by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Queensrÿche returned from a four-year absence with Promised Land only to find the hard rock landscape very different than the one they left in 1990. But Queensrÿche did something smart. Instead of trying to adjust themselves to fit into the world that their Seattle brethren had created, they simply stayed the same. Not only was the record a commercial success -- it went gold in four months -- but it was also an engaging album. Promised Land lacks the conceptual unity and consistent songwriting of Operation: Mindcrime, but it makes it clear that the band hasn't run out of ideas yet.