Queensryche
 

I like Queensryche a great lot. Geoff Tate is a great singer and the guitarists of the band (whose names both escape me and I find that I am too lazy to look up who they are right now) complement the band as a whole, since I greatly appreciate guitar related benefits to listening to music.

But mainly what this thread is about is this: I always see Queensryche qualifying with progressive music, and I cannot understand why.

Now I love Queensryche, by all means, do not get me wrong. But is there anyone who can explain to me why this band is so often considered to be a progressive band? All that I can see within their music as progressive is their brilliance behind the concept albums that they release and the few longer songs that they've released.

Has progressive music become so embedded in my young vein that I don't even realize it as apart from the pack? Is Queensryche just a more mainstream prog-band that is so subtle that I don't realize their progressivism? Please, these questions plague me because I have no legitimate problems other than odd queries that resonate through my mind, so a definitive answer would hinder me well.

Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton are the guitarists you're looking for. In general I agree with what you're saying above, just too many bands are classified especially in the metal genre as being progressive. When I think of prog, I always think of intricate song structures and instrumentation, and different textures within the songs. A lot of prog metal just seems to be lengthy instrumentals, song and tempo changes and a bit of jazz etc thrown in and based around a concept, which often in many people's eyes classifies it as prog. Personally, I'd like to see a lot of prog metal acts classified as technical metal acts, because that is what a lot really are.

As for Queensryche, the banded peaked without a doubt on Operation Mindcrime and Geoff Tate's voice really set them apart. Since then they've had some good albums, but in general they sound like a band especially on their more recent material, as a band unable to return to the days of yore.

i don't really bother much with whatever sub-genre they're classified under

i love Operation : Mindcrime and think Hear in the Now Frontier to be one of their better later albums

Can't say I liked Operation Mindcrime when I heard it.

Why not?

The music probably didn't seem that defined or gripping. Which is the best track for you?

There are a lot of great tracks but I always like this one.


Queensrÿche - The Mission - YouTube

A very similiar album to the Queensryche album, was this classic album by Styx which had a similiar concept and also pre dates the Queensryche album by some 5 years. I guess Queensryche were also fans of the album as there are a number of musical similiarities between the two as well.

Now I can definitely hear that they're different from other bands of their time, but I don't see why they're progressive. Although it kind of tickles me to think that a band is playing progressive music the wrong way...

I always remember reading an interview with Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson when he said that Operation:Mindcrime was the album that Maiden should have made in terms of concept and execution.

I didn't like the band before and they never came close after this but Operation:Mindcrime is without doubt a superb album and I still listen to it a lot after 20 odd years.