THE WARNING

A hair-metal band (judging from videos on MTV), with obvious genre's cliches and immature musicians, you may think. Stop here, I'll free you from your illusions. Way better than any release from FATES WARNING or even IRON MAIDEN (as for 1980-1985 period), "The Warning" has serious arguments to get named as the First Prog-Metal Album: complex signatures, ever-changing moods, skilful arrangements instead of pompous riffing, etc. With songs like "Take Hold of a Flame", "No Sanctuary" and surely "Roads to Madness", a 9-min long closing epic, QUEENSRYCHE managed to release one of their best albums and one of the grounding stone albums for Progressive Metal Hall of Fame. Highly recommended!