The Warning

The Warning is a vivid debut album on which Queensrÿche adds complex, precise construction and a fantastical, dramatic air to the power of traditional heavy metal. Made after the success of an EP, it already clearly shows the budding of the intelligent, dramatic style that would symbolize them. Geoff Tate’s high, taut, overwhelming voice, the twin guitars of Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton, and Scott Rockenfield’s fine rhythm build the songs extremely dramatically. In “Take Hold of the Flame,” with its strong hook, and the grandly spreading epic “Roads to Madness,” sure buds leading to their later epic bent can be seen, while cuts like “En Force,” “Warning” and “No Sanctuary” convey the band’s outstanding playing and structural beauty. Its value lies in already establishing its own musical world distinct from other bands, while keeping rough parts. The intelligent, structural approach, beyond mere power metal, was extremely fresh in the scene of the time. Opening the door to the genre of progressive metal, it is a powerful debut that became an important starting point of American metal.