Yet another band to implode, separating into two camps, both who claims the right to carry on with the name of the band. Here, original singer Geoff Tate against three other original members guitarist Michael Wilton, bassist Eddie Jackson, and drummer Scott Rockenfield. Long story short, now Geoff going under Geoff Tate’s Queensryche with a whole new lineup consisting of several alum from the metal community, and what rightfully should still be just by the numbers, considered Queensryche, Wilton, Jackson, and Rockenfield carrying on with long time guitarist Parker Lundgren (since 2009), and as luck would have it, a replacement for Geoff who sounds almost like him, Todd La Torre from the band Crimson Glory.

After a string of mediocre albums, “Q2K” (1999), “Tribe” (2003), “Operation: Mindcrime II” (2006), “Take Cover” (2007), “American Soldier” (2009), “Dedicated to Chaos” (2011), all of which apparently Tate to blame for their inconsistency because more and more he was denying the band’s heavy metal roots and had more creative control than the other members, with Todd behind the mic this eponymous album is much more of a return to form.

Just a little background, prior to the recording of this album without Tate, the three original members of Queensryche played several shows with Todd in 2012, under the name Rising West, and only picked songs from the first five albums (from the Queensryche EP up to “Empire”) to keep making money while Tate was working on his second solo album “Kings & Thieves”, and more so because they wanted to revisit those classic songs that for the most part had been absent from the live setlist for many years. This working to their advantage because not only was it a preemptive strike before the fallout with Tate, but, fuel for the band’s creative fire when writing these songs for the self titled album.

Opening with the instrumental ‘X2’, instantly it feels like “Rage For Order” especially with the bell tolling. Segueing right into ‘Where Dreams Go To Die’ which begins with drums, twin guitar harmonies, followed by a strong riff, guitars dropping out briefly for the verse highlighting Todd’s uncanny resemblance to Tate taking center stage, it should lay all fears to rest for diehard fans saying “how can you replace that voice”? Effects on the guitars in ‘Spore’ continues with that “Rage For Order” progressive feel as with the tempo changes, nice chorus too. You will recall “Empire” in ‘In This Light’, and ‘Redemption’, even though the latter opens kinda dark in the leads/riff and the solo section is maintained by the heavy riffing/rhythm backbone. Four songs in you can close your eyes and swear its Tate behind the mic. Nice job Todd. ‘Vindication’ (and ‘Don’t Look Back’) is more aggressive with a quicker/busier drum beat, followed by a haunting segue ‘Midnight Lullaby’ which sets it up for the melody in the Killing Words–esque ‘A World Without’. ‘Fallout’ is probably the one track that feels like it could have come from the “Operation Mindcrime” album. Otherwise, these arrangements feel and sound closer to “Rage For Oder” and “The Warning”.

Well done, very curious to hear the next album.