•
Rating: Here I am to talk about one of the perhaps most underrated albums by Queensryche: this is "Tribe," released in the now distant 2003 by Sanctuary Records. The work concludes the "cursed triptych" of the Seattle combo: "Hear in the Now Frontier," "Q2K," and "Tribe," indeed, three albums poorly digested by critics and fans, perhaps because they followed the band's previous three masterpieces, "Operation: Mindcrime," "Empire," and "Promised Land."
It's difficult to do better after the epochal "Operation: Mindcrime," the commercial (but not only) perfection of "Empire," and the enigmatic "Promised Land," a fantastic album for its lyrics and atmospheres. Yet, almost ten years later, "Tribe" appears different to me from those first and now distant listens: back then, it slipped away without leaving anything but the bad feeling of having lost my favorite band, ended up in some remote musical territory and obviously short on ideas. Had the golden vein of Queensryche been exhausted? I sincerely thought so, still having in my head the royal compositions of "Operation: Mindcrime," the wonderful baroque elements of "Empire," and the rough introspection of "Promised Land." Ten years later, precisely when the future of Queensryche is uncertain, I grasp the essence of an album not comparable to Tate and company's best productions but nonetheless endowed with its own musical dignity and fully worthy of being redeemed from the reputation of black sheep in their production. It is worth analyzing each of the ten pieces that make it up, but not before recalling that alongside Geoff Tate, Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, and Scott Rockenfield, played on the occasion, Mike Stone (later part of Queensryche of "Operation: Mindcrime II") and the immense Chris DeGarmo, the soul and mind of the band, in his last modest appearance.
It starts with the cadenced "Open," marked by the obsessive riff of the guitars and the imperial voice of a Tate that knows no time's advance. The powerful chorus and Jackson's bass line break the regular pace of the song up to the second track of the album, that "Losing Myself," in which the rhythmic carpet laid by Rockenfield's drums and again by Jackson's bass prepare the ground for the melodic and slightly cheeky chorus of a song made specifically to warm the audience. "Desert Dance" arrives, undoubtedly the best track on the album: an oriental-tinged intro soon shattered by the knowledgeable "slashes" of Wilton, Stone, and DeGarmo's guitars. Unapologetically Arabic melodies accompany us to Tate's acid chorus, evoking campfires in the desert under the moonlight. A powerful piece, worthy of the best Ryche. Another oriental melody accompanies us in the ballad "Falling Behind," from which emerges triumphantly the sweet and reassuring side of Tate's bitterly reflective voice. The bridge placed right in the middle of a genuinely pleasant song in its simplicity gives chills. It is now time for "Great Divide," song number five, deliberately placed right in the middle of the album. The guitars that open it are beautiful; listen carefully to the expertly interpreted lyrics by an increasingly disillusioned Tate ("is hope for America?"). The subsequent "Rhythm of Hope" is perhaps the lowest point of "Tribe," but it's still a piece that leaves a mark like the hope that should always reside in each of us. After the caustic title track "Tribe," the most metal song of the ten, in which Tate continues to remind us that we all belong to the same tribe ("I see myself in every man"), passing through "Blood," a piece without infamy or praise, we arrive at the wonderful "The Art of Life," not surprisingly composed by Tate and DeGarmo. Rarefied atmospheres reminiscent of those of "sp00L," push us to the primary question: what is the art of living? Guitars that open and close musical doors accompany Tate to the final answer: "The art of life is...". "Tribe" dies with "Doin' Fine," the last pearl composed by DeGarmo, a mid-tempo that offers itself to hope ("And I know that we'll all be fine"), closing the ancestral journey of Tate and company in the fears and limits of humanity.
Anyone who loves Queensryche cannot forgo an attentive and repeated listening of their production. The Seattle combo could have basked in the laurels of the great successes of "OM," "Empire," and "Promised Land," limiting themselves to replicate a formula that had turned out to be successful. No, this was never the concern of the Ryche: experimenting with new sounds and melodies in a personal challenge with themselves, that's what has always driven them. From the peaks of "Eyes of a Stranger," to the grunge flops of "Hear in the Now Frontier" (another album to reevaluate), Queensryche have always taken the most tortuous path, ignoring criticism and measuring only and always with their ability to create "new" and different music. The five from Seattle, then four and now, after the quarrel with Tate, three, have never had regrets, always proving themselves to be genuine musicians and free spirits.
