by their make up and fashion choices in this era, I don’t know, it just wasn’t as instant love at first listen as the other records. However, once I got into it, I really enjoy what they did here, it is a very clever sequel to the debut album, and shows that the band are no one trick pony. It really highlights their adventurous side, and is probably a bit more progressive than even Mindcrime although Queensryche always do it in a subtle way, it isn’t just writing 20 minute songs with lots of keyboard solos and ‘70s worship, they actually progress their metal by taking distinct and new approaches to it, (rather than actually regress to the golden age of Prog). Of the first five Queensryche albums, this is probably the most diverse, and the weird robotic production sound also makes it have this perfect oppressive atmosphere that suits the lyrical content. I’ve read a lot that this is a very “textured” album, and I think that is as good an explanation as any.

Standout tracks include: “Surgical Strike,” “Neue Regel,” “Screaming In Digital” & “Chemical Youth (We Are Rebellion).”

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04. Empire (1990) – The band’s biggest selling and most successful record, Empire is perhaps most famous for the big hit single “Silent Lucidity” which feels like the second coming of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” (in a good way, not a derivative way). That song was so good, but also so easy on the ear, that I had it playing at my wedding while we cut the cake, and none of the relatives realised they were listening to a metal band. I know its not a love ballad lyrically, but it has that sort of sound musically at times, its not exactly “Queen Of The Reich” and so won’t scare off the elderly grandmas, aunts and uncles at the party. Mega hit aside; there is a lot more to the album, from the commercial Hard Rock bangers, to the moody emotional moments, to dark metallic tracks with political or socially conscious themes. There is a smattering of keyboards and an even bigger production than Mindcrime. Everything here is dialled up, the vocals, the guitar solos, the drum fills. It all just has so much “umph.” This album deserves its success.

Standout tracks include: “Empire,” “Jet City Woman,” “Silent Lucidity” & “Resistance.”

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05. Self-Titled Album (2013) – After a year or two of nasty mudslinging in the media, the infamous spitting and knife-threat incidents, long time singer Geoff Tate was out, and after a brief period of being called Rising West, Queensryche were back, this time with new singer Todd La Torre at the microphone. After a few of their least well received albums in a row, where Tate had allegedly been in control and stifled contributions from the other members, the rest of the band were ready to show off. This is a revitalised, refocused, reenergised album from a band re-evaluating their legacy and direction, and remembering what made them so good in the first place. Honestly, I almost had this album even higher in the list, but I’d fear being lynched if it was in front of any of the first four albums (being above the fifth album is still heresy enough!). Not unlike the EP, this album is short, sweet, succinct and shows off everything the new line-up would go on to do on the next albums here in one near-perfect little package. Take away the two intro tracks “X2” and “Midnight Lullabye” and it is just nine songs clocking in at just over half an hour. Every song has a unique flavour, every performance is noteworthy, there’s basically no fat on the bones. Next to the aforementioned Warning/EP era tracks, the parts of the live show I loved the most when I got to see them were tracks from this. When Todd sang “As Goooooood as my witness” both live and hearing it on record for the first time, it was straight up chills-in-the-spine stuff! When I make Queensryche playlists now, most of this record finds its way on there. When I fantasise about seeing them live again, it is always songs from this that I picture. I can still see Todd’s gesturing and facial expressions from that show in my mind’s eye every time I listen to the album.

Standout tracks include: “Where Dreams Go To Die,” “Redemption,” “Fallout” & “Vindication.”

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06. Promised Land (1994) – Less metallic than the previous albums, and more of a slow burn, Promised Land is one of the band’s proggier, more experimental records. I guess the financial success of Empire allowed the band a bit more creative freedom and confidence to just do what felt right at the time. There is a sense of freedom and exploration here, a sort of “anything goes” atmosphere. A lot of the things that characterise the band’s later work make their first appearance here, like touches of alternative, saxophone, a greater focus on hypnotic moods than in the face power, lower pitched vocals. In short, nobody is going to mistake any song on here for Judas Priest, I’ll tell you that much! However; While this album may have introduced some of the things that lead to Metal fans not liking their mid-late-90s/00s material, the delivery and songwriting is just so good here that it will really win you over if you give it the chance. What makes this album stylistically different from any of the albums that preceded it, is exactly what makes it such a rewarding and captivating listen, especially if you are in the right mood/headspace. Catch me on the right day and this may even be anywhere from one to three places higher in my rankings. Yes, it has some of the style that turns Metal fans off their post-’80s output, but the song writing is better, the mood is more interesting, the guitar work is more impressive, the emotion is more genuine, the saxophone is less intrusive and the Alternative feel is more natural than on any of the subsequent late-Tate-era albums that would follow. This is how it could and should be done.

Standout tracks include: “My Global Mind,” “Real World,” “I Am I” & “Bridge.”

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07. The Verdict (2019) – At the time of writing, this is the Rycher’s newest record, and boy is it a strong one. Ok, it isn’t as much of a revelation as the self-titled, and it doesn’t have all the media hype swirling around it, nor did I get to see them live on this cycle so don’t have all the personalised memories about it, and it is about 15 minutes longer so it is less succinct too, but I’d still say it is near as good. The main talking point about this record at the time was that long time drummer Scott Rockenfield was on paternity leave, so drums were handled by singer Todd La Torre instead. He does a good job making it feel like Queensryche (although I am an utter mark for Scott so I’d also say there is no real chance of being exactly right). Apart from Scott being on leave; the new line up was relatively stable, the new formula was established, the band had toured enough together to figure out what works and what could change, and turned in another superb set of songs. I feel like maybe this album doesn’t get as much praise as it deserves as it is kind of another version of the last two records, whereas Queensryche fans are used to massive leaps and changes all the time. This one was more like business as usual. But it’s a hell of business, and I’m glad they’re sticking with it and perfecting it rather than abandoning it too quickly without writing this set of songs.

Standout tracks include: “Launder The Conscience,” “Man The Machine,” “Bent” & “Propaganda Fashion.”

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08. Condition Human (2015) – I guess the band might have got a bit of criticism from reviewers about the self-titled being a bit short (I personally liked that about it; I’d call a succinct but great set of songs better value for money that a long album with some lesser tracks tacked on for padding) because this album is about 20 minutes longer than the previous one. Apart from the brilliant lead single “Arrow Of Time” which is just an all out rager and clearly meant to evoke feelings of being the modern day equivalent of “Queen Of The Reich” as their short fast bruiser, this album sees the band try and solidify and define their sound. The previous album was a no-two-songs-alike kind of affair and this record sees the band try and take all those ingredients and combine them together in various ways to make a more cohesive whole. What it lacks in impact, it makes up for in craft.  Easily half this album would make it into any ‘Ryche playlist or fantasy live set of mine, and just because I like the other Todd albums a bit more, doesn’t mean it isn’t one heck of a record.  

