Tag: Queensrÿche

Picking Five Songs From 1988

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year3 Comments

We are now to 1988 on this long-running series where I pick five of my favorite songs from a year. Yes, this will run all the way through this year. I imagine this will bleed into next year at this point since I took a good chunk of the early year off, so I’ll go ahead and pick five from ’25 as well.

But we’re a long damn ways away from that. Today we head to 1988. Rock was still running strong in its hair phase, though time was running out on the art form. Things were getting heavier and heavier on the metal end of things, as what we now know as extreme metal saw regular releases in ’88 and beyond. While I do love some 1980’s pop, I had kind of moved away from it by this point and was far more entrenched in the rock and metal end of things. By the time we get to the 2000’s, many of you may not recognize anything I post. But, again, we’re not there yet.

It is 1988, at least for a few minutes around here. Here are five of my favorite songs from the year (as always, not necessarily my five favorite, just five of my favorites). Enjoy.

Queensrÿche – Eyes Of A Stranger

Starting off with the final track of what is my favorite album of all time. Operation: Mindcrime is a metal “opera” with a ton of political intrigue, murder and suspense, and Eyes Of A Stranger wraps up the album better than pretty much any ending to anything in history. The main charcter Nikki is locked up in a prison mental institution, left to recall the sordid events of the album in a drugged-up haze. The production on this song and album is absolutely perfect, and the song’s drive and melody are otherworldly, as is of course the vocal performance of Geoff Tate. There are few finer examples of a song around.

Death – Pull The Plug

Death metal had been on the scene for a few years, and by ’88 it was really getting into gear. Leave it to the namesake band to deliver an all-time classic. This “thrash on steroids” delivered a savage beating to the eardrums of metalheads brave enough to move beyond the mainstream. While Death would go on to become a technical powerhouse, Pull The Plug is some good meat and potatoes, basic death metal.

Bathory – A Fine Day To Die

From Bathory’s fourth album Blood Fire Death, this saw Quorthon blend his now patented black metal with more melodic influences, eventually coining the term Viking metal. This song is an epic journey told through a group who are facing their likely end in battle. It’s a massive song that inspires even my sedentary ass to get up and strive for Valhalla.

Candlemass – Mirror Mirror

And now time for a little doom. Candlemass of Sweden had cut their third album by this point and were in the middle of an arc that is now considered hallowed in the pantheon of doom metal. While doom is traditionally slower, this is one of several Candlemass songs that runs at a faster clip at times. It’s an enchanting track about a cursed mirror that swallows the souls of whoever peers into it. The song is aided immensely by the power and range of the “mad monk” Messiah Marcolin, a true treasure of metal vocals.

Iron Maiden – The Evil That Men Do

And we wrap up with another Iron Maiden song. This one hails from Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, which as I’ve relayed in the past is my favorite Maiden album. The song itself has a few complexities musically but is honestly one of the “simpler” tracks from the album. It is a forward, speedy driver and doesn’t let up throughout. Lyrically it is quite complex, as it deals with the album’s story of a child born of the Devil who gets up to some shit. This song is just before the child’s birth, if I’m recalling the story correctly.

That covers 1988. We are only one year away from putting a bow on the grand decade of the 1980’s. Things really do switch up after we enter the next decade.

And before I go, another quick programming note – I will continue this weekly posting format for what seems to be another four weeks, if I’m counting right. It’ll be a song and also this post, and perhaps another post in the middle of the week. I will run like this up until July 5, which is slated to be Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert. I do intend to livestream that event and I will provide a recap of it that following Monday. The week after that I will return to posting albums on Mondays, and I actually have a backlog going at this point so I should be able to keep up. ‘Till then.

Picking Five Songs From 1986

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year10 Comments

Ok, so quick update first – just as I was getting ready to start blogging again last month, we wound up buying a house so that took up a bunch of my time. We are now moved and things are getting settled so I have time to get rolling again. Hopefully I can get going here again now that I’m mostly settled. It might take a minute but I should be fine.

