QUEENSRŸCHE To Release 'The Verdict' Album In March; Announce U.S. Tour With FATES WARNING
QUEENSRŸCHE will release their new album, "The Verdict", on March 1, 2019 via Century Media Records. The band's forthcoming release was produced, mixed, and mastered by Chris "Zeuss" Harris (ROB ZOMBIE, ICED EARTH, HATEBREED) at Uberbeatz in Lynwood, Washington; Planet-Z in Wilbraham, Massachusetts; and Watershed Studio in Seattle, Washington. Pre-orders and formats will be announced soon.
"I'm extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish on this record," states QUEENSRŸCHE vocalist Todd La Torre. "The relentless dedication and hard work of everyone involved has been very rewarding. I am excited and looking forward to it no longer just belonging to us, but belonging to the world. We hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it!"
Michael "Whip" Wilton (guitar) adds: "'The Verdict' is the most metal and the most progressive record we have made in a long time. I couldn't possibly be more excited for everyone to hear this."
To support "The Verdict", QUEENSRŸCHE has also announced a spring U.S. headline tour with special guests FATES WARNING. THE CRINGE will be joining both bands on select dates. The tour will kick off on March 2 in Orlando, making stops in major markets such as New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and will wrap on April 3 in Seattle.
Todd spoke about "The Verdict"'s musical direction with Eclectic Arts, saying: "It's got more driving songs on this record than the last one… I think there's elements that are more progressive — some different time signatures. It's a good-flowing album. There's some slow, kind of haunting, creepy, cool stuff on this record," he continued. "Like I say, there's more progressive elements on this one, I think — certainly more, I think, than the last one. The song 'Condition Hüman' was kind of progressive in QUEENSRŸCHE's standards, so there's kind of some of those elements going on. Really good lyrical content — thought-provoking stuff. Certainly never trying to tell anyone what to think, but to think. Again, a lot of it deals with things that are happening in the world that everyone can identify with and relate to. I tried to have some really good vocal acrobatics on this [album]. There's not a ton of high singing, but there's some high stuff on there vocally. I mean, it just sounds like a great QUEENSRŸCHEalbum to me. But you never know until you put it out to everyone, and then it's not yours anymore."
For the past 18 months, drummer Scott Rockenfield has been taking time off from QUEENSRŸCHE's touring activities to spend time with his young son, who was born in early 2017. Filling in for him is former KAMELOT drummer Casey Grillo. However, QUEENSRŸCHEhas not yet indicated if Rockenfield was involved with the making of the disc, although it did confirm that Grillo did not play on the record.
"The Verdict" will mark QUEENSRŸCHE's third full-length release with La Torre, following the departure of Geoff Tate in 2012.
QUEENSRŸCHE tour dates:
March 02 - Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live March 03 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room March 05 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade March 07 - Baltimore, MA - Sound Stage*
March 08 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun^ March 09 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza* March 10 - Worcester, MA - Palladium* March 12 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogarts March 13 - Detroit, MI - Diesel March 14 - Chicago, IL - Concord March 15 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave March 16 - Medina, MN - Medina Entertainment Center March 17 - Davenport, IA - Rhythm City Casino Resort^ March 20 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues March 21 - Houston, TX - House of Blues March 22 - San Antonio, TX - Aztec March 23 - Albuquerque, NM - El Rey March 26 - Tempe, AZ - The Marquee March 27 - San Diego - Observatory March 28 - Los Angeles, CA - Fonda March 29 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's March 30 - Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades April 02 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom April 03 - Seattle, WA – Neptune
* With support from THE CRINGE ^ QUEENSRŸCHE only