Standout tracks include: “Arrow Of Time,” “Selfish Lives,” “Hellfire” & “Bullet Proof.”

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09. Tribe (2003) – Now we get to the more controversial period of the band’s history. This album came out when the band’s fanbase was shrinking, when Geoff was taking a bigger part in the song-writing, when Chris was out of the band (save guest appearances) and when the media cared less about the band in general. Some people dismiss this whole period entirely. Nowadays the band don’t play anything from this period live at all, and many amazon reviewers may urge you to steer away from this period altogether. Not me though, apart from Chris (and on this album he still makes an appearance) the rest of the band are still the same great musicians/singer as on all the classic albums, and if you are the kind of person who listens to Nu Metal, Grunge or Alternative Rock anyway, the flavours won’t be too off-putting. Queenryche were never exactly Possessed or Morbid Saint anyway, and you can’t expect them to be all metal, all the time. Of all the late-Tate period record, Tribe is my favourite. Whereas the two records before this were a bit too samey and lacking in the song writing department, Tribe really feels like the true sequel to Promised Land (hey even then album art is a bit similar). This album still has a lot of the energy, inspiration and passion that the best albums had and the least favourable albums lacked. If you keep an open mind, there are simply some very strong songs here. The drumming is particularly impactful at times, and Tate’s vocals are explorative and diverse. Don’t miss out on this one just because the common consensus dismisses everything between 1997-2013.

Standout tracks include: “The Art Of Life,” “Rhythm Of Hope,” “Great Divide” & “Tribe.”

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10. Operation: Mindcrime 2 (2006) – Well, how many late career concept album sequels do you know that people like better than the original? Are King Diamond fans more inclined to listen to Abigail 2 than Abigail? Do most Jethro Tull fans prefer Tick As A Brick 2 to the original? No, creating a sequel to a beloved album from your early days is almost never met with universal acclaim, it is an almost guaranteed instant backlash-generator that draws unfavourable comparison with your best work and creative halcyon days, rather than where you are up to lately, and it can almost never stand on its own without the built in criticism that it fails to live up to its predecessor (and also draws out a very vocal minority of haters who claim you are making a cash grab and spitting on your legacy).
Mindcrime 2 is no exception. Go online, have a few cursory searches, and you will most likely be met with a pretty red hot stream of hate for this record. I don’t think its that bad, I quite like a lot of it actually. Now, as you can tell by my rankings, it is not close to the original… but it is also not in the bottom third either. There’s a lot of good things going for this album, the production is strong, the concept helps inject some interesting drama into the lyrics, there’s a guest vocal from the late great Ronnie James Dio, and the bass gets to be the star a lot of the time. There are certainly some positives going for the record to be sure.

Now for the negatives; first of all, it is just too long, 17 songs is just too many to hold the listener’s interest when you aren’t in your prime anymore. Secondly, it is pretty front loaded, and all of the best material is over by track 11 and 12, which makes the conclusion to the story hard to follow for me as my mind tunes out over the final six songs. Thirdly, and perhaps worst of all the record sacrifices structure, cohesion and a band-feel in favour of serving the concept (the opposite of what made the first Mindcrime so great), in places this feels a bit more like a musical than a killer album, and much of it works as a whole, but little of it stands up on its own. Of all the albums in the list so far, while I do still like it and respect the attempt, this one is the one I would want to see the least from live, or expect to see the least from on a compilation, or that I put the least from (percentage wise and just straight up numerically) into any playlist. If you are not a devoted fan, you would probably be better off skipping this one unfortunately. It is not as bad as everyone says, not even close, but it is missing something, in need of an editor and definitely not the first Queensryche album you should try out if you are a new fan.

Standout tracks include: “I’m American,” “Murderer?,” “Hostage” & “The Change.”

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11. Hear In The Now Frontier (1997) – Now we are really getting to the material I like the least. I find myself listening to the following albums the least. I hesitate to call them bad, but when your other material is as good as Queenryche’s best material, this does sort of pale in comparison. As I’ve shown in my Tribe and Promised Land comments, I still like when the band do less metallic and more alternative music, the issue with this album is not the stylistic direction, and Chris DeGarmo is still here, so it isn’t the lack of Chris (which people tend to attribute the cause of band’s later work not being as good to), its just that it is a bit samey, forgettable and basically not captivating. There is no single song I can single out and go “This is bad” about, I just don’t remember most of it later. Since Queensryche have written some of the most memorable songs I’ve ever heard on my whole life on other albums, “Not actually bad, but just forgettable” may be a pretty damning form of faint praise even if I am trying to be nice about it.   

Standout tracks include: “Spool,” “Hit The Black,” & “Sign Of The Times.” (The bonus track “Chasing Blue Sky” is arguably better than anything on the record though).

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12. American Soldier (2009) – This album deserves an A for the idea, A for effort, but maybe something lower for the execution. It is very well designed with an elaborate concept about how being a soldier can effect someone (and their family) mentally, physically, emotionally and socially. It was designed by visiting veterans and hearing their stories. A whole lot of care and attention went into the planning, concept and lyrics. I really respect what Tate was trying to do here. Just a shame about the music. Again, there’s nothing wrong with it, there’s no “yuck, what a disaster” moment (well, some people say Geoff doing a duet with his daughter is that moment, but I liked the spirit of that), but again, most of it is totally forgettable, samey and interchangeable. I think this is one of the controversial ones where Tate and management allegedly stifled the rest of the band from being energetic, proggy, metallic or in any way impressive, in favour of safe, bland, beige radio rock. If that is indeed the case, you can really tell. If not, the music certainly gives creedance to the rumor.

Its all as my dad would  say, “much of a muchness,” but just to finish out my formula, the closest thing to standout tracks include: “Hundred Mile State,” “Middle Of Hell,” & “Man Down!”

