Music Review: American Soldier by Queensrÿche (2009)

A Second Look at a Difficult Record

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A few weeks ago, I was working on an unusual music-based project for Raconteur Press, which you can find here.

While putting that monster together, I was looking for songs to fit into the “war section” that made sense thematically, meshed with the other tracks and contributed to the overall feeling and flow. Like anyone should when making a proper mixtape.

That’s when I remembered this concept album from 2009 by Queensrÿche, and gave it a new listen with a new perspective.

My introduction to the band was the music video for the song “Silent Lucidity” on MTV. I’m not a dyed-in-the-wool Queensrÿche fan, in fact this is the only album of theirs I own a physical copy of, which I am almost certain I bought discounted at an AAFES exchange.

I’m not going to recap the convoluted history of Queensrÿche. Their classic albums, including Operation: Mindcrime and Empire have stood the test of time. I know there’s plenty of people out there who hold that the band hasn’t been the same since founding guitarist and songwriter Chris DeGarmo left back in 1997. Others extend that time to the departure of singer Geoff Tate in 2012.

There are interesting trivia notes about this record: it’s the only one the band recorded as a quartet, it’s the next to last album to feature Geoff Tate. It actually did fairly well on the charts, although reviews were mixed.

I’m writing this review because the album is unfairly overlooked and often unfairly maligned, even though more recent reviews and retrospectives have treated it better.

Don’t get me wrong, this is NOT Queensrÿche’s greatest album, but it is still an excellent record, and an important one. Not important for the impact on the band’s discography as much as the fact that it’s now an historical snapshot in time of the “deep GWOT” era that will certainly be lost in years to come, as we veterans of that time age out and the public eagerly puts it completely behind them forever.

The Story

For context, this album was released March 31st, 2009. A week later I deployed to Joint Base Balad, Iraq (formerly LSA Anaconda, Balad Air Base, etc), and returned home in October 2009. I’m almost certain I bought this record not long after I got back. I don’t recall listening to it until sometime around 2010 or 2011 and didn’t touch it again for years. For some reason I decided to listen to it while the family slept on our return drive from Walt Disney World in 2022, and it made a greater impression on me, setting the stage for the giant playlist project described earlier.

Because the band’s original webpage for the album is offline but preserved by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, I’ll post the original press release here in case that eventually disappears too.

FWIW, the internet is not forever.

“Queensrÿche envisions war through the eyes of a soldier with the band’s twelfth studio release, the epic concept album AMERICAN SOLDIER. The ambitious album encompasses a dozen songs inspired by numerous interviews with veterans conducted by Geoff Tate, the group’s singer and chief songwriter, who was intent on telling their story using their words. After speaking with soldiers who served in various conflicts-from World War II to Iraq-Tate turned their firsthand experiences from the frontlines into an unflinching musical examination of the life of a solider and the consequences of war. AMERICAN SOLDIER will be available from Atco/Rhino on March 31 for a suggested list price of $18.98 (CD) and $9.99 (digital).

Tate, Michael Wilton (guitar), Ed Jackson (bass) and Scott Rockenfield (drums) recorded the album in 2008 over the course of nine months. The idea for AMERICAN SOLDIER, Tate says, 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.”

Those stories resonate at the heart of AMERICAN SOLDIER, imbuing each song with vivid details about both the emotional and physical impacts of war, evoking war zone battles (”Middle Of Hell”), sacrifice (”The Killer”), loss (”If I Were King”), the longing for home (”Remember Me”), and adjusting to society after returning from war (”Man Down!”).

Tate recorded many of his interviews with the soldiers, and some dialogue from these discussions is mixed into several tracks, allowing the soldiers’ own words to help tell their compelling stories. 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 chorus. Also making a guest vocal appearance is Tate’s 10-year-old daughter Emily on the gripping duet “Home Again,” which examines the emotional toll of war from two perspectives, with Geoff singing from the soldier’s point of view and his daughter singing from the viewpoint of the child left behind.

Making the album, Tate says, 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.”