We move on now into the later 1980’s with this long-running series. Things were getting bigger and bigger for rock music, though it could be argued that the quality was starting to wane in comparison to the absolute gold of the early decade. Rock was going hair, hair, hair; while heavy metal was getting heavier and heavier. And pop was starting to get weighed down by pale imitators of the sound that was a goldmine a few years prior. But this year was pretty good, as many acts who were “off cycle” the year prior are back and cranked out some quality music.

As usual, this is simply five of my favorite songs from the year. It is not a definitive “top five,” this is a pretty fast and loose exercise.

Iron Maiden – Stranger In A Strange Land

Maiden came back off their world-conquering campaign to kick off their “synth” arc. The results were splendid and this single is one of my all-time favorite Maiden tracks. The song is about an Arctic expedition that discovered a long-dead explorer, it is not related to the famed novel of the same name. While this one keeps the pace reigned in, it doesn’t lack for intensity as the power and melody combine to offer up the long-frozen explorer’s tale.

Queensrÿche – Screaming In Digital

This is almost a rock opera type song about man versus machine, and the now suddenly relevant topic of AI. The lyrical fare might be fresh nearly 40 years later, but the music on this is ungodly and timeless. The instruments and samples are a mesh of chaos, and Geoff Tate delivers while might honestly be his finest vocal performance ever as he handles the tradeoff “arguments” between man and machine. One of my favorite songs of all time.

Motörhead – Orgasmatron

Up next is the venerable legends with one of their many signature offerings. This is a slow, doom-laden marcher that explores the world of war, religion and political power, those dark masters that have taken the lives of many over the centuries. It’s all distilled here in the raw, primal form that only Motörhead can muster. As with the first two offerings, this ranks among my all-time favorites of the band’s catalog.

Metallica – Damage Inc.

1986 was a banner year for the band that would go on to become heavy metal’s biggest act. They released Master Of Puppets, which is often hailed as the quintessential thrash album. The album’s final track is a blistering slab of thrash, and again a song aimed at the bloody power corporations wield over rank and file citizens. The song serves as the final testament of Cliff Burton, mortally departed but always looming immortally over the metal scene he helped shape.

Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs

A bit of a curveball here, given the sheer amount of other heavy music that was released in ’86. But this cut from Dwight’s debut album has long been a favorite of mine. This was a good bit of barroom twang in a time when country was in a bit of a stale, pop-oriented direction. It remains one of Dwight’s top songs from a long and storied career.

That covers 1986. Next week we’ll see what’s up with one of rock music’s biggest ever years.

Picking Five Songs From 1984

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year7 Comments

I am still running through the years on this very long series. And here we are at 1984. Funny that, given that I spent a great deal of time last year discussing the music of ’84 on its 40th anniversary. Had I kept to my original posting schedule I would have gotten to this last year, but I was both busy and lazy so here we are.

Given that 1984 is special in my lexicon, I’m going to do something a bit different here. I’m going to offer up five songs today, and then I’m going to do five more tomorrow. This was always the plan on ’84 when I got to it. In a way it’s “cheating” since I’m only supposed to pick five a year, but it’s not like there are any real rules to this anyway. It’s just something I saw other people doing and stole from them.

At any rate, let’s do five songs from 1984, then do it all again tomorrow.

Queensrÿche – Take Hold Of The Flame

This ripper still stands as one of the band’s most immortal offerings over 40 years later. This was one hell of a debut full-length for a band who got signed to a record deal without playing a show. It’s a motivational tale, one lamenting those who did not, in fact, take hold of the flame.

Judas Priest – The Sentinel

My favorite Priest song of all time was bound to make this list. It’s a badass tale of some dark avenging force that wipes out all his enemies. Very dank guitar work here leads to a massive, heavy atmosphere and Rob Halford singing “sworn to avenge” in his unholy voice puts it all over the top.