I close this review with the thought that appears on the "Tribe" CD brochure: "The chain around the neck of humanity is our tendency to pass judgment on others." Never was truth more authentic.
Andrea Antonio Colazingari
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Open (04:32)
You're an angel with your wings broken,
wearing sandals that I tripped in.
You're a holiday already taken,
a cocktail that's stirred never shaken.
Your heads in overload.
You've reached your threshold
and you're about to explode.
Open your eyes. Just say what you want to say?
Open your eyes, you see yours isn't the only way .
Open your eyes. To you everyone is blind.
Open your eyes and your mind.
You're like a hand gun that's fully loaded
making idle threats of violence.
Your heads in overload.
You've reached your threshold
and you're about to explode.
Open your eyes. You take what you want for free,
Open your eyes. and you see what you want to see.
Open your eyes. To you everyone is blind.
Open your eyes and your mind.
Open your eyes. Just say what you want to say?
Open your eyes, you see yours isn't the only way .
Open your eyes. Do you really think I'm blind?
Open your eyes and your mind.
Open your mind.
Open your eyes. and you see what you want to see.
Open your eyes. To you everyone is blind.
Open your eyes and your mind.
Open your eyes. Just say what you want to say?
Open your eyes, you see yours isn't the only way .
Open your eyes. Do you really think I'm blind?
Open your eyes and your mind.
Open your mind.
02 Losing Myself (04:12)
There's a thunder in my head,
a roar I can't escape.
I can't ignore this certain fate
I'm experiencing something.
I can't explain.
There's a frame of reference fragile at best.
An itching fear that's stronger than the rest.
Follow the black ribbon into the sun.
Push it further baby, careful with this burnout now.
I'm losing myself in you
and trying to get back to me.
But I'm so far away, I'm losing myself.
The sand in my mouth,
the wind and heat I feel numb.
Ten days on the road and it feels
like where I've been ain't so bad.
Gotta get back home to you.
Gotta get back home to you.
Gotta get back home.
Throttle back slowly there's no time like now.
Red line it baby I'm pushing to the edge now.
I'm losing myself in you
and trying to get back to me.
But I'm so far away, I'm losing myself.
I'm beating down this desert highway
one hundred miles an hour times two.
But I'm so far away, I'm a million miles away.
I'm losing myself in you
and trying to get back to me.
But I'm so far away, I'm losing myself.
Get me off this desert highway.
Gotta get back to you but I'm so far away.
I'm a million miles away.
03 Desert Dance (03:57)
With a simple wave,
her hand creates my universe.
She spins and dances around the fire.
Eyes search the open road,
caught up in the sound of
transmissions burning down the wire.
We reach out for the sky
and were never coming down.
We reach out for the sky
and were never coming down.
Live life in extreme
better then any magazine could ever hope to describe.
Ripped, we sweat this desert dance, baby do your best.
We're on our way to higher consciousness.
We reach out for the sky
and we're never coming down.
Keep reaching, keep reaching.
We're never coming down.
High on a million breaths of her,
I surrender to the magic all around me.
We reach out for the sky
and we're never coming down.
05 The Great Divide (04:01)
I'd reconciled my anger got outside of danger.
I was waiting for some signal, a sign from angels.
When the tide turns against you
it's a strange sensation, a revelation of imagination.
I could change my course and face the flow,
reap the seeds that I had sewn or follow that old river south.
Here's what I found out.
I was standing on the Great Divide looking out across America.
Trying to find my truth, define it for myself.
I died the day when I saw this place.
I saw what I could lose.
A very simple mechanism separates the fool from wisdom.
The lines between us are not real.
Conditioning is what makes us feel ignorant.
And apathy will feed our hate.
So we can never give in.
There I was standing at the Great Divide, looking for the truth in America.