Since this speaks for itself, I have nothing further to add, except to recommend you also read this page. It speaks to Geoff Tate’s personal connection to the military, growing up as a military brat.

The Characters

Since it is a concept album, we’ll go track by track. There are no hard breaks between songs, they flow into each continuously. The blending of the recorded spoken word interviews and additional guest vocals into the songs is…well, eerie to say the least. It’s a somber album with an ambient, midtempo unified, sound. It’s more like a soundtrack than a proper record. In short, it’s strange, it’s unsettling. It’s supposed to be.

AMERICAN SOLDIER
Track Listing

1. “Sliver” - I think this song is why the record didn’t get the reception it warranted. I can almost excuse someone who thinks the whole album is Queensrÿche trying to stay relevant and catch up to the nu-metal scene of the ‘00s, when adrenaline-pumping, “moto” anthems like “Bodies” by Drowning Pool were as much a part of military culture as Tapout, Ripits, WileyX, UnderArmour, Skoal, and Green Bean Coffee.

It invokes motivational speeches and catch phrases i.e., “Welcome to the show!” It’s about being all pumped up, ready to go downrange, for real. The opening shout of “ON YOUR FEET!” takes me all the way back to 1995. Now, Tate is not the kind of singer who can pull off a line like “It’s time to sac up” or “This shit’s for real” convincingly. It might have benefited from one of the guest vocalists taking leads on it, just to give it the right amount of “command voice” and grit.

2. “Unafraid” - This song is mostly spoken word, with the band only singing the chorus “I’m unafraid, I fear nothing. / I’m unafraid, I hope for nothing. / I’m unafraid, I fear nothing. / I’m free! I’m free! / I’m unafraid, I hope for nothing. / I’m-free, you can believe me.”

This voiceover is sprawling, about the purpose of military power, how someone needs to “stand in the gap.” The best thing to do is listen to it, it’s moving the story beyond the training scene in the beginning to getting into the fight. The song has the most complex guitar solo on the record, and this is a record with few solos.

3. “Hundred Mile Stare” - “Drive ‘em down the middle, all the way.” We haven’t hit disillusionment yet, as this is the early experiences of the early part of the war, the Iraq invasion of 2003, before things start going really wrong.

4. “At 30,000 ft.” - This is the song I ended up using for the Raconteur W-RAC playlist. It’s from the perspective of an airman on a bombing run, I think, based on the opening story recounted by an interviewee, it’s a strike over Baghdad from Operation Desert Storm, but it could be the air war over Serbia. The use of air power in war is a topic that still generates controversy, as far as the ethics and claims of air advocates versus that of strategists and members of the other services. Like any aspect of military power, it should be controversial, it should make people think twice.

5. “A Dead Man’s Words” - From the perspective of a wounded soldier, and the confusion, fear, pain that sets in. The ending shout of “He’s alive!” will grab you.

6. “The Killer” - This speaks to the split-second decision making that separates life from death as a soldier must make a tactical decision whether someone is a threat and legitimate target or not. It’s about the hardening needed to take someone else’s life.

7. “Middle Of Hell” - This song is about making it through the day-to-day grind of a combat deployment. “I’m going to be alright.” It’s the sense of “I’m going to make it through this, I’m making it home." “It’s not going to be me, this time. You’ll see.” It calls back to “Hundred Mile Stare,” being about the convoys running the dangerous MSRs (Main Supply Routes) to and from Baghdad, especially the infamous Route Irish. It could just as easily be about Vietnam gun trucks. It’s a lowkey song with saxophone solos on top of the mid-tempo, repeating guitar loops with almost whispered vocals. It’s strange and haunting.

8. “If I Were King” - This is a “classic” Queensrÿche anthem, with soaring chorus and big production all around. This song is the story of a veteran recalling the death of one of his closest friends and battle buddies in combat and dealing with the pain of survivor’s guilt.

