Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Metal-Rules.com, Queensrÿche singer Todd La Torre discussed the band’s next album. He says the effort will “be based around a concept that happens on the first album.”

La Torre said the following about the band’s progress:

“I have a ton of songs at home that the guys have worked on and written — a lot of really good demo stuff. I’ve already put vocals down on a couple of songs, but I have a lot of material staring me in the face, waiting for me to write lyrics and melodies. The problem is that we play so much. Even when we leave Europe, I go home for two days, then I’m out for four days in the States. Then I’m home for another two days, and after that I’m gone all through July. So I only get a little break in August when I can really try to work on stuff, because you need your ears to decompress. You also have things at home to take care of. But yeah, we’re writing a new record.”

He continued when asked if the album will “continue where ‘Digital Noise Alliance’ left off”:

“No. I’m not going to say what it is, but… I don’t know if you’d call it a concept album. That’s kind of the idea.”

He also confirmed that it won’t have anything to do with “Operation: Mindcrime”:

“This is going to touch on a subject that Queensrÿche hasn’t talked about since the very first record… There is, 100 percent, a connection [to the first Queensrÿche LP]. This album is going to be based around a concept that happens on the first album but is never talked about again in Queensrÿche’s history. So, it has nothing to do with ‘Operation: Mindcrime’. We don’t have any interest in that. This is a whole different thing. Musically, I’d say everything I’m hearing sounds much more old school — more like the EP, ‘Warning’ and ‘Rage For Order’, maybe with a little newer flavor — but it definitely sounds like classic Queensrÿche.”

He then further discussed his mindset:

“Writing a concept album where every song leads directly into the next one isn’t really what I’m interested in. It’s more like when you watch a movie. Sometimes the beginning starts where the ending is, and then they add pieces throughout the story in different parts of the movie until it all comes together. You could literally move one song over here, and another song over there, and it still works.”

La Torre discussed lyrical themes as well:

“The way I’m thinking about it, there’s no way you can tell everything in one album. So, it could be. I think if this were the last record the band ever wrote, there would still be storytelling there, and maybe that could be enough. But it would always be open to evolving further. It won’t be just a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s a story that can go on and on.”