85%
Boring. Inconsistent. Pretentious. All these negative adjectives and more have been used to describe Queensrÿche at some point in their long and prolific career. It is unfortunate for the listener that these adjectives are usually applied fittingly. However, none of the aforementioned adjectives can be applied to Queensrÿche’s self-titled debut. Instead, Queensrÿche is a down-to-earth, exciting, and fun ride through 80s heavy metal. The one negative aspect of the album is its unoriginality.
Queensrÿche's influence are easily recognized From Geoff Tate’s soaring vocals to Chris DeGarmo and Jack Wilton’s dual guitar solos, everything sounds like in imitation of The Number of the Beast/Piece of Mind-era Iron Maiden. Hell, even the lyrics are clearly influenced by the fantasy and science-fiction style of Bruce Dickinson. What elevates Queensrÿche above the herd, and, in this reviewer’s opinion, above Iron Maiden, is their incredible songwriting talent. To put it simply, Queensrÿche do Iron Maiden better than Iron Maiden does.
Every aspect of this album is dead on. The production is warm but a bit muddy, though this suits the album’s raw atmosphere. The vocals have a wonderful Dickinson-esque quality. The instrumentation, while not as intricate as it would be on later albums, is tight and well done, especially the guitars; some of the riffs on this album (especially on “Blinded”) are absolutely vicious, and the solos, while not incredibly technical, are incredibly catchy.
Though this is a great album, it is marred by its length and its lack of originality. One can imagine Queensrÿche getting together in a member’s basement and figuring out how they could rewrite The Number of the Beast. Oh well; that doesn’t stop Queensrÿche from being an absolutely essential EP.
tl;dr: Classic speedy heavy metal. Recommended to fans of Iron Maiden and people who can bear exceptionally cheesy lyrics.
Best Songs: “Queen of the Reich”, “Blinded”. It’s short, though; just download the whole EP.
Best Songs: “Queen of the Reich”, “Blinded”. It’s short, though; just download the whole EP.
~Turkeyballs
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