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13. Frequency Unknown (2013) – At the time of this album, Geoff Tate released an album under the name Queensryche, but it was a bit of a Chinese Democracy situation with most of the key members missing, several line up changes around the release, different members on record to live, and the other key members in a different band with a new singer (Velvet Revolver in this weak analogy). Unlike Chinese Democracy though, it was infamously rushed out quickly. Some people, due to the ugly things said in the media got very divisive and chose one side or the other. I was a bit too impartial and gave them both a fair shake, but lets be honest, one of the two Queenrcyhe albums from 2013 is near the top of my list, and one is near the bottom. A lot of people complain about the production, to the point it was rereleased later with better production, but to be honest it isn’t all that egregious. A lot of people hate the stylistic direction, but other bands have done this kind of thing fine. Some people say it is utterly unlistenable but I think that is a bit harsh; it is better than some things the band or Geoff solo have released. The only real flaw here, is that a lot of the songs could be better. I mean, you’d really think an album with Chris Poland, Paul Bostaph, KK Downing and Rudy Sarso on it would be much better. It just isn’t good enough.

Standout tracks include: “The Weight Of The World,” “Running Backwards,” & “Cold.”

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14. Q2K (1999) – Sometimes I feel a bit defensive about this album. “Hey, its not that bad” I always seem to find myself thinking. However, when it comes down to it, when I go listen to a Queensryche album, it is not this one. I think everything I said about Hear In The Now Frontier also applies here too, except the material is even blander and even more forgettable. I guess it doesn’t help that for the first time, I don’t particularly dig this musical direction, it is a bit too U2 for my own personal tastes, but usually I can get into any stylistic change if the songs are good enough. I guess barring a few standouts, they just perhaps weren’t good enough this time. I want to like it more than I actually seem to.

Standout tracks include: “Liquid Sky,” “The Right Side Of My Mind,” & “Breakdown.”

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15. Dedicated To Chaos (2011) – I like to try and say that Queensryche have no bad albums. I try to say that even when I like one album better that just means the one is better not that the other one is worse. I try to say that when they try a new style, that its all valid and that they are good to try new things, and that it is impressive they don’t just repeat themselves. I try to defend thier less popular work and I try to tell people to keep an open mind, that they always make something worth listening to in the end. The one album where this all falls apart though is Dedicated To Chaos, I just do not like it. I just can’t think of anything nice to say about it. As my mother always said, when you can’t think of something nice to say, its probably best to blog another few paragraphs about it to explain yourself…

I think it may simply be a genuinely bad album, and I almost never say that. I remember being in a band, and how much work it is to write, record, and play material live on even an amateur level, and can extrapolate how much harder that must be for the professionals. I don’t like to make light of people’s hard work and effort but this is just a bad album, plain and simple, no getting around it. I remember reviews at the time comparing this to Rage For Order, but all I can think of is that they must have been listening to a different record, this sounds and feels about as much like Rage For Order as Lulu feels like Ride The Lightning.

I don’t want to drag this out any more than I have to, so that’s all I’ll say on the matter. I won’t do multiple standout tracks for this, because there’s none I’d want to see live, add to a greatest hits compilation, or even discuss enthusiastically on a blog. I recon the only song I really like is “At The Edge” but even then, they’ve done variations on that kind of thing better already on American Soldier, Operation Mindcrime 2, and even Frequency Unknown.

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If you were to use this list as a buyer’s guide, 1-6 are utter must haves, 7-9 are next up once you’ve got into the band, 10-14 are optional if you are obsessed with the band and have already bought all the best stuff, and 15 is really only for the most ardent collectors.

Queensrÿche – The Verdict Review

Queensrÿche have been on a hell of a hot streak since they got former Crimson Glory frontman Todd La Torre in and started a band called Rising West, playing material from Queensrÿche’s first EP and first 4 albums, following the departure of their long time legendary singer Geoff Tate.

When they changed their name from Rising West back to Queensrÿche, and released their self-titled album in 2013, (with great tracks like ‘Where Dreams Go To Die,’ ‘Redemption’ and ‘Vindication’), it was an utterly excellent batch of material and the ensuing live shows saw the band energised and revitalised in one of the best late-career renaissances in the history of Metal (up there with the likes of Kreator and Accept for later-year triumphs). The following album Condition Human was a strong follow-up that kept up the quality.

As you can imagine, their third album since this revitalisation, 2019’s The Verdict, is my most anticipated album of this year. When they dropped the pre-release tracks, such as ‘Man The Machine,’ ‘Dark Revierie’ and ‘Blood Of The Levant’ it was every bit as good, if not better, than Condition Human’s pre-release tracks like the excellent ‘Arrow Of Time’ and ‘Hellfire.’

With all these expectations I had built up in my head, I was fearful I had built it up too much and set myself up for disappointment.

After having listened to it both via streaming while I waited for the postman, and on CD repeatedly after delivery, I am happy to inform you that not only is it not a disappointment, but rather it is the best Toddryche album to date. Arguably the band’s best album in a very long time at all, Todd or no Todd.

Even from myself, who doesn’t dislike any Queensrÿche album, (even the controversial ones), this ranks easily in the top half of their discography, top quarter even! I hate statements like “it’s the band’s best album since…’’ but in this case, it really feels true.

The production, (once again by ‘Zeuss’) is brilliant. All instruments are clear and distinct, you can hear the bass at all times, you can separate each guitar from each-other and the drums sound fat and powerful. Speaking of drums; Now that singer Todd La Torre is also playing drums this time around as well as his singing duties while classic drummer Scott Rockenfield is on paternity leave, you also get some drum styles you don’t usually hear on a Queensrÿche album. (Have a quick listen to ‘Launder The Conscience’ and ‘Light Years’ and listen to the beats to see what I mean).

The press prior to this saw Whip telling everyone that this was their heaviest and most progressive album in a while. Usually statements like that are always wrong. Strangely though, again, in this case, it really feels true.

There are some nice heavy moments on here; such as the aforementioned pre-released tracks, ‘Man The Machine and ‘Blood Of The Levant’ as well the very crunchy ‘Inner Unrest’ amonst others, and furthermore, there are some great proggy moments; such as ‘Bent,’ ‘Portrait’ and ‘Inside Out.’ There’s moments that recall the middle-eastern vibes of their American Soldier and Tribe albums, there’s some of the bass-driven textured stuff like their underrated Operation Mindcrime 2 album, and there’s some of the trippy expansive stuff reminiscent of their Promised Land album.

As well as the heavy and proggy stuff, there is just loads of great, catchy, accessible Hard Rock meets Heavy Metal material that has been the core thing tying all of the band’s albums together to date. You can hear bits that sound like the last two albums, like calssic material such as Rage For Order and all sorts of new things as well.

