Queensryche - Rage for Order

"Cyberpunk Metal - One of the 'Ryche's best."

Before Rage For Order, there was little that markedly separated Queensryche from its peers. Their self-titled LP and The Warning were mostly pretty straightforward metal releases. Good metal, of course, but metal one way or another. Sure, they were great musicians, great songwriters, and frontman Geoff Tate was one of the best male vocalists around, but still, in a lot of ways, they were just another metal band. But that changed with Rage For Order. Suddenly, the progressive touches of The Warning became more prominent, and the band's budding maturity was right on course. Queensryche was one of the pioneers of progmetal (though they were never progmetal themselves) and this shows it more than before. It also shows that being progressive is about exploring new ideas and sounds, not necessarily rockin' the odd-time signatures and whatnot.

In a way, the album is cyber-punk-metal stuff, with the evident themes in the lyrics, but in spite of the inherent cliche it never becomes lame. The music is kind of futuristic sounding, and maybe they were watching Blade Runner or something while writing some of these songs. Some 80's cheese rears its head from time to time, but it's not overbearing enough that it becomes deleterious to the music. Rage For Order was obviously looked at from an album perspective as opposed to a "song" standpoint, and this gave the band room to experiment with different sounds, from the darkly beautiful "I Will Remember" to the heavy, hard-edged anthem "Chemical Youth".

Here, Geoff Tate's vocals have expanded beyond the Dickinson-esque wail to better utilize his tremendous range. He hadn't quite reached the same level of dynamics attained in Operation Mindcrime or Empire but it was enough to put him head and shoulders above his peers. The DeGarmo-Wilton guitar duo is genuinely impressive. Their brilliant, weaving interplay made them one of the best duos in heavy metal, and their solos were more than just stylistic requisites...they actually served as heights of intensity for the songs.

The production is super-dated (the engineer was some kind of crank I bet) but solid musicianship and writing alleviate any sense of thinking the album is all that dated. It remains one of Queensryche's best albums.