The beginning of the end...

This album was released in a blaze of no publicity whatsoever, it just sort of appeared in shops one day. It's difficult to say anything nice about this album, because I absolutely hate it. At best it sounds like Alice in Chains out-takes, at worst it sounds like an empire crumbling. The only two songs which resemble anything Queensryche have done before are the opener "Sign of the times" and "You" (which is in the vein of "Take hold of the flame"). However, they would at best be B-sides if they had been recorded earlier in their career. There are some nice ideas within some of the songs, and Chris even gets to sing on one, but in general there is a lack of cohesion, structure, and even passion in the songs.

Queensryche's US label collapsed half-way through their US tour in support of this album, and no other countries were even considered for touring. Soon after this, Chris DeGarmo left the band.

One of Queensryche's strengths had always that each member of the band was integral to the overall sound. None could be replaced. When I heard that Chris had left, I wanted Queensryche to just pack it in there and then. I didn't want reunuion tours, substandard albums with the name Queensryche on them, I just wanted my memories of a fine band, none of which could be repeated as an integral part of those memories would not be there.

Try to think of any other band who had stayed with their original line-up for 15 years - the only other one I can think of is U2. It's a testament to their character - both individually and collectively - that they lasted as long as they did.

If you don't have this album, don't bother with it. You're not missing anything.

The font used on this album is called Avalon Quest - unzip this zip file to your fonts directory.