There’s so much great bass guitar parts and lots of space for Todd to show off his impressive vocal range. Album upon album he pushes it further, showing off more and more styles and becoming more of his own thing and moving away from the Geoff Tate style, but still staying close enough that it always sounds quintessentially Queensrÿche. (Take that vocal style and mix it with those really distinctive guitar leads, and you’ve got Queensrÿche in a bottle.)

Overall; its yet another strong Queensrÿche album, but more than that, it is an interesting album, with a strong production, a great range of material, and some of their honestly best material in years, even if they have already been on a very strong run.

Queensrÿche – Condition Hüman Review

Queensrÿche – Condition Hüman

With their previous album, the self-titled one, American Progressive Metal band Queensrÿche had the eyes of the world on them due to the much publicized split with Geoff Tate and the existence of two competing Queensrÿches. There was the intrigue of a new singer, and the “they’ve gone back to their Metal roots” tagline to get everyone’s attention. Luckily, It was a brilliant album, but people would’ve been paying attention anyway. In 2015, with all the dust settled, and no more special taglines, the band have to sink or swim solely on the merits of the music.

Like their previous self-titled effort, Condition Hüman was crowdfunded, and if like me you pledged I’m sure you’ll already be very familiar with the first three tracks which the band let you download while you waited for the full album to be released. As it turns out, these three tracks are actually a pretty fair cross-section of the album proper and display the different moods explored on the record quite adequately. Opening with ‘Arrow Of Time’ which is now firmly in the band’s live setlists, the band show off their Heavy Metal roots, going for a “remember, we wrote ‘Queen Of The Ryche’ and ‘The Needle Lies’ too you know!” sort of feel. Promotional single ‘Guardian’ is next which I would say is the average sound of the album overall, so go out and listen to the song and watch the video because I think it is a pretty clear indication of what you can expect from the band nowadays. Then comes the slower, darker, less conventional ‘Hellfire’ which explores the progressive side of the band – never going so far as to have a 7-minute keyboard solo or songs about flowers developing split personalities in space, but certainly finds the Seattle group putting more thought into structuring, dynamics and unusual ideas than your average bread and butter Heavy Metal bands would. It wouldn’t feel too out of place on Promised Land beside ‘Damaged’ or even Hear In The Now Frontier beside ‘Hit The Black’ at a push but there’s a more modern feel too it… making it feel more like a logical successor to the type of music the band were writing on Operation Mindcrime II (an underrated album in my opinion).

The band do explore more of their overall discography on this one, which feels fair to me. It was unquestionably good to go back to the EP-Empire days, but it would also be a shame to outright ignore the best parts of what came afterwards and keep an artificial boundary in place forever. This album seems to be a reconciling of the previous Todd-fronted album with the post-Empire material to excellent effect; ‘Selfish Lies’ for example sounds at first like a bit the Tribe album, then goes a bit Empire-esque towards the end once the delicious album-highlight guitar solo comes in. ‘Eye9’ opens with a nice Tool-esque bassline and heavily processed vocals that reminds me of a mixture between ‘I Am I’ and ‘The Hostage’ from previous releases, but the song takes so many twists and turns in its duration it crosses all sorts of territory from American Soldier to Rage For Order, and when the (also album highlight) guitar solo came on for the first time it made my already high estimation of the song double or even triple (the lead guitar on this album is simply joyous!). Most surprising of all, ‘Just Us’ is an acoustic-flavoured, jangly Alternative Rock song that wouldn’t be out of place on either Hear In The Now Frontier or Q2K and even though the thought of that is off-putting to a lot of the fanbase, well, the rejuvenated band show us how good it can be, (and hey, when you’ve not got a full album of it, it works as a nice contrast) injecting an almost Houses Of The Holy feel into the proceedings and elevating it to something special.

The album lasts twelve tracks long, (with one of those just being an intro for the final song), and clocks in at 54 minutes, which is a lot more substantial than the trim and cheerful album which the Todd-lineup debuted with. Not only is it in the addition of more tracks that this extra length manifests itself, but the individual tracks themselves are all a little longer…the previous record’s tracks all lasted between two-and-a-half to four minutes in length and this album sees that average shift to something like between four and five, with the final track lasting almost eight. What you get for your extra invested time isn’t simple repetition or wasted time or filler… you get extra guitar solos, more thoughtful and sophisticated song writing and the ability to work in slower tempos alongside the fist-pumping Metal. You could make an argument that it isn’t as lean and focused, but you could also make the argument that there’s more depth.

Yes… my two favourite songs are predictably ‘Arrow Of Time’ and ‘All There Was,’ (which just happen to be the two most traditional songs on the record and the closest that the album comes to Speed Metal because I’m dreadfully predictable) but the band’s experimentation here is a profound success… with the record’s most progressive moment, the album-closing Title Track being not only one of the best songs on the album but one of the best songs the band have written in years and years, ending on an almost Voivod note and showing the guys still aren’t afraid to try new things.

All the background history and discography comparisons certainly get you to adjust your expectations, to guess what type of music might be here and get you interested in talking about it… but its all for nothing unfortunately, if the actual music is cack. Well, to put your mind at ease, it isn’t cack. Not by a long shot… stick on ‘Hourglass’ and just drink in those vocals, stick on one of the aforementioned guitar solos and bathe in the whip’s distinctive playing, pay close attention to the drum fills and hi-hat teasing from the unique and enjoyable Scott Rockenfield (in my opinion, one of the most important things in separating Queensrÿche from their peers). Yes, the musicianship is out of this world, with the same renewed passion and energy as the last album but more time to show off in! On top of that, the production job is better, with a more satisfying, less harsh sound and a clearer more balanced mix.