Iron Maiden – Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

My favorite Maiden song came out in ’84 but I’ve spent enough time going over 2 Minutes To Midnight. This time I chose the monster epic based on the hit poem of the same name. This was the band’s longest song for 37 years and every second of it is massive and pounding. A true heavy metal masterpiece.

Van Halen – Hot For Teacher

1984 was Van Halen’s triumphant year (and album). This song was one last blast of fun party rock before the classic Van Halen era came to an end. Alex played a monster drum intro and the song celebrates the ages-old concept of being into a teacher. Fun all around.

Mercyful Fate – Gypsy

It’s time for some evil, as King Diamond and company romp through a dark visit with a mystical woman. It’s a great, catchy riff and replete with the signature King Diamond vocals. This one is a bit “simpler” than other MF tunes but it works extremely well.

That does it for this first installment of 1984. Tomorrow I’ll bring five more songs on a rare weekend post as a bit of bonus content.

Queensrÿche – Take Hold Of The Flame

On By bigbadburchIn Song Of The Week9 Comments

It’s time to get back to the celebration of 1984, which will run to the end of this year to commemorate the 40th anniversary of this great music.

Today’s song comes from the debut album of Seattle metal outfit Queensrÿche. I covered the album last year before I realized I’d be doing this running 1984 deal, but I can pull the signature song and have a deeper look at it.

Take Hold Of The Flame was released as the second single from the album The Warning. It didn’t chart in the US and I don’t have any international chart information, but this was reportedly “big in Japan.” That does track, as Queensrÿche headed over there in short order and even recorded live stuff in Tokyo.

This is honestly a straightforward metal song from an album with a bit of embellishment on it, and from a band whose career could accurately be described as “out in left field.” But this is off and running riffs that are largely contained and pounding drums and bass. There’s a solo, of course, this one I believe credited to Chris DeGarmo, but nothing really wild or flashy going on with this song.

The star of the song is the band’s singer Geoff Tate. Even in an age with luminaries like Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio and others providing a master class on heavy metal singing, Tate seemed to be from another planet on these early performances. He doesn’t necessarily show off here except for a small part at the very end, but his voice delivers these lyrics with full force.

Queensrÿche were really on some trippy stuff lyrically during their early run – AI robots, war, more AI robots, wives of prisoners and all sorts of other stuff that does somewhat involve AI robots. But on this song the group chose to hold off on predicting more of what 2024 would be like and provide a more relatable treatise on motivation and “grabbing the brass ring,” if you will. To some extent the song does dwell on those who did not get up and go get it, those lost who will fade from history. But overall the song is a memo to get off your ass and get it done, whatever “it” might be.

Take Hold Of The Flame became an early crowd favorite and Queensrÿche were happy to oblige – it remains the band’s fourth most-played song out live. This is counting the lineage of the band present today, Geoff Tate has played the song 214 times live while solo, good for sixth on his own list.

For Queensrÿche, this song was a part of a triumphant beginning that would launch one of the more unique careers in music. The band wouldn’t sound like this again but this early material is still widely hailed to this day.

Queensrÿche – Rage For Order (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week14 Comments

A young metal band with just one album under its belt gets told by the label to “glam it up” a bit. The results were – well, not quite glam by any real measure, at least beyond the band photos.

Queensrÿche – Rage For Order

Released June 27, 1986 via EMI Records

My Favorite Tracks – Screaming In Digital, Neue Regel, I Dream In Infrared

Queensrÿche were in a bit of an odd position by the mid 1980’s – they had arrived as a heavy metal act with progressive and Judas Priest vibes. Even early on the band seemed too intellectual and sophisticated to truly dive into the glam and hair movement that was taking hold of rock music. Instead we got a grab bag of songs, some having to do with love in some darker aspects and others still getting into sci-fi or AI stuff like what they offered on their first efforts.

