American Soldier Review

Released: Mar 31, 2009
Genre: Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal
Label: Atco Records/Rhino Entertainmen
Number Of Tracks: 12
The CD is the band's 10th full-length studio album with original material and the songs lyrical content tells the story of war from a firsthand perspective.

Sound:	7.5
Lyrics:	7.5
Impression:	8
Overall rating:	7.7
Users rating:	8.5
Comments:	4

overall: 9.7

Featured review by: m/Metallica, on july 09, 2009

Sound: Overall, the sounds employed by Queensryche in this album are quite heavy, and and remind you of the Operation Mindcrime I and II days. It is, as many know, a concept album, depicting the wars that America has fought in roughly the past 50-60 years, and has many narratives from real-life veterans showing their views on that war, and war in general. Songs like "If I Were King" have a real story behind it. // 9

Lyrics and Singing: The lyrics on "American Soldier" are quite profound, and in some cases blindingly real. Geoff Tate has aquirred these narratives and stories for a very long time, and has used them to create a real concept album, that has real meaning. Geoff Tate is, as always, one of the best singers to ever front a band. // 10

Impression: Overall, it is an album that is reminiscent of something they would have done in the 80's, like I said earlier, Operation Mindcrime I and II. The sound is actually much close to the album Empire though. The lyrics almost remind me of Rage Against The Machine... With a much better singer though. I love the narratives in there... But I wish Chris DeGarmo was back as lead guitar and shredding some solos... I would definitely buy this album back if it was stolen or lost. // 10

overall: 5.7

Reviewed by: ARS0NiiST, on april 27, 2009

Sound: Here’s Queensryche a band that’s been around a while, but there no longer worried about the quality of there music, they just got lazy picked a controversial subject (The war in Iraq) and recorded an album. I’m not saying I could do any better but I know they could have. The music in this album is not very catchy, interesting or enjoyable it’s just music not good music but not horrible. // 6

Lyrics and Singing: The lyrics in this album are nothing short of depressing although depressing lyrics aren’t always good lyrics. I respect the U.S. Armed forces just as much as any other American but I really felt bored listening to Geoff Tate ramble on about fighting in the war. Obviously Tate has no first hand experience in the U.S. Military, so all the lyrics are fiction or are based on stories he had heard in the first stage of the writing process where he interview multiple American soldiers. // 5

Impression: I never really like Queensryche, but I respect them even less with the release of “American Soldier”. Part of the problem with the album is that it’s lack of catchy music. Not only are the songs unoriginal, but also the music itself is monotonous. The music was so boring I found it hard to listen to the album even once let alone the second and third time. Now don’t get me wrong this album is no “Scream” (Chris Cornell), But it isn’t any “Physical graffiti” (Led Zeppelin) either. If this album was lost or stolen I probably wouldn’t even notice. // 6

Comments

[dish50]

Holy crap review. Maybe if you read the lyrics or even took american english, you just might be able to understand the album.
Just look at your grammer in your column.
Go back to kindergarder and try learning it.
Then maybe i'll listen to your opinion.

[Grant Teel]

i just didn't like this album i felt it was uninteresting

[Shockme77]

Its obviously the reviewer hasnt had any military experience either, because if he actually took the time to listen to the lyrics you would find the songs also refer to Somalia and Vietnam, not just Iraq. Its also not about catchy music, its all about capturing the moment and telling a story, which i believe american soldier does very well

[HORSE ASSASSIN]

when i first when out to pick up this album i was very disapointed, it was much less than what i had expected of queensryche. don't get me wrong i'm still a fan of queensryche but i try to pretend like this album was never released.