''Hear in the Now Frontier'' is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

, released in 1997. It was partly recorded at Studio Litho in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, the home studio of

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

guitarist

Stone Gossard Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician who serves as a guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band. G ...

, and was engineered and mixed by

Toby Wright Toby Wright is an American record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with artists such as Alice in Chains, Metallica, Sevendust and Korn. Credits Producer * 3rd Strike - '' Lost Angel'' *8stops7 - ''In Moderation'' *Alice in Chains - ...

, who had recently worked with

Alice In Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

. 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. Many listeners criticized the band's shift to a more mainstream sound. Despite the reaction, the singles " Sign of the Times" and "

You In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

" received substantial airplay. Both tracks, as well as "Some People Fly," would later be featured on

best-of A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products *Compilation thesis M ...

s. '' 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 Christopher Lee DeGarmo (born June 14, 1963) is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being a rhythm and lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche from their formation in 1 ...

on lead vocals, the only time to date that any band member besides the incumbent lead vocalist has done so on a studio track. After the album's release, DeGarmo left the band.

Tour

During Queensrÿche's tour in support of ''Hear in the Now Frontier'', their longtime label,

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

USA, went bankrupt and was merged into

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

America. Queensrÿche was forced to use their own money to finance the remainder of the tour, during which founding member

announced he was leaving the band. DeGarmo would return to play and co-write five songs for ''

Tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

'' in 2003, but did not officially rejoin. The band played only half the album on its 1997 tour, with five songs still unplayed as of 2021: "Cuckoo's Nest", "Hero", "Miles Away", "All I Want" and "sp00L". However, "sp00L" and "Hero" have been played by

Geoff Tate Geoff Tate (born Jeffrey Wayne Tate, January 14, 1959; he later changed his first name to Geoffery or Geoffrey) (Pp. 11, 48). is an American singer and songwriter. He rose to fame with the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, who had commercial ...

's band during his 2002 tour to supporting his solo album. The tour setlist also included "The Lady Wore Black", "Take Hold of the Flame", "Revolution Calling", "The Mission", "I Don't Believe in Love", "Breaking the Silence", "Spreading the Disease", "Eyes of a Stranger", "Empire", "Jet City Woman", "Silent Lucidity", "Another Rainy Night", "I Am I", "Damaged", and "Bridge". "Walk in the Shadows", and "Della Brown" were played a few times as well. This was the last tour that Queensryche's popularity level allowed them to play large venues and amphitheaters.

Track listing

Personnel

;Queensrÿche *

– lead vocals *

Michael Wilton Michael F. Wilton (born February 23, 1962) also known as The Whip, for how fast his fingers "whip" around the guitar fretboard, is an American musician, best known for being a guitarist and songwriter in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, wh ...

– lead guitar *

– rhythm guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "All I Want" * Eddie Jackson – bass, backing vocals *

Scott Rockenfield Scott Rockenfield (born June 15, 1963), also known as SRock, is an American drummer and composer. He is best known as the drummer for the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, which he co-founded in 1982, and the hard rock band Slave to the Syste ...

– drums ;Additional personnel *

Matt Rollings Matt Rollings is a Grammy Award-winning American composer, keyboard player and record producer. Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, Rollings has worked with many artists, not all country. Matt won the 'Best Traditional Pop Voca ...

- keyboards, piano on "All I Want" *Steve Nathan - keyboards *

David Ragsdale David Lasater Ragsdale (born April 3, 1958) is an American musician. He is best known as the violinist for the rock band Kansas from 1991 to 1997 and from 2006 to the present. He toured for four years with Louise Mandrell before joining Kansas, a ...

- violin on "Sign of the Times" ;Production * Peter Collins - production *

- engineering, mixing *Adam Atley - assistant engineering *

Matt Bayles Matt Bayles (born October 19, 1972) is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician, based in Seattle, Washington. Bayles (pronounced 'Bay-Less') is known for his work with bands such as The Classic Crime, Isis, Soundgarden, Pearl ...

- assistant engineering * Steve Marcussen - mastering *

Hugh Syme Hugh Syme is a Canadian Juno Award-winning graphic artist and member of the Premier Artists Collection (PAC) who is best known for his artwork and cover concepts for rock and metal bands. He is also a musician and has appeared on some Rush ...

- art direction, design *Dimo Safari - art direction, design

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums Queensrÿche albums EMI Records albums Albums produced by Peter Collins (record producer)