Queensrÿche "Hear In The Now Frontier"

Hear in the Now Frontier is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band Queensrÿche, released in 1997. It was partly recorded at Studio Litho in Seattle, the home studio of Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, and was engineered and mixed by Toby Wright, who had recently worked with Alice In Chains.

The album debuted at No. 19 but quickly vanished from the charts. Hear in the Now Frontier features a more basic, stripped down musical style than anything the band had released to date, and some fans and critics pointed to the grunge genre - rooted in Seattle, near where Queensrÿche formed - as being a major influence. Despite the reaction, the singles "Sign of the Times" and "You" received substantial airplay. Both tracks, as well as "Some People Fly," would later be featured on best-of compilations. Sign of the Times: The Best of Queensrÿche, a 2007 compilation, also takes its name from the song. The song "All I Want" features guitarist Chris DeGarmo singing lead vocals, marking the only time that another band member besides the incumbent lead singer sings lead vocals on a studio track. After the album's release, original guitarist Chris DeGarmo left the band.

The album was re-released on June 10, 2003 in a remastered edition with bonus tracks. In the U.S. the album sold about 330,000 copies to date (2006)

During Queensrÿche's tour in support of Hear in the Now Frontier, their longtime label EMI America Records went bankrupt. Queensrÿche was forced to use their own money to finance the remainder of the tour, during which founding member Chris DeGarmo announced he was leaving the band. DeGarmo would return to play and co-write five songs for Tribe in 2003, but did not officially rejoin.

The band played only half the album on its 1997 tour with 5 songs still unplayed to date including: "Cuckoo's Nest", "Hero", "Miles Away", "All I Want" and "sp00L". However, "sp00L" and "Hero" have been played by Geoff Tate's band during the 2002 tour supporting his own solo album.

Track listing

1. "Sign of the Times" Chris DeGarmo 3:33
2. "Cuckoo's Nest" DeGarmo 3:59
3. "Get a Life" DeGarmo, Geoff Tate 3:39
4. "The Voice Inside" DeGarmo 3:48
5. "Some People Fly" DeGarmo, Tate 5:17
6. "Saved" DeGarmo, Tate 4:09
7. "You" DeGarmo, Tate 3:54
8. "Hero" DeGarmo 5:25
9. "Miles Away" DeGarmo 4:32
10. "Reach" Tate, Michael Wilton 3:30
11. "All I Want" DeGarmo 4:06
12. "Hit the Black" DeGarmo, Eddie Jackson 3:36
13. "Anytime / Anywhere" DeGarmo, Jackson, Tate 2:54
14. "sp00L" DeGarmo, Tate 4:53

2003 CD reissue bonus tracks

1. "Chasing Blue Sky" Scott Rockenfield, Tate 3:41
2. "Silent Lucidity" (live at MTV Unplugged, Los Angeles, CA on April 27, 1992) DeGarmo 5:24
3. "The Killing Words" (live at MTV Unplugged, Los Angeles, CA on April 27, 1992) DeGarmo, Tate 3:52
4. "I Will Remember" (live at MTV Unplugged, Los Angeles, CA on April 27, 1992) DeGarmo 4:01

Distributed by EMI Canada, Mississauga, ON.

Recording information:

Recorded at Sixteenth Avenue Sound, Nashville and Studio Litho, Seattle in the Fall of 1996. 

Mixed at Sixteenth Avenue Sound. 

Mastered at Precision Mastering.