• AllMyVinyl #70
• Band: Queensryche
• Album Title: Digital Noise Alliance
• Release Date: 7 Oct 2022
• Date purchased: 5 Oct 2022
• Location purchased: Amazon
• Color of vinyl: purple (but they call it lilac)
• Number of discs: 2
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

First off, this is the most recent Queensryche album.  They LONG ago passed into the realm of “auto purchase” for me.  Rage for Order was my first, then Mindcrime happened, and yeah, I was buying everything of theirs.  And I have – all of their albums since (even the uh, “lesser” ones – I’m looking at you Dedicated to Chaos).  So when it was announced they had one coming out in 2022, I was right there.  I got my order in at the right time, and got a limited edition “lilac” vinyl pressing from Amazon (which is purple, really, but hey).  I got it home, played it a little, and it didn’t grab me.  Now I don’t think it’s bad – but it arrived at a time in my life when I had a lot of shit going on, and I wasn’t in the mood to digest new music.   It never found its’ way into my head  because of all that, so with that in mind I’m kind of looking forward to this, since it will mostly seem new to me – despite having owned it since launch a couple of years ago now.  This is the fourth studio album with Todd LaTorre on vocals and the first one with Mike Stone in awhile too (due to the retirement of Parker Lundgren).  Queensryche stalwarts Eddie Jackson & Michael Wilton are still here from the OG days, but the rest of the band has morphed around them.  It’s the first with Casey Grillo on drums, as the last album actually had Todd on drums, as he’s a drummer himself too.

But even through the lineup changes over the years, Queensryche has kept a pretty consistent sound.  Now that’s not like they’re like say AC/DC who are frequently accused of recording the same album over and over – but Queensryche has definite palate of sound they work with, and it’s in play here too.  Oddly when this title was first announced, the chosen words didn’t connect with me right away.  I thought Digital Noise Alliance was a cool sounding name, then I realized it spelled DNA, and thought it was a masterstroke of a choice – connecting this album back with their past music – Queensryche’s DNA of sorts.  Which speaks to what I just said about the “palate of sound”.  So on a high level conceptual level, I love the album title.

As I do in this series, there’s no past memories here, since it came out in 2022 for the first time, so the one copy I have is the only copy I have.  I didn’t buy it on CD, just vinyl, because I will listen to modern stuff on Apple Music or vinyl, so I didn’t really need a CD copy in addition to this.  That’s about all I can think of for intro stuff, so time to get to some tunes…

In Extremis – I do not have headphones connected to my record player – perhaps I should. Because when I started this song, my immediate thought was “this would be improved by headphones”.  The initial sounds before the whole band kicks in have a very spacy, etherial, kind of Pink Floyd vibe – but then Queensryche has been compared to Pink Floyd in the past before (and not by me).   Those sounds were improved by headphones when I listened a second time on my computer.  It very much is cut from the cloth of recent Queensryche output, so if you liked them, you’ll be pleased at the start of this album.  It was also the first single, so it being track 1 tells me they believed in the song a lot too.  The guitar play in the “solo” section of the song was quite nice. I don’t know who is actually playing, but I liked what I heard.  It has some background vocals that remind me of something from the Empire / Promised Land era. It’s a great album opener.

Chapters – Track 2 starts out with a bass sound I liked.  It’s not as operatic as some, but the Queensryche sound is still there.  The chorus has a vocal delivery I liked – but the rest of the song was just kind of there.  Almost feels like a filler track.  A little disappointing at Track 2 to have a song that doesn’t have a super catchy hook.

Lost in Sorrow – However, that changes as Track 3 starts off with a guitar riff right out of the gate I liked.  It leads into a chugging riff that lives behind the vocals – another combination I quite liked.  Would have liked one, as the song’s quite good.  It passes my usual test of “am I doing air drums with my feet as I sit at my desk?”  That’s a sure sign for me.  Liked this one right from the start. One of the few tracks that didn’t get a music video.  Has a guitar sound that sounds like something that would fit right in on Mindcrime, specifically Eyes of a Stranger.  Good track.

