QUEENSRŸCHE – Tribe

You just have to respect this band. Although their latest laser offerings, the disappointment of the century called Q2K and the double disc Live Evolution, both were way off target, at least the band never cut the same record twice. Some might have preferred that they did, and Rage For Order is one of my top 5 all time favorite records, and Operation: Mindcrime is damn close as well. Tribe doesn’t stand a comparison, but when stating the band never repeated itself, there’s no need to compare.

The CD opens with “Open” (eh…), a track that will have any old school fan admitting they’re back. Though Tribe completely is a record with its own identity, you can hear that this is the band that recorded The Promised Land. On the other side, you also hear that their singer recently put out a very electronic solo CD… “Open” is kind of a laid back and melodic Queensrÿche number, it has those harmonic guitars you also can hear on “Damaged”, and all in all it’s a not only a good song, but a good opener.

“Losing Myself” is up next, and it takes the record in a more percussive direction. The riff might be modern, but the guitar sound is unique Queensrÿche. Scott Rockenfield does his grungy double snare beats, which I never dug very much, but hey – this works. At the same time, there’s a good melody and a cool guitar solo, and groove meister Jackson sounds huge. “Desert Dance” sounds very modern, but Geoff Tate shows that he has learned to utilize whatever’s left of his range, and he still has a unique way to express himself. This riff IS really modern, as well as the singing, but still it has a QR identity to it. Again, I can not deny the fact that this is a good song, I just have to distance myself a bit from the band’s past.

“Falling Behind” is a ballad that sees the band return to The Promised Land-era in terms of tone and expression. It would have made its way onto that record indeed, I prefer this to “Out Of Mind” actually.

More percussive is “Great Divide”, which I wouldn’t call a ballad though it has a mellow verse. It has a bit more punch to its choruses, but is a slow number all the way through. Again, as in most of the songs, you hear the typical QR guitar tone in the background.

“Rhythm Of Hope” opens like “Someone Else?”, and is an orchestral piece. There are acoustic guitars and orchestral parts nicely mixed, and a clean and nice guitar solo that ends a bit too early. Tempo-wise, this could be called the third ballad in a row – this is indeed the band’s most “mature” record. Another good song, if you don’t expect the band to make Operation: Mindcrime Part II.

The title track is up next. The tempo is not (up), but at least this number has a heavy guitar riff through the song. The verses are very talk-like (“Spreading The Disease”). More typical Wilton-guitars in the background, I am beginning to understand that I like most songs on this CD. Again, it helps to forget that this is the same band (not really, the main man is still missing) that recorded Rage For Order. The songs are good individually, they even tie good together and make Tribe a record with its own expression.

So here’s the song I am not too happy with, “Blood.” The chorus is very Grunge-like, the verse is not too exciting, and the melody is very repetitive.

“Under My Skin” is another slow one, yes, very slow, and moody, with Geoff again talking more than singing. The problem with this song; not much happens.

Last is “Doing Fine”, a typical QR ballad in terms of melody lines. It has fuzzy guitars, and again I ask myself, is this a ballad or just another slow piece?

You might hate this CD at first, or might love it. It took me lots of spins to accept the disc, and I doubt I would have pressed play that many times if it didn’t say Queensrÿche on the cover. Fact is, the band is back on track, and this is perhaps a more logical follow-up to The Promised Land than anything else the band has done ever since. It’s not the best Queensrÿche record, in fact it’s one of the lesser good ones, but then we’re back to the band’s dilemma: They outdid themselves with their second full length release…