Overall; Condition Hüman was a surprise to me, but a really welcome one. I love the Todd line-up and I’ve loved their previous album so much that I still can’t stop listening to it ahead of numerous other classic releases, so when this record abandoned the formula slightly it could’ve been a bad move for this particular listener… but hey, the whole point of Queensrÿche was that they evolve between every album, never sounding the same twice. This album is not only another evolution, but a reaffirmation of everything that worked with every era of the band’s prestigious history, and its an album I’ll be listening to for a long time to come. Get yourself a copy without delay!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS Volume 68: Pain Of Salvation – The Perfect Element, Part 1

FIRST IMPRESSIONS Volume 68: Pain Of Salvation – The Perfect Element, Part 1 ”

Hello, and welcome to my Blog. Why is it called KingcrimsonBlog, the official Blog of Kingcrimsonprog?. Good question; It is called that, because I am called Kingcrimsonprog (or Gentlegiantprog) on most websites and forums. (You know, in the way you have to chose a name or “net-handle” when you register?). Back when this Blog was first devised, it was sort of a hub “digest” of all my various internet output, under one easy “roof.” So people could then tell that my things were not stolen from elsewhere on the internet, I kept my net-handle in the title. The name of my net-handle was simply chosen because I enjoy the Prog band King Crimson (and Gentle Giant) and is not in fact my real name.

I’ve been obsessing about music since about the year 2000. Over this time I’ve bought what must now be nearly 1,000 albums, and heard hundreds more through friends, relatives, streaming services and whatever else. I’ve also watched over a decade’s worth of music videos and heard countless individual songs on the radio, free covermounted CDs, websites and whatever else. All that, as well as read years and years worth of music magazines and websites.

I’m a nerd. Basically. Only, instead of Hentai or Manga, its Music that I obsess about. Lots of people are nerds and don’t even realize it. Sometimes its obvious; trainspotting, stamp collecting etc. Sometimes its less obvious due to presentation. Some (make that many) football fans’ depth of knowledge about players and transfer costs and club histories would make many tram-enthusiasts seem normal by comparison. The amount of information that some people know about Reality-TV celebrities and their sex-lives would easily overpower my knowledge of bands, or the most dedicated Gundamwing fan’s knowledge of Mechs.

But I don’t like Football or Reality TV or Trams or Warcraft. I like Heavy Metal music. That’s what this Blog is all about.

Welcome to my First Impressions series of articles too, incidentally. In this series I (or sometimes my friends, or readers) pick an album for each entry that I will listen to for the first time. I then write in depth about what I know about that album or the artist that created it and the genre and subgenre to which they belong, before describing the experience of listening to it in real time, in a sort of semi-stream-of-consciousness way intended for entertainment purposes. I also enjoy writing reviews of albums, but when I write reviews my goal is to be helpful and provide you with information with which to aide your decision about whether to try out an album or not. When I write a First Impressions article however my goal is purely to entertain the reader, explore how much I know about music and be my own psychiatrist in the process.

I may go into some very specific detail and assume you have heard everything I’ve ever heard and perceived everything in the manner I’ve perceived it, and call out very specific sections of music and draw comparisons between things that the casual listener may find completely unrelated. Don’t worry, most of these songs are on Youtube and most of the terminology is on Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary anyway, so if there’s anything that goes over your head, you can always get clarification in a second web-browser-tab (or ask about it in the comments).

According to the aim of the series, the albums are considered by the public and music critics knowledgeable about the subject to be Classic albums within Rock and Metal, or at least within their own Subgenres. Classic albums that I’ve somehow missed out on, despite my nerdly need to hear and understand almost every piece of recorded Metal music ever.

If you have an album that you’d like to read a KingcrimsonBlog First Impressions article about, please suggest it in the comments, I’m game, I’ll give anything a try.

So that’s the preamble out of the way, on to the article:

This is the sixty eighth-entry in the series. This time around I’ll be listening to the third full-length studio album, The Perfect Element Part 1, by the critically acclaimed Swedish Prog Metal band, Pain Of Salvation.

So. What’s my history with Prog-Metal then?

Well, you can pretty much piece that together by checking out my previous FI articles on the subject of Dream Theater , Queensryche , Savatage , Opeth , Anathema , Dream Theater again, and also things like my reviews of Riverside, as well as the reviews of modern Prog-slash-alternative bands (I’d like to start a new subgenre called Prolternative) such as Rishloo, Jurojin, Coheed & Cambria, Cog, Amplifier, Dead Letter Circus etc. Or the reviews of Queensryche once I’d gotten to know them.

[Side note: Looking back, I can’t believe I missed the opportunity to do a First Impressions article on Second Life Syndrome…what a waste.]

If you can’t be bothered to look through all of that stuff right now; I’ll try and condense it down a bit:

Since about 2005/2006 I’ve been a big fan of 1970s Prog (With a name like Kingcrimsonprog what do you expect?)

– For as long as that’s been going on, I’ve been told to check out Dream Theater.

– I got into a few Progressively-inclined modern bands around that same time (Mastodon, Tool and Coheed & Cambria being the main offenders, with others including The Mars Volta popping in and out of favour depending on my mood) and came to appreciate the progressive moments in the music I already liked, such as Iron Maiden and Metallica’s more inventive material.

– It started a trend in me of liking to figure out and discuss where each individual bit of a band’s sound comes from that situation endures to this day. I blog about it quite a lot.

– I tried out a band called Rishloo and became madly and fanatically in love with them. I like them almost too much.

– I tried out Dream Theater and it took a while for them to grow on me. Initially I wasn’t impressed and then slowly became won over.

– I tried out Queensryche and the same thing that happened with Rishloo, happened with them. I listen to and talk about them all the time.

– I tried out Opeth and it took a long while for them to grow on me, I still don’t own any of their music myself but am positively disposed towards them now. Not a giant fan, but nolonger in the dislike-them frame of mind.

– I tried out Porcupine Tree, Anathema and Riverside and liked them all, and am in the process of getting even more into each of them. Riverside are the favorite out of all the artists discussed so far.

– I find it interesting filing the bands in my brain differently. The ones from the 80s who started off as more traditional Heavy Metal or USPM such as Savatage and Queensryche, the ones who came out of a more Sludge basis such as Baroness and Mastodon, the Prolternative ones who don’t have a lot of Metal in their sound and share little in common with Maiden or Priest, the ones like Anathema and Porcupine Tree who take it even further in a mixture of Floydisms and Radiohead similarity that really step away from the Dream Theater template, the modern ones like Protest The Hero who are a bit of everything, and Djent bands that I haven’t listened to enough of yet. There’s also the ones who have their beginnings in Death such as Opeth and Death (and do Death “count” or are they more like Metallica, where they are Progressively-inclined but still part of their original genre?).