9. “Man Down!” - This song is about the struggles of many servicemembers to reintegrate into civilian society at the end of their military service. Whether they leave the military voluntarily, stayed long enough to retire, or were forced out for various reasons, medical or otherwise, the fact remains that one day you will put on the uniform for the very last time. Contrary to fancy slogans no one is a “Soldier for Life.” And the truth of the matter is, we seem to think that reintegration is nothing more than sending someone off to college or getting them a job. I assure you, that is not the sum total of reintegration. We do an exceptionally poor job of this across the board. The song’s perspective is a of a man trying to make sense of his combat experiences in a normal “real” world that doesn’t understand or care about what he’s been through.

For any service members (and family members) out there who’ve struggled with this, I recommend two books that have helped me face down something I really didn’t want to face, and that has been a lot harder than I expected it to be: retirement.

10. “Remember Me” - “I was 19 years old, got married two weeks before I deployed to the Persian Gulf…” It’s a sad reality that many military families, many relationships don’t survive first contact with deployments and extended absences. Or the changes wrought in someone when they come back from deployments. The viewpoint character of the song is asking a wife or girlfriend not leave them. “What are my kids going to think of me? That I’m some kind of monster?”

11. “Home Again” - This is a “classic” Queensrÿche ballad, and maybe the hardest song to listen to on the album. It’s a duet between Tate and his then 11-year-old daughter, the perspective of a deployed soldier reflecting on the separation from his family, and missing milestones in his children’s lives, and the child’s perspective on their father’s absence. One gets the sense that a touring rock band experiences something akin to that. It’s a very genuine, sad song that does end with a bit of hope.

12. “The Voice” - The song begins with a (Vietnam) veteran recounting being severely wounded by an artillery strike, “waking up in a hospital in Japan,” ending his monologue with “See, you reap what you sow.” This song is about finally coming home, with all those experiences and stories, accumulated wisdom and “that voice in your head.” Coming home could mean home in the physical sense, or the afterlife, being reunited with all those lost. “Don’t be afraid.”

The World

From the press release: “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. The first date of the tour will be April 16 at Snoqualmie Casino in the band’s hometown of Seattle.”

This must have been a difficult album to tour behind. It is NOT a happy record, it’s not even pleasant, and the blended, almost ambient nature of the music, with relatively little singing by the band and a lot of voiceovers, might have made for a difficult live stage presentation.

Now, one remarkable story to add to this, “In November 2010, Queensrÿche played several shows for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. While at a U.S. military position, explosive shells began falling on the base as the result of a bomb attack. Contrary to some news reports stating that some band members were injured, Tate has said in several interviews that he was misquoted and none of the band members suffered any injuries.”

The military audience was probably a lot more receptive to these songs performed live than many of the civilian audiences they played to.

Politics

It’s possible that many of the poor reviews were done in bad faith, by people who objected to the album’s existence in principle, or who saw it as a “jingoistic” pro-war record. Let me assure you, the idea that it’s jingoistic or unthinking, uncritical praise of military members or American foreign policy is completely bullshit. No one who listens to it all the way through would think that if they were intellectually honest.

Here’s Geoff Tate’s own words on the subject:

“American Soldier is more than a concept album; it is a statement of mission, a revelation of purpose, and a march for understanding. One thing that it is not is political. ‘People have a tendency to misconstrue the difference between political and social issues. This record is not political at all,’ affirms Tate. ‘It’s very much a statement of the soldiers; it’s where they are at and what they have experienced. I hope the album, as a whole, is a statement that can get them talking to each other and begin that process of connecting that needs to happen between people.’”

I understand where Tate is coming from, but I disagree with it not being “political” because of how he uses the word. Given the subject and tone of the record, it’s inherently “political,” but what it isn’t is partisan, or politicized. It doesn’t promote a platform or take a stance, but war is the continuation of politics by other means.

Geoff Tate and I agree in principle, we differ in our definitions.

So, what kind of “politics” does the album address?