For all that time I searched, when I closed my eyes,
I found the thing I was looking for.
I had it all the time.
So are we standing at the Great Divide?
Is there hope for America?
Take the flag we wave, the freedoms that we sing.
Without respect for one other,
it doesn't mean a thing.
06 Rhythm of Hope (03:31)
Lying here awake again.
Minutes before dawn I hear your breathing,
your heart beat like a song.
Lately I've been feeling a little less then good but
seeing things for the first time like I never could.
I've had my head down against the door,
trying to get to something I couldn't find before.
That special something, that feeds my soul,
is a rhythm to live by, it's a rhythm of hope.
Something drives us onwards.
Something gives us strength.
What makes our judgment falter is the questions we think.
Who am I to fly so high?
What gives me the right to dream of what could be,
keep reaching for the light?
I've been standing in front of that door,
basing my happiness on what' I knew before.
Searching for something that moves my soul.
A rhythm to hold to, a rhythm to live to.
Have you been down like this before?
I guarantee there's something waiting for you just open that door.
A rhythm to live by, that moves your soul.
A rhythm that holds you.
A rhythm to live to.
And if there's one thing we all need now,
it's a rhythm to live by, a rhythm of hope.
Lying here awake again.
07 Tribe (04:39)
Taken to a place underground,
a cavern, ten thousand steps down.
The only light was fire fly glow,
reflecting in the blue crystal show.
Feeling in the darkness surrounding me,
roots of giant Sequoia trees
anchor the canopy of life that's above.
The answer to the mystery of life is _
Traveled through the jungles of the Yucatan
and drank the potion from the magic man.
Held the starlight inches from my face,
pushed the door open, # 7.
I walked the path way to heaven.
Saw the same face of God.
Seems every where I go
I see the same face, I feel the same flow.
With every one I meet and every hand I shake,
I'm every man, trying my best to get to know
because everything's at stake.
We're the same tribe.
Passing through Morocco for the faithful is a trip.
Hallucinating visions drives my desert ship.
For a thousand miles we could not fail,
can't enjoy if you can't inhale.
Clearly a lifetimes need of some experience and
for the record, peace.
Seems every where I go
I see the same face, I feel the same flow.
With every one I meet and every hand I shake,
I see myself in every man, trying my best to get to know
because everything's at stake.
We're the same tribe.
08 Blood (04:13)
Thank-you for the lies, the lies you sold us.
Thank-you for this vision of violence.
Thank-you for this song you gave me to sing.
Thank-you for the capping day
of a culture that lay dying.
Yes it's us dying.
Maybe it won't be long,
now that it's all gone on.
It's all gone wrong and
there's blood on our hands.
We saw them lying there
with their arms around each other,
staring through their fear and
the miles between our heads.
You could have told the truth.
It was your decision to
sacrifice integrity and compassion for greed.
Now it's all gone wrong and
there's blood on our hands.
10 Doin' Fine (03:52)
Have you noticed The way people seem today?
Look in their eyes, you can feel their uncertainty.
Working hard for what they fear others would think.
Empty hearts are afraid to break away:don't be afraid.
We could all use a little sunshine
Take the day off :outside.
Hey look around, everything's better now
And here we are and we're doin' fine.
If we look inside, breath deep, and count to ten.
We'll find what we need to see us through
All the way to the end.
We'll know all the answers
Once we stop this judgment game
And realize deep down we're all the same.
We could all use a little sunshine
Take the day off and smile.
Hey look around everything's better now,
And here we are and getting along fine.
Yeah, we're doin' just fine.
We could all use some sunshine
Take the day off and smile.
Hey look around, everything's better
And here we are getting along just fine.
Next time we could try a little harder
And quickly put out the fire,
By working out our differences and
Finding truth we can all believe in.
We're looking at life from a different side.
We're looking at like from a different side.
And I know that we'll all be fine.
And I know that we'll all be fine.
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By silian87
Tribe is perhaps the best album produced by Queensryche after Promised Land (1994).
The atmosphere of Tribe is often very dark and tribal, with powerful riffs and Tate's beautiful, evolved vocals.