The band’s line-up was constant all through the ’80’s – Geoff Tate on vocals, Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton on guitar, Eddie Jackon on bass and Scott Rockenfield on the drums. This one was produced by Neil Kernon, who helmed the studio console for Hall and Oates’ biggest albums and has gone on to record hundreds of albums with everyone ranging from soft rock to death metal.

The production on here is worth discussing, too – in contrast to the thinner and sterile sound coming from a lot of albums in this time period, Rage For Order has a pretty full sound. It’s bright yet also full, it hits when it needs to and lets the album’s softer songs breathe. It is at times clinical, which was probably a goal since some of these songs are about computers and robots taking everything over. Getting this variety of themes and sounds down into a nice listening experience is a pretty nice accomplishment.

There are 11 tracks here that run for nearly 46 minutes, and the variety takes the listener on quite a journey. There was a deluxe reissue that offered a handful of live and demo bonus tracks, I’ll stick to the original album’s tracklist for today.

Walk In The Shadows

The opener is a pretty nice song that walks a line between being both melodic and heavy. This dark love tale was apparently inspired by vampire stuff like the Anne Rice books. The song is fairly quick and simple but does a good job setting the table for what’s to come.

I Dream In Infrared

Up next is something akin to a power ballad. This one starts out soft and lush, then builds into a really powerful surge through the chorus. It’s the earliest hint of how Queensrÿche would approach a more conventional rock song, something we’d get more of from them in 1990. The lyrics have to do with a relationship that’s clearly lost, the narrator is about to split and has pretty profound thoughts about it. As with a lot of Queensrÿche stuff there could be a deeper or more specific song meaning but I don’t know what it is. No matter, this song is spectacular and one of the band’s crown jewels.

The Whipser

The title is misleading here, this song is plenty loud. It’s got a nice and noisy riff with Geoff Tate visiting several parts of his considerable vocal range, and just the right amount of keyboard accents which Neil Kernon provided. The song’s theme isn’t quite clear, someone is being coerced or persuaded to do something likely not good. It could be vampires or robots, either are a fair guess for this album, I personally vote robots as it’s always a safe bet on early Queensrÿche stuff.

Gonna Get Close To You

Up next is a cover song – this was first done by Canadian artist Lisa Dal Bello, who performed as Dalbello. It is a creepy stalker song, and unlike The Police’s smash hit Every Breath You Take, this song is very, very upfront about being engaged in flat out criminal stalking behavior.

Queensrÿche’s cover is honestly not far removed from the original, though it’s also paired with more instrumentation to fill it out. I go back and forth on whether I’m into this one or not and overall I’m kind of not, but I will admit that they did get the sound right in terms of making it fit the album.

The Killing Words

This is another amped up power ballad. Another high quality track, this is about love going down the tubes again but the people are apparently still together, seems to be a recurring theme here.

Surgical Strike

It’s time to kick up the pace and move on from love to war. This one hearkens back some to the debut album but also still fits with the sound and vibe of this record. This one has a really nice solo then a synth transition back into the song. It’s also over as quick as a surgical strike in a hair over 3 minutes.

Neue Regel

German for “new regime” or something like that, this kicks the pace back down a notch but keeps the power going. There’s quite a bit of use of keyboards and other samples here to help create an epic build to this new order, whatever it may be. There’s a lot here but it’s not overdone, this one works great with all the embellishments.

Chemical Youth (We Are Rebellion)

It’s time to get loud again as this one aggros its way through a long and unwieldy rant about rebellion, politics and technology. I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about here but the song is still pretty good.

London

Another powerful power ballad, this one is about a tryst with someone in the city referenced in the title. A pretty nice song, quite powerful and moving, though also perhaps a notch below some other stuff here.

There’s an interesting reference to November 4th in the opening line – that day was nothing unusual on its own but is just a day removed from “Guy Fawkes Night” or the Gunpowder Treason Day in England. (remember, remember the 5th of November). Nothing in the song indicates any link to that but I thought it was a neat coincidence, especially given the multiple themes of rebellion found through the album.

