5. Queensryche (The Warning, Rage For Order, Operation: Mindcrime)
With all of the drama going on in the Queensryche camp, it’s sometimes hard to remember what an original and excellent progressive metal band they were when they started out. After a promising EP, The band recorded their first full-length album, The Warning, in London. It wasn’t a particularly heavy album, but based off of the anthemic “Take Hold of the Flame,” the dual guitars of Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton, and Geoff Tate’s then-multi octave voice, the album established them as a band to watch. 1986’s Rage For Order was ahead of its time, featuring futuristic synths amidst DeGarmo and Wilton’s guitars. And songs like “Screaming In Digital,” and “I Dream In Infrared” touched on artificial intelligence and other technological themes. Two years later, the band released their best album, the sprawling concept album Operation: Mindcrime. Marrying a story line about a drug addict joining a revolutionary cult that assassinated political leaders with the band’s music, the hourlong album was turned into a tour with animation. It was a multi-platinum success that set them up for their even more successful Empire, and much later, an ill-fated sequel to the album.