I love finding out how they all relate to one another. Hearing the parts on Queensryche’s album that make you understand the connection to Savatage and the other parts that make you understand the connection to Dream Theater. Hearing the bits of Dream Theater that go much closer to 70s prog like ELP and Pink Floyd and sound nothing like Savatage or Queensryche. Hearing a bit of Floyd-worship in Riverside and Porcupine Tree. Hearing Porcupine Tree’s Steve Wilson and Opeth’s Michael Akerfelt working on eachother’s records. Hearing parts of Protest The Hero that sound a bit like Coheed and other bits that sound a bit Djent. Hearing how much Tesseract’s singer reminds me of Rishloo. Hearing the similarities between Tesseract and Periphery. Hearing Dream Theater’s guitarist playing on the Periphery album.

Its interesting to compare something like Anathema’s “Wings Of God” to something like Coheed & Cambria’s “The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut.”

I then love hearing the bits in Helloween and Iced Earth that channel that early Queensryche sound with a completely different emphasis. I love hearing Stratovarius go really prog but never once sound like Queensryche for a second.

I like hearing when Queensryche went alternative-influenced, and then hearing the Prog bands who’s sound is originally based in alternative such as Tool and Cog.

I like seeing alternative bands like Soundgarden do things like difficult time-sigs, long song lengths and use additional instruments yet not be called prog. Tool are an alternative band with difficult time-sigs and long song lengths who do get called prog. Fun to ask yourself why? Are ‘Intolerance’ and ‘Rusty Cage’ really a billion, billion miles apart? Part of it is to do with marketing, part of it is to do with the band’s own perspective and what they say in interviews, and part of it is the consensus of the audience.

Is a band prog or not based on their own intentions, or on what we the listener think?

I like seeing alternative bands like Radiohead and Muse do things that are in turns subtly and obviously progressive and then seeing all the confusion and disagreement over whether or not you can call it prog and which of the different types of prog fans accept them, ignore them or outright boycott them.

I mean you look online and you can find prog fans who absolutely hate anything modern, love modern stuff but hate metal, love Prog Metal but hate anything old, and people from all of those groups that hate anything alternative.

Its just so damn interesting how it all connects and interacts and seeing where the lines are drawn and why.

– I’ve still got a lot more to learn. I’ve had a brief look at bands like Crimson Glory, Fates Warning and Blind Guardian and all are on my figurative “to-do-list.”

– Today, I’m crossing one more such band off of my to-do list, in the form of Pain Of Salvation. A highly acclaimed Swedish Prog Metal band, who always get mentioned in reviews about Riverside, and who have been described as some sort of less-cheesy Swedish Dream Theater. Seeing as I’ve been absolutely loving the Images And Words album this month and excitedly planning to get tickets to see Riverside in concert soon, they seem like a good band to investigate further. I got this album of theirs as a Christmas Present, hooray.

Apparently it’s a concept album (always a plus in my book. Even non-Prog bands can benefit from a concept album, such as the absolutely excellent Deep Blue by Parkway Drive) about two broken and dysfunctional individuals with a history of abuse and tragedy. Sounds interesting.

[Play]

The album opens up straight into some dramatic B-Movie sounding keyboards and rolling drums. It reminds me a lot of Mushroomhead. Wow. Wasn’t expecting that.

It then goes into a slow, dark, funk part that is incredibly similar to Faith No More. There’s a scream that reminds me of Roddy from Protest The Hero and then when the vocals kick in properly its slow creepy rapping again in the style of Mushroomhead, or Faith No More at their darkest. This wasn’t what I thought this band would sound like.

Then there’s a cool little staccato part where they repeat the phrase “Getting used to pain” over and over, with a cool syncopated double-kick and chug part that reminds me of this one part on Images And Words that I called out in that FI.

Then, after a very short run-through of that, this huge, hooky clean vocal interrupts and drags the song from the darkness into this shiny sort of Panic At The Disco/Fall Out Boy/Head Automatica sort of affair, with much more shimmery keys and I’m equally confused.

The dark funk comes back. The little squeaks that signal the end of each bar remind me of Mate Feed Kill Repeat, Korn’s debut and Angel Dust era Faith No More. Little guitar squeaks are an oft-overlooked calling card of Nu Metal. There were plenty on The Burning Red too. I wonder if there are lots on Roots? I haven’t listened to Roots in ages so I can’t remember.

Then they start mixing the chug stuff with the dark funk. Ok. I’m on board. Then “Getting Used To Pain” is re-delivered with a more pounding beat. Then that chorus comes back. Then as a post-chorus, the cool rolling part that was also the intro. Nice to have you back, sir.

Then out of nowhere. A glorious Riverside-sounding prog bit, with a very Camel-influenced guitar solo. Opeth fans would like this bit. Then it gets a bit more lift and a few Dream Theater style rays of sunshine get in there now and again. Oddly, some Geoff Tate influenced vocals come in over the top. Its like its trying to impress me. The Geoff vocals get left to hang at one point and turn into Mike Patton. The, the band introduce the “getting used to pain” line once more but in the form of backing vocals, lower in the mix and low pitched, but over the top of this glorious, soaring Riverside-style music and high pitched Patton-esque singing that’s getting really impressive at this point. It works really well. It transitions back to that opening Mushroomhead part with the rolling toms. Nice structuring. Do I detect a quick DJ-scratch?

Then some beautiful, clean, happy Keys that reminds me of Marillion’s “Kayleigh” come in as it starts to transition between this song and the next. You can’t sound like Marillion too, guys – that’s just cheating… leave some awesome for the other bands, you’re hogging it all.

“Used” turns into “In The Flesh” which is not, as you may expect on a prog album, a Pink Floyd cover, its actually an original. It starts off calmly; The drummer lets off a few little twiddles on the ride, building up slowly as a little guitar arpeggio keeps going off. Its very Marillion sounding. It then has this gorgeous little guitar part that sounds like its plucked with the thumb go off over the top of that and change the mood, that bit really reminds me of Camel or Yes. The bass follows the pattern. It sounds incredible.

When the vocals come in they really remind me of Marillion or Genesis. It starts building up tension. The way the building of tension works really reminds me of Second Life Syndrome by Riverside. There’s also something of Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Sky” to the tension-disrputing ‘So Fly Away Bit’ vocal line (but, then again, that also reminds me of Queensryche’s ‘Spool’ and ‘Chasing Blue Sky’ as well as Pearl Jam’s ‘Given To Fly’). This song sounds very different to the last one, except for the backing vocals, which remind me of Mike Patton and thus fit in with the previous track.

When it kicks off at last, its into this bouncy, piano driven part that really sounds like the halfway point between Camel and Riverside. That cool thumb thing plays in the background. The sweetness and colour in the keys reminds me of Distorted Harmony a lot.