Screaming In Digital

Up next is an epic foray into the world of sci-fi and AI, though AI isn’t really sci-fi anymore. This song is an absolute scorcher, with dueling vocal parts representing two characters. It’s not totally clear what’s going on here, though at least one of the participants is a machine and I’ve always assumed both are, the “newer” machine is struggling with the concept of only being a machine. It could also be a human being forcefully “induced” into the robot cult or whatever, I don’t know.

This song is an absolute masterpiece. Geoff Tate is on fire here and the song’s militant rhythm gives a machine-like feel to things to further enhance the cyborg or AI concept. The vocal trade-off can be confusing at first, but repeated listens shine a light on what’s going on, and this song should be listened to repeatedly. One of Queensrÿche’s best songs.

I Will Remember

The album ends on a quiet and somber offering that is also lyrically about AI. This explores the concept of machines “stealing each other’s dreams” and the idea of not having private thoughts that can be concealed from a digital police state. It was sci-fi at one point in time, today it’s reality – just think about buying a couch and look at the ads on your phone. But I like this quieter approach to ending the album and the song itself is quite well done.

Rage For Order was not a huge hit out of the gate – it peaked at 85 on the Billboard 200 in the US and had various other lower chart placements around the world. Critics were kind, they liked the music though found some of the lyrical fare dense. This would get a gold certification in the US and Queensrÿche would land coveted opening spots on tours with AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Ratt and Bon Jovi.

Queensrÿche have often defied categorization, for good or bad, and in the early days it was usually a good thing. Rage For Order shares the band’s somewhat elusive qualities – it is a lot of things and touches on a lot of subjects, but overall it was a pretty big step forward. This moved Queensrÿche out of the “Judas Priest meets Rush” comparisons and into establishing their own sound. Their signature guitar tone is here, as are knacks for arrangement and lyrical concept. All of this would mesh just a few years later on their magnum opus. Rage For Order may be a grab bag of sorts, but whatever you grab out of it is pretty damn good.

Queensrÿche – The Warning (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week6 Comments

This week the offering is the debut full-length from Seattle’s metal institution. While the recording and process of releasing the record didn’t go the way the band wanted, in the end a worthy album was still delivered.

Queensrÿche – The Warning

Released September 7, 1984 via EMI Records

My Favorite Tracks – Take Hold Of The Flame, Roads To Madness, The Warning

Queensrÿche had landed a major label record deal off the strength of their self-titled demo, which was widely released as an EP and gained the band a fair bit of traction before playing a show. Now the group were armed and ready with their first full album and a new legacy was now underway.

The band’s line-up was the same as from the EP and would also remain the same for many years afterward. Geoff Tate handled vocals, while Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton were the guitarists. Eddie Jackson was on bass and Scott Rockenfield was the drummer. The album was produced by James Guthrie, well known for producing Pink Floyd.

It’s worth noting that the album didn’t quite measure up to what the band wanted. The recording process went over budget and EMI turned mixing over to a cheaper option, resulting in a mix that the band was not happy with. The track sequence was also not what the band wanted, it was changed while the group were out on tour without their input. This doesn’t really “affect” the album and there is no official re-done version that matched the band’s wishes but it’s album trivia worth having a look at.

There are 9 songs in 48 minutes on the original version of The Warning. Many of the songs here were inspired by George Orwell’s infamous novel 1984. The mythos of this album has its own feel, not quite a concept album but definitely an invented theme running throughout and certainly far beyond a pale copy and paste of the novel used to inspire.

The Warning

The opener and title track gets the pace set with a straightforward metal song. The song is pretty standard metal fare, though it’s also evident that Queensrÿche have some arrangement ideas that go beyond the usual stuff. The song has to do with a “child of centuries” who warns the world that time is about up. The simple chorus of “Warning” along with some nice riffs make for some good listening.

