THE WARNING

Well, here it is! The grandaddy of PROG-METAL. Many will argue about the very first progressive rock album, whether it be by Julian's Treatment, THE MOODY BLUES _Days Of Future Past_, Soft Machine - SOFT MACHINE or King Crimson's IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING. To my ears, there is no question that this is the very first PROGRESSIVE METAL album that spawned a generation of followers and pioneers such as Fates Warning, Dream Theater, My Dying Bride and Opeth. There's definitely a Rush and Iron Maiden influence here, especially in the rhythm section department of Eddie Jackson and Scott Rockenfeld. A sort of Thin Lizzy twin guitar attack on Rush sedatives. Queensryche created a no brainer in fusing the best parts of Rush and Iron Maiden while creating a genre. Geoff Tate's vocals are rather unusual and unheard of at the time(the same sort of feeling one gets upon hearing Jon Anderson, Geddy Lee or David Surkamp) As with most Queensryche albums(except post PROMISED LAND), it must be listened to from beginning to end. I've searched and searched for anything sounding even remotely like THE WARNING and always come up short. Fates Warning's NO EXIT...sounds like THE WARNING with their own little twist. Dream Theater's IMAGES AND WORDS...sounds like THE WARNING with some Gentle Giant time sigs. All sounds like THE WARNING to me. While I've moved on to other genres of music like Jazz and Classical in my later years(now in my late 30s), there's no question this album deserves 5 stars for its influence alone. Highlights are _En Force_, _NM156_(very powerful! Still don't understand it to this day), _Before The Storm_(the imagery created of dark cumulonimbus is quite profound) and _Roads To Madness_(could be their _Natural Science_ re: Rush's Permanent Waves). In other news, Michael Kamen (of Pink Floyd's THE FINAL CUT) does some minor orchestration on THE WARNING.