Queensrÿche, Tate versus La Torre is the most recent split in this series, and for a couple of years it was also the strangest: two touring versions of the band existed at the same time, until an agreement in 2014 settled who would carry the name. Behind the noise there is a straightforward story of thirty years with one singer and more than a decade with another. Here are the dates, the line-ups, the records and where to start with each.

The Tate era: 1982–2012

The band came together in Bellevue, Washington, around the guitarists Michael Wilton and Chris DeGarmo, with Eddie Jackson on bass, Scott Rockenfield on drums and Geoff Tate on vocals, and released a self-titled EP in 1983. The Warning (1984) and Rage for Order (1986) built the audience; Operation: Mindcrime (1988), a concept album telling a single story, made the name and is still the record the band is measured by.

Empire (4 September 1990) was the commercial peak: it reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 and sold three million copies in the United States, and its single “Silent Lucidity” reached number 9 on the Hot 100 and number one on the rock chart, with two Grammy nominations. Promised Land followed in 1994. DeGarmo, the band’s main songwriter, left in the late 1990s after Hear in the Now Frontier (1997) and returned only briefly, to write and record Tribe (2003). Between then and 2011 the band released six more albums, among them Operation: Mindcrime II (2006).

The change: 2012–14

Tate and the band parted in June 2012, after thirty years, and Todd La Torre took over on vocals. For about two years both sides toured under the Queensrÿche name and released albums; an agreement announced in April 2014 gave the name to Jackson, Rockenfield and Wilton, and gave Tate the exclusive right to perform Operation: Mindcrime and its sequel in full.

The La Torre years: 2013 onwards

Four studio albums so far: the self-titled Queensrÿche (2013), Condition Hüman (2015), The Verdict (2019) and Digital Noise Alliance (2022). The line-up has kept Wilton and Jackson from the original band throughout, with Parker Lundgren and later Mike Stone on second guitar and Casey Grillo on drums in place of Rockenfield since 2017. On record the direction has been back towards the 1980s albums rather than towards the later Tate period.

What the argument is about

Less than with most bands, oddly. La Torre sings in a register close to the young Tate, and the newer albums are deliberately closer to The Warning and Rage for Order than anything the band released after the 1990s. So the real question is not which singer but which part of the Tate era you are comparing: the four albums that made the band’s reputation between 1984 and 1990, or the years after DeGarmo left, when the writing changed hands. Many listeners who prefer the La Torre albums also prefer the 1980s Tate albums, which tells you what is actually being argued about.

Where to start with each era

Tate era: Operation: Mindcrime (1988), best heard in one sitting, with Empire next if you want the hits and Rage for Order if you want the band before either. If you are choosing a pressing, my guide to which edition of Operation: Mindcrime to buy covers the options.

La Torre years: Condition Hüman (2015), generally the best received of the four, or The Verdict (2019). For the catalogue in order there is my guide to Queensrÿche albums ranked.

Go deeper

For the band itself, start with the Queensrÿche band guide, the best Queensrÿche albums and the best Queensrÿche songs; for comparisons with their peers, see Queensrÿche vs Dream Theater and Fates Warning vs Queensrÿche. For the same argument in other bands, see the hub of prog rock’s great era debates and the piece on line-up changes that improved a band. The story of North American progressive rock and metal, Queensrÿche included, is the subject of Beyond the Atlantic, the fourth book in my Beyond the Sound series.

Want the full story behind Queensrÿche and the American scene? The books map every era →

Enjoyed the read? Find your next one on the bookshelf below →