Queensryche - Promised Land (the overlooked album?)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Valen2260, Aug 15, 2019.

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  1. Valen2260

    Valen2260 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Operation Mindcrime and Empire tend to get a lot of attention when people mention prog-metallers Queensryche, and understandably so. But what about the fifth album Promised Land?

    I find with the passing of time that it's an album that gets better with each new listen and for me, it's now become my favourite. I feel it's their peak in terms of writing, musicianship and production.

    Here's a blog piece I've just published making the case for Promised Land:

    Queensrÿche – Promised Land (1994) (*****)
     
  2. sound chaser

    sound chaser Senior Member

    Location:
    North East UK.
    OM is a classic, as is this, I often find "Empire" a bit too sterile and unsatisfying, for some reason.
     
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  3. whoman4says

    whoman4says Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Rage for Order is the one. I never tire of that album (thin production apart).

    So far ahead of it's time, nothing sounded like it then and nothing has sounded like it since!
     
  4. Jimmy Agates

    Jimmy Agates CRAZY DOCTOR

    Promised Land to me was half killer half filler....some great songs I Am I, Disconnected, Damaged, Someone Else and the title track are awesome but the rest are very subpar. Their finest hour was Mindcrime closely followed by The Warning and Rage For Order.
     
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  5. Zongadude

    Zongadude Music is the best

    Location:
    France
    Rage for order, Mindcrime and Empire make the perfect trilogy, for me.
    As for Promised land, it is still very good, and I agree that it has stands the test of time elegantly.
    It is also specially well recorded and mixed.

    It is with the following album that things got wrong. I don't know why, but "Sign of the times" is the only song I like on "Hear in the now frontier" ! :eek:
     
  6. DML71

    DML71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Will give Promised Land a run out later this afternoon. Be a while since I listened to it.

    Currently listening to the 20th Anniversary edition of Empire on Spotify, there's a whole load of live tracks i'd never heard.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  7. Anonamemouse

    Anonamemouse my other pink shirt is black too

    I for one would love to see an MFSL SACD version of Promised Land. When it comes to being a QR fav, I bounce between PL en Empire.
     
    ytserush likes this.
  8. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    IMO is the bands best album
     
  9. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia


    Go listen to the tune “spool” from hitnf
     
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  10. Zongadude

    Zongadude Music is the best

    Location:
    France
    That's funny because that's one of the songs I remember not liking at all at the time....
    But I gave it a try, just now, because of your post, and it's not that bad, really ;)

    And so I tried a few songs from the album, with my "ears of 2019", and it seems I like "Miles away", "Hero", and "The voice inside" a great deal, today. ;)
    So thanks.
     
  11. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia

    IMO “spool” is the best song on the album . It’s really underrated for an album
     
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  12. MechanicalAnimal6

    MechanicalAnimal6 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    LOVE Queensryche, but that is my least favorite album out of the Degarmo era....easily.

    And for some reason, to this day, i don't understand all the hatred towards Hear In The Now Frontier.....i absolutely LOVE
    that album !!! Not a single track on there do i not like. I play that album all the time!

    That being said, there is also the whole Tate/LaTorre thing too....i enjoy the albums Tate has done since being kicked out of
    Queensryche and i really love the 3 albums done with Todd LaTorre on vocals...those 3 albums i would rank higher than a lot
    of the Tate era stuff. Glad to have Todd in the band. Seen them live with him and they are on fire now, like a well oiled machine.

    Promised Land is probably 2nd or 3 towards last place if i were to rank ALL of the Queensryche albums...
     
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  13. Papi Hipbone323

    Papi Hipbone323 The Stouffer's Lasagna of Audiophiles

    Location:
    Lancaster, Ohio
    I agree. Promised Land is very overlooked in the Queensryche catalog. The material presented fantastically in a live setting and it still sounds good today. For me, the only throwaway track is My Global Mind, while my favorite track off the album would be "Bridge". I was SO happy when they reissued it on vinyl a couple of years back. Thanks for the thread. I'm going to have to give this a spin very soon!
     
  14. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I dig it. It's a solid record that balances QR's sound with then-current influences without going too far in either direction. I suppose that compromise is what hinders it a little, but at the same time, they couldn't have made an Empire-sounding record in 1994 and had anyone listen to it.

    I wonder if QR's decline was as much due to the lengthy gap between 1990 and 1994 as it was due to stylistic shifts. Certainly QR was in a better position to thrive in the 90's than many of their contemporaries, but they kinda blew it (even though I think PL and HITNF are both enjoyable records).
     
  15. weekendtoy

    weekendtoy Rejecting your reality and substituting my own.

    Location:
    Northern MN
    I have everything in the Queensryche discography through Hear in the Now Frontier with the exception of Promised Land. I guess I'm guilty of overlooking it. I see it in the used bins a bit so I'll be sure to pick this up next time I see it.
     
  16. Python

    Python Forum Resident

    Location:
    S.F. Bay Area
    I think Rage and OM are masterpieces, Empire was hit or miss, and PL had a few good songs but just didn't hold up. The last one I bought was the one they released in '97, I thought it was horrible and got rid of it. I still listen to RFO and OM in their entirety, but just the songs I like on the following two, maybe seven or eight on Empire and four or so on PL.

    But I'm glad for those who like it, though, for sure...the band certainly always gave a ****, good or bad, and that's far from true for a lot of artists...I was bummed a few years ago when I read about them devolving into acrimony and splitting up.
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  17. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    This has long been not only my favorite 'Ryche album, but a top 25 all-timer for me. I think most hardcore fans of the band would agree that this album is part of their classic era (and the end of it).
     
  18. paradox55

    paradox55 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I concur and have always loved Promised Land. In fact, I remember the tour where they played most, if not all of the album, with Type O Negative as the opener(strange billing).
    Lady Jane, Someone Else, Disconnected, I Am I, One More Time, and the title cut are my favorites.
     
  19. Brenald79

    Brenald79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I agree this album is a masterpiece and one of favorite albums of the 90s. For some reason I’ve only heard 5 QR albums and only own 4 albums. It’s time to get more.
     
  20. Kim Olesen

    Kim Olesen Gently weeping guitarist.

    Location:
    Odense Denmark.
    I tried with PL years ago. It didn’t click with me then. I am a HUGE lover of Rage For Order, and perhaps i just didn’t give PL it’s due time because all i wanted was another Rage For order.....

    Btw i really like Condition Human.
     
  21. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    As long as you have every album up to and including Promised Land, you are good.

    https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/queensryche

    Those ratings tell the tale pretty well. The first five are all most worthy and then they fell off the cliff hard and fast.
     
  22. Brenald79

    Brenald79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Yeah I need to get those early albums. I got Q2K when it was released in 1999 at the insistence of a guy at a record store at it turned me off of QR until getting the new album this year. 20year gap.
     
    Northwind likes this.
  23. johnny q

    johnny q Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bergen County, NJ
    I consider Promised Land either the last great QR album, or the first of the stinkers. In regards to the former, it really does not have much competition to be honest.
     
  24. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    I like some of Promised Land, but it’s fairly uneven compared to everything before it. Same with Hear In The Now Frontier, and everything Post DeGarmo/Pre Split? The less said about those, the better.
     
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  25. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Promised Land is the last great Queensryche album. There have been good onces since them, but not great. And it's better than Empire, imo.
     
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