I'm shocked at the (seemingly) 100% positive response, but I'm not surprised. At the end of the day it will come down to the quality of the songs and production, but there's something to be said for QR (finally - with the loss of GT) just getting HEAVIER and more focused.

It's like Skid Row's first album where the third single was "I Remember You" and that was the last thing people heard for a year and a half before "Monkey Business" led off the Slave To The Grind album. The listener immediately knew the band weren't effing around...

That was the intention with Def Leppard releasing "Women" as the first single off Hysteria in the U.S. - they wanted the hard-core fans to know they were back.

When KISS released "Unholy" as the first single off Revenge, I felt the same way.

Anyway, this is a great strategic move by Queensryche - especially since Geoff Tate's solo album just came out. They take the headlines away and are building a nice buzz about their own heavier, driving album that fans have been begging for...