En Force

The first four minutes serve as another standard yet also excellent metal track, this time offering up the apparent leader or tyrant who is controlling things and some kind of quest to unseat them. A few bells work their way into the song’s intro, it seems Queensrÿche were keen to add to their music even very early on. The last minute of the song is a different sort of thing, with a quiet outro that seems to lament the tyrant’s iron grip on people.

Deliverance

This one might feel “simple” in comparison to what Queensrÿche would go on to create, but in all honesty this is a very well put together track especially for someone’s debut album. The band insert a few things into the song to freshen it up a bit. Also, the bass line on this one is very much worth a listen.

No Sanctuary

Here we have one that starts out as a ballad but then shifts over into a bit heavier fare, though still perhaps a ballad. It seems to be about someone looking to fight those in control, but the song’s sad backdrop indicates it might all be for naught. It’s a display that the band were not going to be a one-dimensional metal act.

NM 156

Up next is a more “upbeat” song, at least musically. This one works up into its very wordy chorus at a pretty quick pace. The song gets into 1984’s themes of thought control, though here it seems machines are tasked with executing citizens who aren’t in line. Queensrÿche were very into the concept of computers and machines running things, as evidenced from this track as well as Queen Of The Reich from the EP and Screaming In Digital on Rage For Order. As our current society becomes enveloped in AI, it seems perhaps Queensrÿche were prophetic.

Take Hold Of The Flame

The album’s second single has also become the standard-bearer for the record and the band’s most popular early song. In terms of tempo and arrangement it fits right in with everything else on the record. Geoff Tate does stand out on this one with his unreal voice, but otherwise the song doesn’t really “do” anything out of the ordinary.

Where this one does diverge is with its theme. The song is simply about going for it – many sit and waste away without taking a chance on something, so take hold of the flame and have at it. Stuff like a child of centuries or a human-terminating AI might be a bit opaque and far-off to really identify with (for now, anyway) but this song is universally applicable. Everyone can get it and a lot of people did. It is unsurprisingly the band’s fourth most-played live song according to setlist.fm.

Before The Storm

The metal spirit keeps up here on this one. The storm seems to reference a feared nuclear bomb scenario, though this is really only picked up from the words “atom split” in the second verse. This is a really good song that keeps its tempo up until the last minute, where again the band goes out on a different outro note which flows straight into the next song.

Child Of Fire

Heading towards the end with another barnburner of a song that keeps the pace up until a quiet interlude in the middle. This seems to be about some kind of malevolent conquering leader and a duel with a hero to settle the world’s fate once and for all. There’s a nice guitar solo at the end of the interlude before the song closes out the same way it came in.

Roads To Madness

The album closes with a whale of a song at nearly 10 minutes. The first half of the song is pretty standard fare, verse-chorus with nothing unusual going on. Then a quiet interlude hits for a bit, followed by a soaring end piece that takes the song to its conclusion. This is wonderfully arranged and played and is one that truly hints at what Queensrÿche would be getting up to on future releases.

This one is a bit tough to make out theme-wise, though it’s clear that someone is attempting to access some forbidden knowledge and they make their mortal exit as a result of their investigations. I probably never will know what the hell they’re talking about but I still absolutely love this song.

The Warning was a solid debut for Queensrÿche after the hype from their demo/EP. The album would not make huge moves on sales charts but did quietly earn a US gold record for half a million copies sold. Queensrÿche would open for Kiss, Iron Maiden, Dio and Accept while on tour for the record, offering their brand of metal to a variety of audiences.

This album is honesty pretty unique in the Queensrÿche catalog as it is a fairly standard metal record. The group would not remain long in this territory, choosing to explore different soundscapes on Rage For Order before crafting their magnum opus concept record Operation: Mindcrime. But here on the Warning we can hear their early sound, certainly with a bit of a Judas Priest vibe throughout but also a uniquely Queensrÿche offering. While the band would go on to some unique expressions in their creative prime, this first album should not be discounted, it is filled to the brim with quality heavy metal.

I do have an extra special version of this album, it’s a Japanese pressing in phenomenal condition. Have a gander at that below.