Review Summary: …back in 1986 you had one trait - an inhumanly good voice (That I’ll give you).
"If there's an overall theme for Rage for Order it may be technological indoctrination vs. human emotional response." Geoff Tate, Circus, 1986.
Cut the crap, Geoff. Your recent acts hint that you were never an emotional guy. A pretentious, self-righteous human being, maybe, but back in 1986 you had one trait - an inhumanly good voice (That I’ll give you).
Back to 1986.
Following the release of Rage for Order, the homonymous tour took place and two things became apparent. The first is that back in 1986, Geoff having the looks of a vamp-rooster wanted to be like Mike (remember the TV add? good I'm not talking about that), or at least dance around the stage like him.
The second thing has to do with this album as a musical conception. Queensryche’s Rage for Order is the one album on their catalogue that wants to scream pop, it screams in various ways actually, maybe because it gets upset over not containing pop lyrics (and it tried…how much it tried; it even made a cover of a pop song without pop lyrics its single), it screams in digital maybe for not knowing how to hide, the simple yet smart prog guitar interplay of De Garmo/Wilton, behind synth embellishments or heavily EQed drums and bass. It screams enraged, because all this tech that conceived it was looking at daddy Neil Kernon (former Hall&Oates, Kansas, Dokken, Michael Bolton, etc producer) in a way that spoke: You know that this is not your child… this voice has nothing to do with you.
So are you telling us that this is an overproduced album? Why don’t you keep it short mate?
My short definition of over producing an album would be as follows: The sonic qualities of the recording, cannot be adequately reproduced by the band live; as such, the sound emanating from your speakers isn’t emanating from the musicians credited on the record sleeve.
…and Neil Kernon certainly tried his best- to achieve exactly that.
But back in 1986 and during the Rage for Order tour, the aforementioned second thing became apparent. The band could reproduce this album live, and they did so in a manner that was more than adequate. But only back in 1986. After a couple of years? Well, it was not because someone forbade them to do so, it was simply because Geoff couldn’t.
Tate was still in his prime recording Rage for Order (his absolute vocal prime was The Warning). Actually, Tate was the top Metal singer from 1983 to 1987 (In terms of range, dynamics, technique, versatility, control - no one came close). He was still great on Operation (though his range was already diminishing) and adequate on Empire, in which smartly (please tell me why I sense that conventional or musical smarts/IQ in this band was always synonymous with De Garmo?) the simpler harmonic structures suggested vocal frames befitting his declining abilities. Sadly, nowadays Tate cannot even be considered a singer, as his voice lacks all the traits that made him great for that very short period in the history of the genre. And yes! this gives further props to the truly greats such as Bruce and Halford who managed to retain a generous chunk of their vocal qualities over the years. It also adds extra value to this particular album today, but lets get back to 1986…
Back in 1986 Tate was an inhumanly good vocalist.
If there’s an overall theme for Rage for Order it may be technological indoctrination -as perceived during the 1980s- vs. Geoff Tate’s inhuman vocal response.
Under the latter scope this album will evoke human emotion, and as such it is highly recommended.
