Queensrÿche: Condition Human

Tateless ’Rÿche re-established.

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Queensrÿche release Condition Human, their second record with the former Crimson Glory singer Todd La Torre, with a grasp on their identity.

At the time of 2013’s self-titled album, Geoff Tate was fronting an alternative line-up of the band. That knot has been untangled (Tate now leads Operation: Mindcrime, named after Queensrÿche’s best-known record), and yet La Torre’s freshness and power are very reminiscent of Tate in his pomp – the casual listener would struggle to tell them apart.

He’s particularly good on the mid-album pairing of Hourglass and Just Us, a couple of gentler songs that allow his character through.

Most of the rest is harder prog metal of some quality – it’s simply fighting against the better records of Queensrÿche’s past, when their futuristic edge actually sounded futuristic.

Jon Hotten

Jon Hotten is an English author and journalist. He is best known for the books Muscle: A Writer's Trip Through a Sport with No Boundaries and The Years of the Locust. In June 2015 he published a novel, My Life And The Beautiful Music (Cape), based on his time in LA in the late 80s reporting on the heavy metal scene. He was a contributor to Kerrang! magazine from 1987–92 and currently contributes to Classic Rock. Hotten is the author of the popular cricket blog, The Old Batsman, and since February 2013 is a frequent contributor to The Cordon cricket blog at Cricinfo. His most recent book, Bat, Ball & Field, was published in 2022.