RAGE FOR ORDER

As the predecessor to "Operation : Mindcrime", "Rage for order" gave little indication of the quality to be expected on its illustrious successor. The tracks are short, generally in the 4-5 minute range, with little development beyond fairly standard pop rock structures. There is a broad concept to the album reflected in the title. In the words of the band's website: "It's very much like the world right now -- a kind of chaos searching for direction". Prior to recording this album, the band had been touring with Kiss and Iron Maiden, and the influence of both bands can be heard clearly here. The music has a metallic basis, but is pretty much devoid of any prog influences, which would come later. The collaboration with Pink Floyd producer James Guthrie on the previous album "The warning" was not considered to be entirely successful. This album was therefore produced by Neil Kernon whose previous experience producing such bands as Dokken, Autograph, and Hall and Oats complements the music of Queensryche well.

The album opens powerfully with "Walk in the shadows", an upbeat, toe tapping number with some fine guitar work. There are many influences and similarities throughout the album. "I dream in infrared" and "The whisper" (among others) have strong echoes of Iron Maiden. "The killing words" moves from an Asia like intro to a Journey style melodic rock power ballad. "Gonna get close to you" has a very similar riff to the one which appeared previously on Stevie Nicks' 1981 song "Edge of seventeen". This incidentally, is the only cover version the band have ever recorded. "Neue Regel" has a Led Zeppelin feel, with spacey keyboards and twanging guitars, although the chorus is more orthodox power rock.

The closing track, "I will remember" is the high point of the album, with some superb vocals. An excellent MTV unplugged version of this song can be heard as a bonus track on the remastered version of "Hear in the now frontier".

The remastered version of "Rage for order" includes four bonus tracks. The 12" remix of "Gonna get close to you" is not too different from the original. The live version of "Killing words" is reasonable, but inferior to both the MTV Unplugged bonus track on "Hear in the now frontier", and the studio version included here. The other two bonus tracks are an acoustic remix of "I dream in infrared", and a bootleg quality live version of "Walk in the shadows", both of which appear in their original form on this album.

A decent if unremarkable early album from this erratic band.

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