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Album Details

• Artist: Queensryche
• Album: Rage For Order
• Label: EMI Records
• Year of Release: 1986
• ME Rating: Indie Classic
• Reviewed by: gwhill on 2013-02-01

Rage for Order, the album directly preceding Operation Mindcrime, certainly shows the potential and directions in which Queensryche was ready to move. Although showing elements of other bands and styles, this album is a very unique and innovative work that foreshadows the stylistic directions that the band were getting ready to undertake. This album certainly defined and created a subgenre within the realm of progressive metal and is definitely one of the most influential progressive metal albums.

Sure, the Gothic overtones along with the glam (look at the pictures of the band for insight into that) were prevalent, and just a little hokey. While those two elements don’t hold up well, as a whole, the album still works quite well. The album is divided between more metallic tunes and mellower ones. The opener, “Walk in the Shadows,” is among the best of the set. It’s a metallic sort of tune with an almost gothic feel at times. It contains both some interestingly processed vocals and some stellar and soaring vocal work.

“Gonna Get Close to You” is an intriguing cut. It is certainly a song told from the point of view of a stalker. A fairly slow and metallic song, it features a strong progressive metal arrangement and some intriguing keyboard textures. “London” seems to be a tale of a vampire and his efforts to carry on with the loneliness of lost loves – or perhaps it’s about Jack the Ripper. Musically, it is a spooky metallic ballad that is quite powerful. A strong and moody balladic sort of piece, “The Killing Words” is packed with emotion. A keyboard crescendo serves as a dramatic intro to “Neue Regel.” The intensity drops directly into a picked guitar section, but then grows and shifts from that point. This entire intro is in a considerably an art-rock type of mode, that is full of twists. Eventually, the track drops into a more stable structure; somewhat alternating between more balladic and metallic moods. Listening to the song, it is very easy to see the roots of the styles that Queensryche employed on the Operation Mindcrime album. This piece would indeed be at home on that album. It is definitely a track which stands tall above the others on the album.

All in all, this is quite a strong album. It’s a disc that doesn’t really sound like any other Queensryche album. In fact, it would be hard to think of another disc that sounds like this one. It is certainly essential for Queensryche fans, and anyone who enjoys progressive metal.

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