Queensryche is one of the three cornerstone bands that have
provided the basis for modern progressive metal, their more
melodic metal stance balanced by the technical wizardry
of Dream Theater,
with Fates Warning
in between the two.
A case of a band living up to the hype, their 1983 debut self-released
EP found its way to Kerrang! magazine, who immediately proclaimed
the Seattle band The Next Big Thing.
Signed to a major label, their full-length debut The Warning,
released a year later, put the band on the map,
but it would be 1988's Operation: Mindcrime that would forever
be known as their crowning moment, one of the most well-known
and popular concept albums of all time.
For better and worse, though, the succeeding years for
Queensryche have been a mixed bag.
Their refusal to rehash Mindcrime on subsequent releases is
in one sense admirable, but in another sense has resulted in
disappointment amongst some fans who haven't embraced the mellower
and more experimental tendencies of their later albums.
In recent years the band has meandered, and under the surface there
seemed to be tension between vocalist Geoff Tate and the other
members.
This tension boiled over in 2012, first when most of the rest of the band
formed a new group called Rising West, hired
Todd La Torre
(Crimson Glory) as the vocalist,
and briefly toured playing mostly old Queensryche songs while
Tate pressed on with solo work.
Finally, the band made it official by relieving Tate of his Ryche
duties and promoting La Torre as his replacement.
Tate responded by forming his own band and suing for the right to name the
band Queensryche.
Both factions released albums under the Queensryche name in 2013
(Tate's band released Frequency Unknown, while the rest of the members,
with La Torre, released a self-titled effort),
and it was up to
the courts would sort out this mess, which they did in April 2014.
As a result,
Tate relinquished the rights to the name
but was granted the sole privilege of performing Mindcrime live in its
entirety,
while La Torre and crew resume life as Queensryche.
Tate has renamed his band, appropriately enough, as
Operation: Mindcrime.
Recent album: Digital Noise Alliance,
released on October 7, 2022.