Sicdeth – This starts with a slower, heavier vibe, but quickly kicks into a faster song.  It’s obviously Queensryche, but the traditional older sound of the band isn’t as noticeable here.  It’s a nice change for them.  It’s not like they sound like Pantera or something like that, but it’s a different color picked out of the crayola box for this one, and I quite liked it.  The main guitar riff (we need more synonyms for “riff”) has a power to it that gets me going all by itself.  There’s a slow, very bass heavy part in the middle – which speaks to my old buddy, the time change.  When I first heard this song title, my brain thought “Oh, Megadeth”. It’s obviously not THAT, but I’m glad to have something else in my brain for this song than just that silly name thing.  It’s a damn good song that I very clearly overlooked.

Behind the Walls – Oh, I like this. Very much sounds like an older Queensryche song with that heaviness they were known for in the old days without sounding LIKE one of them.  When a band has been around as long as Queensryche has, they’re inevitably going to be compared to themselves.  But it works here, this sounds both old and new at the same time.  Another one I’m annoyed I overlooked.  Sounds like one that could be used as an audience participation thing in concert.  Ended up with a bigger sound than I expected.  Musically it goes to a few different kind of places and I like that.

Nocturnal Light – This one is credited solely to Eddie Jackson, so going into it, I expected a bass heavy thing (Spinal Tap’s Big Bottom? haha). But seriously, I was expecting a bass heavy track, and that’s not what this is.  Eddie’s been there since day 1, so he knows what works as a Queensryche song.  Good stuff, but I can’t put my finger on the exact reason why I liked it.  That’s OK I guess, you don’t have to have a reason for everything.

Out of the Black – This one didn’t do much for me.  Has some nice screaming by Todd, which was missing from the album to this point, but the song is just kind of there.  Doesn’t move the needle a lot.   It does end with a nice guitar sound, however.

Forest – Ballad time.  It’s not Lucidity type of ballad, but definitely the slower song here.  Has a nice vibe to it.  Not quite the flowing majesty of that other track, but I liked what I heard here.  I did like the bass lines I heard here too.

Realms – There’s an “echo” sound to some of the guitar work which is something different.  Quite like that.  My old friend the time change pops up here a little.  The best song on Side C of the vinyl. ;)  Overall a good track, most of which I can point to the guitar work as the reason it works for me.

Hold On – Loved the guitar work combined with the rhythm section in the song here.  They’re always there of course, but sometimes the parts aren’t as noticeable together.  But they are this time – especially in the back part of the song.  Eddie’s got it going on here.  Underrated track.

Tormentum – Another one with background vocals I liked.  It ends up with a heavier crunchy sound which is quite nice.  Not something Queensryche is usually known for, but it definitely works here.  If this were the actual album closer, it would work.

Rebel Yell – Yeah, a cover of the old Billy Idol song of the same name.  Yeah, this must be here because they liked it for some reason.  This song didn’t do a ton for me originally when it was new, and this cover?  While done well technically, it still doesn’t do anything for me.  Also leaves me with a weird taste as the album closer.

That brings this listen to the most recent Queensryche album to a close.  I wasn’t as wordy with this one, because of having no past to this as the album is only two years old.  On top of that, it appeared in my life at a time I wasn’t into a lot of things like music, so it got put on the side and not consumed.  When I listened today, there’s a lot more than I recall from when it did come out that I liked.  There’s some real Queensryche bangers here.  I love that bands I’ve liked for this long a time are still producing new music, because we all know that’s not where the money is anymore.   I’m glad this album exists, I very much enjoyed it today – I wasn’t sure what I was going to think going into it since most of it was a blank slate.  Glad I discovered that the old heartbeat of Queensryche is still alive and well.

Sadly due to current health issues, I was unable to see this tour.  Hopefully next album / tour cycle I’ll be able to attend next time as I’ve seen Queensryche a lot of times going back to the 80’s.  Not ready for this band to end yet.