Favorite Queensryche album

[ElectricWiz]

Ok, so, gettin' reaquainted with Queensryche these days (I was a huge fan early on). I remember well when Operation Mindcrime came out, I'd been a fan from the beginning and told anyone who would listen it was a new classic. And, by the way, despite the selective memory of the metal community, not a lot of people saw it that way at the time. But I digress.
Great as that album may be, and as fantastic and cool as Warning is, I do believe, after quite a break from them, my favorite is (and probably always has been) Rage For Order. Weird choice I know, but there it is.

Any rage fans here...?

It's back in heavy rotation here.....I guess I better get Mindcrime II.

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

Operation:Mindcrime for me. The EP is second, followed by Warning and Rage for Order. They've all got gold plated pedestals in my Hallowed Hall of Fame. Except Mindcrime 1. That pedastal is solid gold and bolted to the floor.

I like Mindcrime 2, but it's not going to reach anywhere near what they did early, when they were hungry and the songwriting was fresh.

NP: Rage - Speak of the Dead

 

[tsorl]

Actually... my favorite is Empire. The production and overall sound is wonderful and of course the songs are classic. It is a "sellout" record to some extent, I agree, but somehow it's not a negative thing here. The songs are extremely catchy and accessible but at the same time have that ambitious QR touch.

Rage For Order is next for me. Now that one's far from being accessible, but has that unique "cinematic" (don't think Rhapsody here) feel.

Mindcrime's fine too...

 

[Hawk]

Rage for Order.

I love that album.

 

[SoundMaster]

Being one of my personal fav bands, it's a hard choice. Generally, each of their albums has displayed a significant change in sound and feel from the preceeding album.

With that said, I'd have to say it's MIndcrime, but Rage, Empire and Promised Land are right behind it.

I love literally every record they've done (yes, I'm in the minority). They're really one of the ONLY band to never let me down by releasing a sub-par album.

 

[Mxgonzo]

I didn't like Rage when it first came out. I thought it was really "weird" then they put out Mindcrime and I heard what they were trying get to so to speak. Rage then started to make "sense" to me.
BUt Warning and the EP are my favs.

 

[sumairetsu]

In order of preference, and not including the live albums:

1) Promised Land
2) Rage For Order
3) Operation: Mindcrime
4) Empire
5) Warning
6) Queensryche (EP)
7) Here In the Now Frontier
8) Q2K
9) Tribe
10) Operation: Mindcrime II

I'm not really impressed with the EP or Warning in general. If you listen to those discs, you can really tell that the band was still finding its way around and the Iron Maiden/Judas Priest influence can be found all over those two discs. However, you could still tell that the band was hungry and something was brewing for the future.

Rage For Order was what really did it for me. Nobody sounded like that (at times, not even Queensryche can sound like that) and you'd be hard pressed to find a more inventive album back in 1986.

My favorite album, though (and many people will disagree with me) is still Promised Land. This was a band wearing its concerns on its sleeves. They had just come off what would be their most successful album and were put into the situation of, "What's next?" The songs are just as good as anything on Empire, but with an added edge of darkness and sense of wariness about the world.

And, yes, I put Operation: Mindcrime II at the bottom of the list, despite how unpopular that opinion is. I simply can't make a recommendation on that album. After the song with Ronnie James Dio, the album takes a steep nosedive, in my opinion.

 

[wdiv]

1 Warning - every song is excellent
2 Mindcrime - what more can I say?
3 EP - similar feel to Warning
4 Empire - trying to hard to be mainstream
5 Rage for Order - experimental, for better or worse
6 Promised Land - unremarkable
7 Tribe - disappointing
8 Hear in the Now - crap
9 Q2K - crap

...not ready to rank Mindcrime II yet...

 

[Evil?]

There seems to be a strange pattern when it comes to Rage. I have seen many people (including myself) express that aqt first they did not like the album as much and then after a while it became a favorite or they enjoyed it alot more. I know the first time I hear Rage i was a bit unsure of what I thought. Now I love it and spin it often.

 

[TheWhisper]

RFO is maybe my all time favorite album...so. it would definitely be my fave QR album. That album was light years ahead of it's time sonically and production wise. Just a fantastic aural experience.

As for Empire, yes it was a bit more commercial, for QR, but I would not use the term sellout. I think their least appreciated album is Promised Land. I think people were expecting another Empire and got a different animal all together. Much darker and somber, but outstanding none the less.

 

[TheWhisper]

There seems to be a strange pattern when it comes to Rage. I have seen many people (including myself) express that aqt first they did not like the album as much and then after a while it became a favorite or they enjoyed it alot more. I know the first time I hear Rage i was a bit unsure of what I thought. Now I love it and spin it often.