I think, if you listen to this as a non-veteran civilian, and come away feeling a bit convicted, like someone is poking a finger in your chest, well, I think you’re supposed to feel that way. Not because of the band’s performance or the lyrics, but by the voices of the veterans who opened their hearts and poured them out on the album. Again, Tate is right that his album is not political, not in a jingoistic or often cartoonishly patriotic sense. Nor is it crybaby punk rock or moldy Boomer ‘60s protest rock contempt for the American military.

Make no mistake though, American Soldier is an anti-war record. Absolutely. For the best reasons, according to those most qualified to speak on that.

That makes it “political,” even if it’s not partisan.

Yes, I know this is an old picture, and it stirs up a lot of feelings about who exactly is responsible for what, but guess what, those questions aren’t settled, and they aren’t going to go away.

I think Tate is completely sincere when he says he wants to give voice to veterans’ stories and thank them for their sacrifices. He realizes these stories need preservation in veterans’ own words so that their story isn’t written for them, by someone else with their own agendas or interpretation.

What’s also revealed by the veterans on the record, is a sense that the country sees its military like Roman legionnaires stationed on the frontier, doing who knows what, to who knows who, for reasons citizens don’t understand or really care about, because it’s mostly out of sight, out of mind. Intentional or not, it should convict the consciences of people who: don’t know what their military is doing, who their military consists of, why they’re doing what they’re doing, where they’re doing it, with what means they’re doing it, whether they should be doing what they’re doing, and the moral or policy value of what they’re doing.

Like so much else, it’s all been “outsourced.”

Now, I DO NOT mean this in the “thank me for my service” or “where’s my 10% discount” sense. I don’t mean this in any form of “vet bro” nonsense. I think it’s simply an acknowledgement of things most Americans don’t want to spend much time thinking hard about.

In which case, it means people should be motivated to be a bit more involved than a rote, no matter how genuinely heartfelt, “thank you for your service.” There are responsibilities, at a national level, that the American public let alone the national security and policymaking apparatus should take more seriously, and challenging questions the country needs to reckon with. For example, what is the future of the All-Volunteer Force and its long-term implications for the country?

Content Warning

This record is not an easy listen. There are specific songs and moments that invoke a powerful emotional response out of me, with only two war deployments and three non-combat deployments under my belt, nowhere NEAR the intensity and amount of time downrange experienced by our own JR Handley.

The record contains voice overs from real veterans describing combat, their own personal struggles and difficulties, death, the struggle to reintegrate into society, wounds both visible and invisible, across generations. The record uses sound effects and guest voiceovers to add to the veracity of the songs. The lyrics don’t pull punches.

This is one to experience and reflect on. I’d think long and hard about how to share it with children and when.

Who is it for?

Queensrÿche completists likely already own this. Casual Queensryche and progressive metal fans should give it a shot if they’ve overlooked it in the past. I recommend it for readers of military fiction, military history, or collectors looking for something a little more real, less antiseptic, and who want something that will genuinely spark discussion.

For the writers in our crowd, if you’re not a military veteran, and you’re having a hard time nailing down the voice, or mentality or “feel,” something to that effect, I think you could do worse than listen to this for immersion’s sake.

For those of us veterans, for the GWOT generation, we need something more than Generation Kill, or bad, inaccurate Netflix movies, or more books by Navy SEALS to speak to and with the rest of us. This album reconnects us to the WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Somalia, and Kosovo vets who came before us.

Why buy it?

1. While you can stream it now, it’s a “forgotten” Queensrÿche album, a concept album that’s markedly different than their other work.

2. Grab it as a snapshot in time. GWOT doesn’t have a retrospective in musical form yet, because it’s from a time of splintered musical tastes without a unitary popular culture. There are good retrospectives for Vietnam and the Second World War. For more contemporary artifacts, I recommend Operation: ENCORE. One of their founders might look a little familiar…I don’t know…

3. It says right on the box, this record is for the troops. At the end of the day, if civilians don’t get it, well, tough. The band took a huge gamble in making a record with potentially limited commercial appeal, went boots on the ground in Iraq to play for us, and that’s worth our thanks.

NOTE: If you’re a veteran or family or friend of a veteran in crisis, please, please use this number to seek help.