Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Everything in nature eventually divides, certainly at the base level where cells learn that division means growth, that a single celled organism just doesn’t have the same power as one that has two, four or millions of cells wrapped within its casing and hard shell like appearance. A single celled person would just be unfeasible, the state in which it would exist would be a nightmare, and like a band that finds the way is blocked by different directions and the taste of animosity that hangs in the air like acrid static electricity, the way forward is to split; after all it is only the condition of any human after all.
Condition Hüman marks Queensrÿche’s 15th studio with a return to the very beginning, to the roots of the Progressive and the ability to pass judgement on a story based track. The loss of Geoff Tate in the bitter split that divided the much love band and which in truth was hardly felt in the previous album has now been dissipated completely, it has been lost to the mist and any sourness experienced by the fan is now surely forgotten as the two entities make their way into the world. To be human is to be divided after all.
Condition Hüman smacks a punch that is genuine and with the three remaining original members, Scott Rockenfeld, Michael Wilton and Eddie Jackson making sure that the music remains a tight and mind blowing process of searing highs and soul provoking caresses, it is up to Todd La Torre and Parker Lundgren to really amplify the new beginnings felt on the self-titled previous release and expand the new way of thinking by placing trust in the Progressive Metal, the fragrance of a remembered and much loved flower giving the urgency that the band needed to stride forward with much confidence.
From the outpourings of heat in Arrow of Time, the bitterly cool Toxic Remedy, Bulletproof, the excellent Hourglass and the final, wonderful full throttle that appears in The Aftermath and the album’s title track, Condition Hüman has it all and with room for future growth. Arguably one of the most underrated bands of their genre and of Time, the new phase for Queensrÿche has begun in earnest and one without restriction placed upon them.
Ian D. Hall