Band: Queensryche
Album: The Art of Live (Mayan/Sanctuary Records)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.queensryche.com
Rating: 5/10

Queensryche are a no doubt a great band, "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Empire" are still great albums after all this time, but unfortunately, this isn't the greatest live album I've heard and it will disappoint.

Firstly, "TAOL" contains nearly all newer Queensryche stuff, post "Empire" to be exact, and the usually great Geoff Tate sounds dull, out of breath and lifeless. There is just something missing throughout the whole set-list, maybe is the lack of true classics but the whole album seems to move at a snails pace and in the end tends to drag on. Not all is lost though, there are a couple of great newer songs but overall, what you get is a very weak live album, performance and material wise.

Hopefully this is just a blip in their great career, but I'd pass this one over if I were you, same goes for the DVD too.

Band: Quell
Album: Self Titled Demo
Year: 2002
Website: http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/2560/2560275.html
Rating: 8.5/10

Quell sit somewhere in between the new wave of Noisecore, Grindcore recordings (Converge, Agoraphopic Nosebleed), Thrash and Heavy Metal, creating an interesting combination. They decribe it a "mathy metalcore with some grind and some melody... no singing - three way vocal attack."

This exciting new band are starting to develop a small dedicated following of Hard Core fans on the east coast. Quell is, simply put, nothing short of a cathartic experience for each member. "We play our music because we love to play it, and if you enjoy it, all the better. we strive to transcend all the simplistic labels that get lumped on all too many bands, and hope to remain accessible to all types of people".

Although they are still young, they have a bright future ahead of them.

Band: Quietus
Album: Destroyer of Worlds
Year: 2002
Website: http://www.geocities.com/quietusband/
Rating:7.5

The theme tune to Armageddon. Three tracks of totally original music all down to one man. Chris Waters. Quietus have had some good responses from the likes of Music Extreme Magazine, Metal-Rules and even Peter Kubik from Abigor.

The first track, "Bow in the Beginning" is an interesting instrumental that sets the mood for the rest of the album. The Second, "Bloodsworn" is truly amazing. It sounds like a crazed maniac trying to bust out of a room whilst listening to extremely lo-fi black metal. The third and final track is the title track "Destroyer of Worlds". More of the same but with King Diamond style vocals.

The three tracks are filled with samples, and has low production values that definitely adds to the effects. The only bad point is the programmed drums. The actual programming is fine; it would be better if they were louder and sound better if it was real drums. You will be hard pushed to find anything this original this year.

Band: Quireboys, The
Album: Well Oiled (Steamhammer/SPV)
Year: 2004
Website: http://www.quireboys.com
Rating: 5/10

I was quite surprised to find out that The Quireboys (or "The Queerboys" as they were known back then) were formed way back in 1988, and I've never heard a peep or indeed ever heard of them.

Even more surprising, in the early days, they had Ginger in their ranks who later went on to form The Wildhearts. They have also played alongside well established acts such as L.A. Guns, Rolling Stones and Guns N' Roses, with Axl Rose personally asking the band to fill the guest slot on their "Use You Illusion" tour in Scandinavia and Germany. So, on paper the band looks very impressive, but unfortunately, "Well Oiled" doesn't live up to my expectations. Imagine Rod Stewart fronting AC/DC or The Black Crows, that's probably the best way to describe the album, you would be forgiven in thinking that this was Rod Stewart if you heard it playing.

There's one or two interesting moments on here, but the majority is pretty dull, straightforward 70's/80's style melodic/hard rock. This has been done so many times, and I have endless albums like this, so it would have taken something a little better than "Well Oiled" to get me excited.