REVIEW: Queensryche – Q2k (Expanded edition)
QUEENSRYCHE - Q2k (1999, 2006 expanded edition, Atlantic/Rhino)
Disclaimer: I am in a very small minority of fans who love the Q2k album. Most don’t. Many consider it a continuation of the “grungy” sounds of Hear In The Now Frontier, but weaker. That’s not my point of view, so be forewarned. Read on.
Chris DeGarmo’s departure after Hear In The Now Frontier shattered the group, but they decided to soldier on with old friend Kelly Gray (ex-Geoff Tate’s old band Myth, producer of Dokken, Candlebox, Bob Rivers etc.). Gray was a strong writer, but had a completely different style from the melodic DeGarmo. Gray’s sound is more based in heavy riffing, groove, and lots of wah-wah solos. It’s a different Queensryche and change was exactly what this band needed after the terrible Hear In The Now.
Sure, the album title sucks. I wonder if they regret it now? I’m sure they must. Thankfully, the music inside doesn’t suck. Heavy, grooving, riffy, powerful, well recorded…I love this album. The only flaw, and the only reason this doesn’t get five stars from me, is that there is a certain sameness to the songs. Almost all have a similar groove. Yet all are catchy and enjoyable. Truly this is Queenryche at their most “rock” and rock it does!
This remastered edition, like all previous Queensryche remasters, contains liner notes by Geoff Tate and bonus tracks. The liner notes reveal the strife that the band had experienced at the time, largely due to the change in guitar players. Clearly this was not a happy time for the band but the music is only stronger for it. The bonus tracks are cool, my favourite of them being the ballad “Until There Was You”. I was always quite pleased to finally get the live version of “Sacred Ground”, originally only on the Japanese version.
Fave songs:
- “Falling Down” – tribal thumping opens this groovy riff rocker
- “Sacred Ground” – a droney riff that somehow works within the Queensryche context
- “Liquid Sky” – a little more old-school on the riff, but with that same groove
- “Breakdown” – sounds a bit too much like “Falling Down”, but is no less powerful
- “Burning Man” – the faster side of Queensryche, furious drumming from Rockenfield, simply awesome
- “Wot Kinda Man” – the first of the dumb Tate titles conceals a wah-wah infested rocker
- “The Right Side Of My Mind” – the most proggy and the most old-school ‘Ryche
Bad lyrical moment: “Like electrical shock-waves in the sky.” Yikes!
Dull song: ”When The Rain Comes”. It’s not a terrible song, just a bit too slow without building into anything memorable.
I mentioned the bonus tracks. ”Howl” is the first song, very similar to the heavier rocking songs on Q2k. You can see why it was left off initially, as the album is already loaded with songs like this. ”Howl” is just slightly inferior in terms of melody and heaviness. ”Until There Was You” is a much better song, and I think it should have been on the album. Indeed, the band chose this song for their anthology, Sign of the Times. It’s a ballad with a great chorus, memorable and strong.
“Sacred Ground”, as mentioned, was the live Japanese bonus track. This is not the same version as the one on Live Evolution, this is an earlier recording. Collectors will be happy that they don’t have to hunt down a Japanese copy. Lastly there’s a single edit of “Breakdown”, chopping a minute out of the song. I wasn’t too fussed to have this one, because I already own all three promo singles from this album, from my record store days. I was given free copies of “Breakdown”, “Falling Down”, and “The Right Side of My Mind”. (There was no edit version of “Falling Down”, but the edit version of “Right Side” is missing from this expanded edition. I was actually given two sets of these, but I sold the other set.)
I’m quite fond of Q2k, and I can honestly say that I haven’t liked any of the albums since then quite as much, not even Mindcrime II which should have been a slam-dunk winner. I do hope that the new Queensryche (with La Torre) will return them to the rocking glory years.
4/5 stars
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You are a man of your word, Mike! You promised the “Q2K” review, and you delivered! Now, I gotta go through my Banker’s Boxes and find that “Sign Of The Times” anthology to get that “Until There Was You”. I seem to remember that anthology was a two-disc edition in a digi-pack. Not sure, for a minute, Queensryche was throwing out anthologies right and left, not quite at an Aerosmith clip, but nonetheless…!
Yes, totally. There was a greatest hits, and live albums, and so on, all within a short span.
Sigh of the Times is the two CD anthology, but I think you could also get it as a single disc. It also had a brand new song on it called “Justified” written and recorded with DeGarmo.
I wish DeGarmo would rock with Ryche again.
And, yes, what a ghastly title!!!
Especially considering Will Smith had an album called Will 2K at the same time.
Haha I’m sure they’d be thrilled at the comparison.
Another well-informed review about a record I’ve never heard. Cool beans.
This never grabbed me nearly as much as Hear in the Now Frontier. But you’re selling it to me with this review so I’m going have to give it another go at some point.
Give it another go! That’s what she said.
I’m going to give Hear In the Now another go for its review.