.: FuryRocks :: music :: Queensyrche__Geoff_Tate_about_the_new_album_American_Soldier

Published: 03 March 2009

Queensyrche - Geoff Tate about the new album American Soldier

Queensrÿche will be releasing there 12th studio CD release on March 31st entitled AMERICAN SOLDIER.

AMERICAN SOLDIER is an epic concept album that envisions war through the eyes of a soldier. For this CD, Geoff Tate interviewed veterans from World War II to Iraq and used their word to tell their story and turned their firsthand experiences from the frontlines into an unflinching musical examination of the life of a solider and the consequences of war.

The band also brought a few of the soldiers into the studio with them to record vocals. The verses of the track “Unafraid” feature the voices of Chris Devine, a Vietnam veteran, and Sean Lenahan, a veteran of Somalia, recalling their war experiences while Tate provides the anthemic

The CD was recorded in 2008 over the course of nine months. Tate told FURY that the idea for AMERICAN SOLDIER, came from hearing stories from fans that are veterans, as well as his own father, who served in both Korea and Vietnam. “My father was a career military man, but until very recently he never spoke about what he went through. I think that reticence is true of a lot of veterans, which means most people never truly understand what it means to be a soldier at war. Hearing what he and some of our fans have endured made me want to share their stories with the world. This is an album about the soldiers, for the soldiers, as told by the soldiers themselves.”

Making the album, Tate told us it was an enlightening process. “I was surprised to learn how little has changed through the generations. I spoke with a Vietnam vet whose experience wasn’t all that different from a soldier who fought in Somalia almost 30 years later. But what surprised me the most was how antiwar most soldiers are. To me, that makes their sacrifices even more moving.”

Soon after the release of AMERICAN SOLDIER, Queensrÿche will launch an extensive spring tour of the U.S., with international dates to follow later in 2009. The shows will be presented in three suites, with the band performing sets from AMERICAN SOLDIER, Rage For Order, and Empire.

AMERICAN SOLDIER
Track Listing

1. “Sliver”
2. “Unafraid”
3. “Hundred Mile Stare”
4. “At 30,000 ft.”
5. “A Dead Man’s Words”
6. “The Killer”
7. “Middle Of Hell”
8. “If I Were King”
9. “Man Down!”
10. “Remember Me”
11. “Home Again”
12. “The Voice”