Queensryche, ‘Dedicated to Chaos’

Queensryche turns up the heat and the tempo this summer with their newest release ‘Dedicated to Chaos.’ It has been two years since their previous and much darker release, ‘American Soldier,' and this new album finds the band operating at a very different pace.

Geoff Tate and the rest of Queensryche kick things off with the appropriately titled ‘Get Started,’ which sets the mood for most of the record. The song is loud rock that you can blast in your car as well as dance drunkenly (or soberly) to.

The lyrics to 'Hot Spot Junkie’ are relevant to today’s cyber obsessed world, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it makes for a good track. The word Youtube (which reoccurs in the chorus) does not fit with Geoff Tate’s vocals at all, making the song as a whole rather awkward.

‘Got It Bad’ and ‘Around the World’ have a certain psychedelic Beatle-esque quality to them. In fact, elements that influenced Queenryche can be heard throughout the entire album. Songs such as ‘Higher,’ Wot We Do’ and ‘Drive’ are somewhat darker and edgier songs but overall, 'Dedicated to Chaos' keeps a simplistic tone, with nothing too complex rhythmically or vocally.

‘Retail Therapy’ has a similar message to ‘Hot Spot Junkie,' speaking directly to today’s impatient society with lyrics such as “I got cash in hand to be happiness” and “ADD keeps happening to me.”

‘Dedicated to Chaos’ was produced by Queenryche’s former guitarist Kelly Gray, and it is their first album released under the Roadrunner/Loud & Proud Records banner.

Overall, the album is a mixture of politics and an auditory panoramic view of the present, combined with elements of their earlier sound. ‘Dedicated to Chaos’ may not be what Queensryche fans expect, especially on first listen, and it’s not what one might call an instant classic, but neither is it a complete wash out.