QUEENSRŸCHE To Release New Album In June

Seattle progressive rockers QUEENSRŸCHE will release their twelfth studio album, "Dedicated To Chaos" on June 28 in North America via Loud & Proud Records, a Roadrunner Records imprint focusing on established artists. The band is currently planning a tour in support of the new opus, which was recorded in the group's hometown and produced by Kelly Gray.

"Modern life moves fast," singer Geoff Tate stated about the album. "Plug into the rhythm of the now with our twelfth studio album, 'Dedicated To Chaos'. The clash and slash of musical experimentation anchored by the pulse of digital code." He did issue one suggestion to listeners as well, saying, "Enjoy — headphones are a must."

When asked about the progress of the recording sessions for the new QUEENSRŸCHE CD, Tate said in a recent interview, "We've been working on it steadily. We're kind of in the final stages of it now. And I'm looking forward to getting that done. It's a really long record, with really interesting, different music. I'm really excited for people to hear it because it's another kind of step in a different direction for us . . . We've been experimenting a lot with different musical brushstrokes [laughs], kind of pushing the envelope a little bit on everybody's performance and pushing them outside of comfortable ground and trying to do some different stuff. Which is kind of what got us into making records in the first place — the experimental side of painting the audio picture. And everybody still shares that way of thinking, which is pretty phenomenal when you think of a bunch of guys hanging out together for 30 years [laughs] — that we'd still have something to say."

In a 2010 interview with Attention Deficit Delirium, QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield revealed that the band's upcoming CD is taking the quintet in some new directions.

"I add a lot of film score elements or sound effects [into my drum work], especially on the new thing we’re working on right now," Rockenfield said. "Geoff and I have really spent a lot of time together redesigning the QUEENSRŸCHE thing, which you're going to love. It's huge rock but with a great dance vibe to it, real modern dance. It's kind of like 'Rage' ['For Order'] through a time tunnel, bringing it into the now. There are a lot of electronic elements to it. It's a big rock thing that is going to have a lot of color to it — it's good and really intense."

Regarding whether the new QUEENSRŸCHE album is a conceptual effort, Tate said, "In a sense, it is. It's a very contemporary record.

He continued, "'Empire' was a record of the time. Rock music was really the music of the times in 1990. Unfortunately, rock music isn't the music of the times anymore — it's very underground.

"What we're doing with this record is we're taking the 'Empire' song structure, in a sense, where it's very strong songs, very melodic, but we kind of restructured the rhythm section, and Scott's done an amazing job on restructuring that — him and Eddie [Jackson, bass] have just really gone to town, and they've made it very contemporary-sounding.

"These days, in comparison to the old days, people used to sit in their houses and listen to music right in the front room on their stereo system. People don't do that anymore. They plug in and they're mobile and they're moving and they're doing stuff and the music, they're listening to it as they're doing stuff. This music has that feel. It's very contemporary in the sense that it's very rhythmatic. The rhythm structure kind of reflects the way modern life is — we're all busy, we're all doing stuff. And Scott being the incredible drummer that he is, the various time signatures, the feel of the record, it's now — it's very, very now."

Photo by Andy Batt