Rhino

Queensryche has spent a good portion of their career in an identity crisis. Sometimes they wanna be a metal band but other times they wanna be a commercial rock band. For a long time they had maintained a consistently accessible yet bankrupt sound, until they made a significant comeback with a sequel to their seminal (and simply the greatest ever made) concept album Operation: Mindcrime. While no where near as great as its landmark predecessor, Operation: Mindcrime II still managed to re-ignite interest from older fans long hoping that the band will return to its metal roots. Well this comeback is unfortunately short-lived, as American Soldier has the band sulking back to old tricks.

American Soldier mostly follows the template that the band used in the mid-90's. Slower, melodic songs, not very heavy and kinda meandering. While those mid-90's albums still produced many of the band's underrated classics (especially the criminally overlooked Promised Land), American Solder's greatest shortcoming is that the songs just have nothing remarkable about them. No memorable hooks at all, no choruses that you will hum long after you've finished the album or any solos that burn themselves into your head. Hell, Matt Stone is no longer in the band. One must wonder if the band's current dull direction was a factor in his decision?

The most annoying thing about these songs (beyond the fact that they were written) are that a lot employ the use of voice-overs. Hell, Unafraid is barely a song at all, its almost an instrumental track with voice-overs used in place of vocals. I am reminded of the movie Adaptation where Nicolas Cage's character Charlie Kaufman goes to a writing seminar and the lecturer states with much agitation: "...and God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends! God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing! Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character!"  Flaccid, sloppy writing indeed.

I'm not one to pass judgement on the album's concept, on the contrary its quite admirable. Considering the things that a soldier in times of war has to go through, the album just doesn't do them justice. You'd think that there would be a big epic song or two somewhere, but the band let that opportunity pass them by. Normally one would say " ...well at least they tried". But they didn't. They just didn't.


01. Sliver
02. Unafraid
03. Hundred Mile Stare
04. At 30,000 Feet
05. A Dead Man's Words
06. The Killer
07. Middle Of Hell
08. If I Were King
09. Man Down!
10. Remember Me
11. Home Again
12. The Voice

Score: 3/10