Q2k

Originally released in 1999 on Atlantic, Q2K both captures Queensryche as a mature musical machine in its prime, and finds them breaking new ground after a personnel change. They redefine themselves artistically and their dazzling musical interplay reaches new heights.

Seattle vets Queensryche breach the new millennium with heads held high, their music ever-straddling that uneasy middle ground between 1980s big-hair metal and '90s shaved-head sludge. In other words, they've managed to keep their originality intact. The band's sense of taut drama remains, with "Falling Down" and "Sacred Ground" setting the tone. Melodic (if not overwrought) vocalist Geoff Tate manages to evoke R.J. Dio without all the medieval kitsch that comparison implies. "One Life" proves they've learned a trick or two from angst-ridden younger Seattle cousins Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, though not enough to keep them from the occasional lapse, like the bitter-saccharine "When the Rain Comes." But by sticking to their guns, especially in the epic-scaled "Liquid Sky," Queensryche may yet share the same last, ironic laugh that Def Leppard did on Euphoria. --Jerry McCulley