Queensrÿche - American Soldier

Superb concept album marks Seattle prog-metaller’s 12th

Inspired by the wartime experiences of American veterans from Vietnam, Somalia, the Gulf Wars and the War On Terror, singer Geoff Tate collated and fashioned a concept album that’s a fitting testament to them and, for hard prog fans, an essential purchase.

The 12 tracks include snippets of interviews interspersed with typically finely-crafted hard rock, occasionally raging in metallic fashion, or pulling back for reflection. Sliver opens with a funk-edged metal riff, before cutting into the chopper rotors and soldier stories of Unafraid, and chiming guitars of Hundred Mile Stare (think late 80s Marillion).

While there’s a uniformity to the following songs, that’s apt and The Killer breaks the tone with percussion-led roundelays that make for an insistent, gripping listen. Middle Of Hell showcases acoustic guitar and sax, while Man Down has flurries of Eastern-leaning guitar, which floats on Home Again before the final restiveness of The Voice. Class.

Rhino/Atco | 8122798726

Reviewed by Tim Jones
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