Then it turns into this really, really gorgeous part. It is difficult to describe. It keeps accentuating particular bits with these brilliant notes and the whole shape of the section just makes my brain sing. It’s the bit where the lyrics are:

‘Sometimes the hands that feed
Must feed a mind with a sick need
And the hands that clutch can be
The same hands that touch too much
Eyes that hungrily stare
Read in an access that’s not there
While eyes close to hide tears
Or look away in fear
Run away!’

That whole bit is just magical. It then goes into that RiverCamel bit with more energy and extra guitar parts. The next time the lyrics come in, there’s this really cool key part underneath worth mentioning, and then it goes heavier, starting to really sound like Distorted Harmony and oddly I get a tiny hint of David Draimen in the vocals alongside the Patton sound.

Then it starts building up an atmosphere, with an increasingly tense part. The guitars are panned interestingly. The lead guy goes from Pantera style bends to Black Label Society style pinches to Dream Theater style running and then the music cuts off and this really emotional solo-vocal that reminds me of Marillion rings out. Dude’s got an incredible voice. Then a keyboard line in the shape of that bit I highlighted earlier, but with a gorgeous clean acoustic guitar lead over the top so the mood is completely different. The keys fade out and end.

Then to segue between that track and the next, there is a cool deep bassy part that sounds like a mixture of that bit of Marillion’s Misplaced Childhood where he sings about a spider and an obscure Scottish poet, with Mars Volta’s ‘Son Et Lumier’ intro.

‘Ashes’ starts. Its got a creepy baby’s mobile sound, (or the sound of a kid’s music-box), mimicked by the actual music, and then some Geoff Tate low vocals come in, with Camel-reminiscant bassy drones underneath. It reminds me a bit of both ‘Lady Fantasy’ and ‘Mystic Queen’ being mashed up with ‘The Lady Wore Black’ and then some electro drums come in and I’d also throw in some Mushroomhead in that mix too. There’s also something of a Pete Steel about it, in a way. When he starts a vocal accompaniment of husky whispers you think of Mike Patton too. Then it kicks off into its true form, and it has a fat wavy alternative rock guitar part. It reminds me of Porcupine Tree when that happens. When the song goes between the two a few time and ends, the guitar continues on in a broken little solo, that shambles along jazzily in a way that really reminds me of The Mars Volta. Rishloo also do it infrequently; most noticeably on ‘Downhill.’

Singer Daniel Gildenlow is something of a vocal chameleon. He has so many different styles. The band are similarly eclectic. Quiet an interesting band, really. I wasn’t expecting the Faith No More similarities. When people say to me ‘Check out “The Swedish Dream Theater” because they influenced Riverside so much,’ no part of that suggest to me that it will sound like Faith No More or Mushroomhead. Not that that’s a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all. Just a surprise.

‘Morning On Earth’ comes next. It opens up with that shape (or rhythm as its actually known) that I called out for attention from ‘In The Flesh’ delivered in that Marillion-esque way from the outro/seque into the next track. Cool. I like concept albums that actually have recurring themes and cleverly rework or reintroduce parts for artistic effect. “Theme And Variation” I believe its called.

I also caught the faintest hint of the opening guitar part from Roger Water’s ‘5.02am: The Pros and Cons Of Hitch-hiking’ hidden in there. Teased at. You guys know I love that part. Come on now guys, seriously.

Then it kicks off into this hazy, dreamy clean section that sounds like film score, mixed with ‘Fat Old Sun.’ The bit where he says ‘I’m Just A Child’ is really evocative.

Then he starts talk-singing and it really reminds me of Queensryche’s ‘Roads To Madness’ mixed with Misplaced Childhood era Marillion. The music underneath reminds me of Judgement era Anathema. Then that dreamy wafty part comes in, the strings that augment this bit remind me of floating on clouds. It’s a bit of a juxtaposition with the dark opener to have this really saccharine part here. It’s a cool song. There’s backing vocals that remind me of ‘Silent Lucidity.’ There’s lead guitar lines that remind me of ‘The Hound Of Blood And Rank.’ Good mix of things I like.

‘Idioglossia’ follows it up. It really makes me smile. Its got a squirming, shifty, part that reminds me of ADHD era Riverside with the bouncy, heavy, bombastic nature and impressive energetic drumming. This is what I thought they might sound like. I love it.

That part gets interrupted by a crazy bass line, which evolves into a fun gallop, a nice memorable double-kick part. Then this really interesting, driving and exciting part, that is like what would happen if you mixed Mushroomhead with Dimmu Borgir’s ‘Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse.’ When that bit ends, it turns into a Protest The Hero style ‘here’s a big bunch of notes’ bridge. This is a very good song.

Then its into a piano driven part with The Mars Volta’s shuffly drums and Anathema’s Cure-influenced attitude. Then Faith No More show up to the party. Then that dark gallop with the cool bass comes back. Then that driving bit. I love this song. Aaaah. That bit where he sings ‘Aaaanyone’ sounds so much like David Draimen its scary.

Then that shuffle-meets-Cure part comes back for longer, with a Camel influenced bass lead and a sweet whispy guitar solo. The vocals are incredible. It starts building tension along Riverside mechanics. Then a bouncy System Of A Down style drumbeat speeds it up, but the heavy thick keys stop it sounding out of place. Then thundering double-kicks and a guitar solo come in, speeding the whole thing up and driving out the bloody window. This is fucking incredible!

How better to end that, than by randomly jumping back to the two other two best bits from the song; that ADHD intro and the driving-bit only with extra fun drums and more intensity in the performance. They then manage to meld that bit together with the drums from the cool bass beat, it all starts layering over and over eachother, there’s different types of vocals panned all throughout your head, keys in every different part of your brain. It builds and builds until you barely know whats going on. It ends, just before your head explodes.

Damn! What a song!

‘Her Voices’ comes in next. The intro sounds like a mixture of 90s Anathema with ’99 Red Balloons Go By.’ Then it shifts into a sweeter part that reminds me of the more ballady tracks on the first two Genesis albums once Collins took over, like ‘Madman Moon,’ ‘Ripples’ or ‘Blood On The Rooftops.’ Its very emotional sounding. Their bassist is a damn genius. There are certain touches on the drums and keys that remind me of the better Dream Theater ballads.

Then these giant stabs come in, followed by cool slow drum fills.