A natural reaction after the EP & Warning. Those albums had more of a Priest/Maiden sound, or influence, to them. You could hear the growth, or progression, from the EP to The Warning, but RFO is where QR really came into their own. They had come into their own as songwriters and found their sound. RFO was a completely unique album. QR threw us a curveball with RFO, so it is natural to have been taken aback by it at first.

 

[carnut]

The first EP still is my favorit (even my all time fav metal record), followed by Mindcrime 1 ...

 

[Clammy]

Mindcrime, the EP and Empire.

Cheers!

 

[ElectricWiz]

So interesting to see the different rankings......Queensryche fans are as varied as the band themselves. In order my top 5 are.....

Rage For Order
Operation Mindcrime
Warning
Empire
EP

 

[ElectricWiz]

By the way, picked up OMII today, but haven't even put it in yet. Will post opinion when I do!!!

Oh, and I also bought a ticket to the San Francisco show in October. Been awhile since I've seen 'em. So, Queensryche this fall then.....

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

A natural reaction after the EP & Warning. Those albums had more of a Priest/Maiden sound, or influence, to them. You could hear the growth, or progression, from the EP to The Warning, but RFO is where QR really came into their own. They had come into their own as songwriters and found their sound. RFO was a completely unique album. QR threw us a curveball with RFO, so it is natural to have been taken aback by it at first.

Exactly. I was there, I know. I bought the EP due to recommendations from Hit Parader magazine, and I can later remember visiting my local record store every Tuesday to see if the new Queenryche album had come out yet. That album was The Warning. They were like a mix of Priest and Maiden which suited me just fine, but the songwriting was so fresh and Tate's vocals were Godly. When Rage for Order came out, I hated it. "What's this stupid technocrap?", I screamed. "And where did the metal go?". I did eventually learn to enjoy the album for it's excellent songwriting, and now that I'm getting old and gray around the edges, I absolutely love hearing it.

One fact that gets overlooked these days (except here on UMOS), Rage for Order sounded like NOTHING ELSE in 1986. It was totally unique. I just wish I'd been more open-minded so I could enjoy it at the time like I did the EP and Warning.

NP: Astral Doors - Raiders of the Ark

 

[ElectricWiz]

Exactly. I was there, I know. I bought the EP due to recommendations from Hit Parader magazine, and I can later remember visiting my local record store every Tuesday to see if the new Queenryche album had come out yet. That album was The Warning. They were like a mix of Priest and Maiden which suited me just fine, but the songwriting was so fresh and Tate's vocals were Godly. When Rage for Order came out, I hated it. "What's this stupid technocrap?", I screamed. "And where did the metal go?". I did eventually learn to enjoy the album for it's excellent songwriting, and now that I'm getting old and gray around the edges, I absolutely love hearing it.

One fact that gets overlooked these days (except here on UMOS), Rage for Order sounded like NOTHING ELSE in 1986. It was totally unique. I just wish I'd been more open-minded so I could enjoy it at the time like I did the EP and Warning.

NP: Astral Doors - Raiders of the Ark

You know? I'm not sure why I didn't feel the same way you did in the beginning. A the time I was such a metal waaaaaagh! guy that by all rights i should have disliked Rage. Still, I was crazy for the first two, and when I heard it it just didn't phase me. I was 15 and I remember telling my friend I thought they'd done something really groundbreaking (without wimping out, which mattered then...hehe). 'Course, then when Mindcrime came out I thought it was a perfect mix of Warning and Rage.

Also, as a weird aside. I remember buying the first one. Whatever record label it was that released it (can't remember) had put together this big "future of metal," display at the record store I went too. They had the Queensryche EP and Helix - No Rest For The Wicked kind of marketed together. The record label seemed to think these two albums were quiet alike. I bought both cold, with no info.....and loved the Queensryche. I actually listened to the Helix for some time too, but alas it did not stand the test of time. haha.

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

I love Helix - No Rest for the Wicked! Not as much as the Qr EP, but it's still one of my old classics playlist. You know, your easy acceptance for RFO might have been BECAUSE you were 15 at the time. I was 21 that year, six years older than you, and six more years more set in my ways. And the previous six years was filled with some of metals greatest "heavy" albums by Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, Metallica, Demon, Megadeth, Scorpions, etc. Last thing I wanted to hear in 1986 was techno metal.

 

[SoundMaster]

Concerning Mindcrime II, the one fault, as I see it, is the lack of "peaks and valleys" musically. To my ears, the album is a bit too "linear"...not sure how else to describe this.

The original had a true midpoint, or even a turning point, in "Suite Sister Mary". This albums doesn't really offer such a dramatic 'event' which would help to raise the gravity of a concept album.

With that said, it's still a very strong record, the songs are awesome and the feeling of the original is there.

 

[Death Animal]

Operation Mindcrime is my favorite.
Yeah weird choise.