Hear in the Now Frontier
With the popularity of complex, progressive rock on the wane, Queensryche stripped down their sound considerably, going for simpler arrangements and focusing less on orchestration and more on just playing rock and roll. The result is that whileHear in the Now Frontieris a strong effort, it's not as distinctive as their earlier albums. It does, however, have the Queensryche sound-sweeping guitar work, Geoff Tate's powerful voice, and an introspective awareness that manages to avoid pretension. The single "Sign of the Times" is a bit of social commentary similar to "Empire" or "Disconnected" from their earlier albums, but the album includes several hopeful songs as well, including "Some People Fly" and "The Voice Inside". The lack of complexity at first makes it seem as thoughHear in the Now Frontierlacks substance, but this isn't the case; it's just not as dense as it used to be. --Genevieve Williams