Then back to the sweet part, only with bouncier drums. Ok. So we’re playing this game are we? The little guitar leads are incredible. So are the little key lines. There’s so much to listen to its hard to keep track. It’s the audio equivalent of watching Slipknot on stage. You don’t know where to look.

Then the big stabs. But transformed by slow doomy drums. And the inclusion of vocals. Then it kicks off into this cool build up with eastern influences and very skillful drumming. It reminds me a bit of early Soulfly because of that drum sound, but the music isn’t similar. It then goes through all sorts of cool ideas. Mars Volta and Riverside are the two bands it reminds me most of. Also King Crimson. Then a Flute comes in for the craic over the top and makes the Tull receptors in my brain light up. There are also guitar parts that really work along Melechesh lines. Then there’s like, a violin solo, with backing vocals that sound like Dave Gilmour.

This whole thing is just a massive tour of everything I like. Its hard to even point out all the things I like because the band seem to just tear through so many of them, and on each instrument, and its all panned around your brain so you’re getting different things pumped into your head at all angles, and you find yourself struggling to really absorb it all or even keep up, your mind being constantly delighted with new awesome parts, each of which are that both cool in-and-of themselves and that also reminds you of bands you already like. It delights the awesome-receptors and the recognition-receptors.

It ends by going back to the start, but playing it in this sad, acoustic style that sounds like dying cowboys. It has morphed into the next song, ‘Dedication’ which mixes that ‘Madman Moon’ stuff up, keeping the spirit the same, but delivering it in different ways. The vocals go through so many different styles. I absolutely love their drummer. The person who mixed the album deserves a lot of credit too, it dances around your skull magically. Definitely a “headphone” album.

You get these really beautiful little key parts that remind me of Camel and also the King Crimson ‘Peace’ trio, beside vocals that sound like the times where Matt Barlow of Iced Earth channels Geoff Tate, with drums that remind me of Anathema when they get lively, and then the themes from previous tracks coming in and out. Its masterful, masterful stuff. Actually captivating.

‘King Of Loss’ comes in next. Its getting difficult to come up with new ways of saying, the keys, guitars, bass, drums and vocals are all superb individually and each and every part they play is brilliant, reminds me of something cool and is cool anyway, sounds great when you concentrate on it, and works as part of a dense whole when you just concentrate on the song overall.

This album is a straight-up fucking masterpiece. No messing about, this thing is incredible. Every member is talented, tasteful and interesting. The band mix up so much of my favourite music and present it in combinations I haven’t heard it before.

This may seem contradictory, considering all the comparisons to other bands I’ve made so far, but these guys are really unique.

King Of Loss is a pretty incredible track. The guitar solos are absolutely incredible. The structure is great. The switching between light and shade is well done. The introduction of new parts, and then the return to the two main themes are really great. It’s a real “journey.” I can’t believe where it is on the record either come to think of it. On any normal record this would be the album closer.

‘Reconciliation’ blasts off. Its one of the best parts from one of the songs that have already played. But then it breaks down into this sort of mixture of ‘Jet City Woman’ and ‘Walk In The Shadows’ for quiet parts. It then throws in some Matt-Barlow-does-Tate vocals and even a hint of Draimen in a deep thwompy part. Then it does the softer Camel version of that awesome part. Then this powerful, exciting build-up part with this really great lead guitar. Then it kicks off again with loads of energy, great drumming and some cool emotional screaming and fades out as the drummer really starts laying into it.

If you want to know whether or not you’d like the album, listen to this song.

‘Song For The Innocent’ starts off like a pretty cheesy, saccharine ballad. It sort of reminds me of the cringy bit in Yes’ ‘Circus Of Heaven’ where the children starts talking, only good. Then it bursts into a cool, Comfortably Numb’s solo style bit with lots of passion and totally saves itself. Their guitarist really does his best to make me burst with happiness at this solo. I could see people saying it’s a bit too similar to Comfortably Numb’s if they were being dicks, but that’s a pretty awesome thing to be similar too.

The brief ‘Falling’ is next. Its also very Pink Floyd sounding. The song is more or less just a guitar solo with a lot of emotion over a key part that sounds like death and heaven in films.

The album closer, and title-track, the ten-minute ‘The Perfect Album’ crashes in next. It sounds absolutely huge already, I feel almost blown away. I’m sat on the edge of my seat, utterly taken in by this band.

It starts reworking parts you’ve heard before into it, into cool build-ups. All the different vocal styles from the whole album come back. There are great big, chuggy heavy grooves, there’s some very Tate vocals, there’s a Camel sounding lead. It all builds and builds, then at the three minute mark, it kicks into a fat alternative groove that reminds me of Tool, only with so much Neoprog synth and keys on the top that you wouldn’t recognize it as such, then that’s followed by a part that reminds me of Queensryche’s ‘The Hostage’ yet again touring everything I love. They drop that Tool groove in, but throw a guitar line over the top of it that reminds me of Floyd’s ‘Run Like Hell’ then an interesting acoustic guitar part runs off with your attention and the song morphs into this violin driven, emotional ‘Roads To Madness’ at-a-wedding affair. The vocals are beyond superb.

Then they start throwing in these big stabs with cheeky prog key runs as tails. That morphs into a few forms including one with fucking huuuuge chugs. Then things go bright and shimmeriy, you start to get an enormous feeling of well-being as this triumphant music builds-up all around you, swirling around your head in circles, it sounds like you are floating up out of your chair as the song carrys you away. When the tom based “dumdumdum pehhhsh, dumdumdum pehhhsh,” thing comes in I have a gigantic smile on my face.

Then they start channeling Mushroomhead again, but with the build-up still going, then all the extra drumming. Its like the non-death version of Opeth’s ‘Deliverance’ as the china cymbal keeps going off, then all the music but the massive reverby drums cuts right out, and those big drumbeats all circle around you, sounding like a tribal ceremony or world-cup theme tune. You want to scream at the top of your lungs but suddenly the drums are gone and then some pulsing industrial noises that must’ve been underneath it quickly fade out. Its over.

Fuuuuuuuck me. That was incredible.

So ummm,….yeah. If you like Riverside or Dream Theater or Opeth, Run out right now and get this album.

If you like Camel or Pink Floyd, or Marillion, run out and get this album.

If you’ve already got this album, go and listen to it again.

I’ve said it already; Straight-up, no messing-about MASTERPIECE.

Ok. I’ve got to go and calm down. I’ve got the shakes from listening to that. G’bye for now folks!