799. Queensrÿche / Hear in the Now Frontier. 1997. 2.5/5

Hear in the Now Frontier indeed. The fact that Queensrÿche's previous album sold so well despite the steaming pile of rubbish it turned out to be was obviously only contributed to by the brilliance of the previous two albums. I am guessing that if most of us had heard Promised Land before plonking down our hard earned to purchase it, there would have been a hell of a lot of people who would have reversed that decision. And yet, most of us still went out when this album was released, and paid our money again for another Queensrÿche album. What is it that drew us all back again for another instalment? The belief, or hope, that Promised Land had been an aberration, and that the real Queensrÿche would return bigger and better than ever on this album? Of course it was!

Put the CD on the stereo. Press Play. Well, there's a guitar riff! Already this album has points over its predecessor. OK, it may be a simple riff, but a riff is what it is. Perhaps the fact that it tends to trend throughout the whole song without a change is a cause for concern. Could the title of the song, "Sign of the Times" be an omen as well? Is it a sign of this album that they will produce a guitar riff, but it won't change throughout? The possibility of this remains as we move into "Cuckoo's Nest", because it does seem to be similar again. And what about those vocals? Does it sound to you like Tate and DeGarmo are trying to imitate some other kind of bands? They just sound similar to something else, but I can't quite place it...
Oh, and then it hits you right between the eyes as "Get a Life" starts, and moves through the remainder of the album. This is a bloody GRUNGE album!!! How the hell did that happen?! How did we get from what the band released three years ago, to what we have here? I'm just totally blown away. I clearly remember picking up the CD case and making sure I had the new Queensrÿche album on, and hadn't mistaken it for another album. It becomes so obvious as we move along. "The Voice Inside" is pure Alice in Chains-like, even the vocals in the chorus are trying to mimic Layne and Jerry. The guitar solo is almost country/western though, or perhaps just so stripped back with slide guitar I don't know the difference. Wow. "Some People Fly" is more of the same, slower and less energised, but still unmistakeably of this same genre. The vocals are harmonising in that way. The main difference here though between this and those high profile grunge bands is that the guitar rhythms here are very bland and uninteresting, not really producing anything memorable in themselves.
"Saved" comes along with a harder element infused in the mix, allowing Rockenfield's drums and Wilton and DeGarmo's guitars to light up for a brief moment, though not with enough panache to really hold the interest long. "You" tries to continue in that vein, containing a closer mix of drums, riff and vocals that can showcase the better side of the band. This is probably the best song on the album for me. Unfortunately we delve back into the depths of despair from here. "Hero" is dreadfully dull, acoustically driven slow slop, with Geoff crooning as he is wont to do more and more often. There is no power here, no progressive nature in the music. It continues what seems to be a cross between slow unadulterated grunge and country which is bereft of any redeeming qualities. It could almost be catagorised as easy listening, because it can send you to sleep listening to it. "Miles Away" goes with a combination grunge/AOR sound. Now there's something to keep the punters wondering what the hell is going on. I'd have thought it almost impossible to combine those two genres of music until I heard this song. Remarkable.
"Reach", like "You", tries to be the up tempo track on the album. Still it's closer to a soft rock song with a solid but not memorable riff throughout. "Hit the Black" starts off well, but stutters to a slightly unsatisfying conclusion. "Anytime / Anywhere" is in a similar category. There are good moments in the song, but the way it segues through rock to grunge makes it difficult to enjoy completely. The album concludes with "sp00L", for which the previous comments can be added along with this song.
So it's basically a Seattle grunge album in 1997. But did we really need this in 1997? By this time Nirvana had folded after Kurt Cobain's suicide, and from this had been born Dave Grohl's hard rock phenomenon Foo Fighters. Ditto with Alice in Chains, who were hamstrung by Layne Staley's drug issues. Soundgarden had split up. Grunge was basically over, and yet here was a successful progressive metal band deciding now was the time to embrace their hometown's traditions by stripping everything back and recording a grunge album! It's not as if you can throw all of the blame for this at the feet of Geoff Tate either, something which evidence suggests you could do from this release onwards. Chris DeGarmo is the chief contributor in writing to almost every track on this album, which theoretically should mean he was happy with the direction the music went here.

It is fair to say that Hear in the Now Frontier is a vastly superior album than Promised Land was. Here we once again don't have what most fans would have considered to be the band's natural sound. It certainly isn't a progressive metal album. And it really doesn't stack up to their early albums. When you go looking for a Queensrÿche album to play it is highly unlikely you would reach for this album, because if you want the kind of music that you find on this album, you would go for Alice in Chain's Dirt or Soundgarden's Superunknown, because they are superb examples of Seattle sound, whereas this resembles a cheap knock off. It isn't a total loss, but it also isn't Queensrÿche.

Rating:  No matter what goes down, I'll still be there for you.  I'm beginning to believe otherwise.  2.5/5