RAGE FOR ORDER

If nothing else, RAGE FOR ORDER is a fine metal release that's superior than most of its peers at the time. It's more melodic than thrash metal, and more impressive than glam metal. Still, I can't shake off the Maidenisms here; Queensryche sounds like Iron Maiden right down to the epic operatic vocals, just with glossier production.

Most of all, I hear little more than a good metal album with progressive parts being sporadic here at best. The rally cry chorus in ''We Are the Rebellion'' and the general epicness flooding ''Neue Regal'' are the highlight tracks, although prog fans will also enjoy ''London'' and ''Surgical Strike''. ''Screaming in Digital'' has some really off-kilter rhythms, but the rest of the album is standard metal tracks.

If you need a metal fix, RAGE FOR ORDER is good for that. For prog metal, this album isn't quite there especially knowing that there's MASTER OF PUPPETS that was released around that time and knowing PERFECT SYMMETRY and IMAGES AND WORDS are to come. It doesn't make me cringe, and makes me smile.