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""Promised Land" is a masterpiece from start to finish and remains to this day Queensrÿche's last great record, one of their best and certainly their most adventurous."
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5/5
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Back in 1994. Queensrÿche is already a big band on the international metal scene for almost 10 years thanks to albums like "Rage for order" (1986), "Operation Mindcrime" (1988) or "Empire" (1990). With these three albums, the band has not only made a name for itself but also almost created a musical genre of its own. Starting from their basic heavy metal, very influenced by Iron Maiden, they allowed themselves from "Rage for order" to open up to progressive influences. He brought to his music a very strong identity with a rather dark universe and a lot of richness in the arrangements becoming one of the founders of the progressive metal alongside Fates Warning.
After such a trio of albums, Queensrÿche took the time to breathe in order to better approach the 90s. The realization of its new album will practically take two years, the writing being shared almost completely between Geoff Tate and Chris DeGarmo. If Queensrÿche offers us once again a concept album, this last one will turn out to be radically different from the grandiloquent "Operation Mindcrime" and musically very far from "Empire", which showed a rather accessible side, almost FM. Taking everyone by surprise, "Promised Land" will surprise the fans of the band who expected them to keep the same guideline halfway between their two previous albums. Far from the metal clichés, the themes revolve around death, reincarnation and the search for oneself. The general tone of the album is quite intimate. The heavy side leave room for melancholic and atmospheric ambiences and more hard rock passages.
Thus, after a very short introduction, "9.28 Am", and two rather classic first tracks, "I Am I" and "Damaged", Queensrÿche opens to new horizons, all in nuances and melodies. "Out of mind" and its very aerial guitar passages close to Pink Floyd, starts this musical journey in beauty followed by a very acoustic "Bridge", which turns out to be a pure marvel in which Chris DeGarmo evokes his father. Finally comes the eponymous title, true summit of the disc. On more than 8 minutes, Queensrÿche transcends itself by proposing a progressive, soaring and especially bewitching piece thanks to sublime and subtle musical passages. Tate plays the saxophone with an enormous class in a piano bar atmosphere worthy once again of the best Pink Floyd. The final part of the album finds heavier rock aspects on "My global mind" and "One more time" with its acoustic guitar bringing a dramatic side, perfectly mixed with heavier passages of the best effect.
"Promised Land" is a masterpiece from start to finish and remains to this day the band's last great record, one of their best and certainly their most adventurous. Unfortunately since this summit, Queensrÿche will not manage to find the same verve. The relative commercial failure of this album which did not deserve this treatment was undoubtedly not foreign. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. 9:28 AM
02. I am I
03. Damaged
04. Out of mind
05. Bridge
06. Promised Land
07. Dis Con Nect Ted
08. Lady Jane
09. My global mind
10. One more time
11. Someone else?
12. Real World (bonus track)
13. Someone else? (bonus track)
13. Damaged (live bonus track)
14. Real World live bonus track)
LINEUP:
Chris Degarmo: Guitares / Piano
Eddie Jackson: Basse
Geoff Tate: Chant / saxophone
Michael Wilton: Guitares
Scott Rockenfield: Batterie
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READERS
4.3/5 (6 view(s))
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STAFF:
4.7/5 (9 view(s))
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