THE WARNING

If you were a Heavy Metal fan in 1984 the arrival of the debut album by Queensrhyche would have certainly have made you sit up and pay attention if you had the opportunity to hear it. Drawing inspiration from the Metal giants of the day, they had certainly listened to the likes of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, yet there was more to Queensrhyche than most of their contemporise. The Metal riffs were there, though with a darker sound but they were augmented with light and shade making the Guitar riffs really hit home harder when they came in, despite a less than perfect production in the Guitar department. Lyrically Queensrhyche also have a darker edge and more intelligenty written than most other Metal bands then and now.

Singer Geoff Tate has a similar Vocal style to Rob Halford reaching equally high notes as the histrionic Judas Priest frontman. Musically, as already mentioned they shared much of the same ground as Priest and Maiden but with more complex arrangements and were not afraid to stray out of the restrictions of a 4/4 time signature. Without picking out individual songs they are reasonably strong throughout closing with the excellent almost 10 minute long Roads to Madness.

It's generally regarded that the roots of what has become to be known as Progressive Metal began with Queensrhyche (and Fates Warning) and the proof of that can be found here in places though at the time of release it was more regarded as thinking mans Power Metal yet it laid the foundations for what was to follow, not only from Queensrhyche but the likes of Dream Theater too who were to become arguably the most successful exponents of the genre.