Queensryche Performs Friday at Bergen Performing Arts Center

Queensryche is revisiting its past to set a new course for the future.

The Seattle progressive metal band, featuring new singer Todd LaTorre, brings its Return to History Tour to the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood on Friday, March 8.  

Queensryche will be playing songs only from its 1983 self-titled EP and its first four studio albums: “The Warning,” “Rage for Order,” “Operation: Mindcrime” and “Empire.”

“We’re revisiting songs that we haven’t played in a long time, songs that we’ve wanted to do or haven’t been allowed to do,” said drummer Scott Rockenfield, alluding to former singer Geoff Tate. Rockenfield has said that Tate was responsible for mellowing Queensryche’s signature style over the past 15 years from aggressive, melodic metal to an almost unrecognizable, experimental sound that alienated many of the band’s longtime fans.

“It’s been a great time for us playing songs like “Queen of the Reich” and pulling out obscure, early songs like “Prophecy,” “Roads to Madness” and “En Force,”’ Rockenfield said. “All those records were the most defining musical moments for Queensryche. Playing the old material is part of our transition to going back to being a rock and metal band.”

Queensryche jettisoned Tate last year after simmering tensions regarding musical and management differences boiled over. The divorce has been nasty: Tate is touring with his own version of Queensryche, and the two sides are battling in court for the rights to the name.

In addition to LaTorre, Queensryche is rounded out by original members Michael Wilton on guitar and Eddie Jackson on bass, and guitarist Parker Lundgren.

Rockenfield said fans have taken quickly to LaTorre, a powerful vocalist with a commanding stage presence. He added that LaTorre’s strong performance and fans’ positive reception has given Queensryche confidence in moving forward with a new singer for the first time in the band’s 32-year career.

“The fans have embraced him beyond belief,” Rockenfield said. “Our fans are coming out to the shows and having a great time.

“Playing a big rock and metal show was an issue that wasn’t agreed upon,” he said. “But Michael, Eddie and I wanted to do it. From the fan reaction this was absolutely the right thing to do.”

Queensryche formed in 1981 and released its self-titled EP in 1983. The mini-album made an immediate impact with spirited anthems like “Queen of the Reich” and “The Lady Wore Black." Tate’s soaring vocals and the band’s technical yet melodic instrumentation drew comparisons to such metal giants as Iron Maiden.

The band’s precise guitar crunch, complex rhythms and cerebral lyrics would lead the group to be dubbed the thinking man’s metal band. Queensryche would begin to see mainstream recognition with its 1988 release, “Operation: Mindcrime,” a brilliant concept album that explores power, politics, religion, drugs, love and manipulation. The single “Eyes of a Stranger" saw regular rotation on MTV, and the band gained further exposure when it played arenas opening for Metallica.

Queensryche achieved mass commercial success with its follow-up album, 1990’s “Empire.” The delicate ballad “Silent Lucidity” drew comparisons to Pink Floyd. "Silent Lucidity" was a Top 10 single, and “Empire” sold three-million copies.

The band overhauled its sound in the late 1990s, forgoing many of the progressive and heavy elements that defined Queensryche in favor of a less weighty feel. The band’s last release, 2011’s “Dedicated to Chaos,” was harshly and roundly panned by fans and critics who said the band sounded lifeless.

Queensryche is currently putting the finishing touches on its 14^th album, its first with LaTorre. A 90-second clip of new music is available on the band’s website, www.queensrycheofficial.com. The energetic material harkens back to the band’s glory days, a promising preview for fans who have been clamoring for the group to incorporate its roots into its modern material.

Rockenfield said the album, which will be released on June 11 on Century Media Records, benefits from all five band members having a hand in the writing process. “That’s not the way things have been for a long time,” he said. “We’re really digging deep in writing the new material.”

In another return to form, the album is being produced by Jim Barton, who worked with the band on “Operation: Mindcrime” and “Empire.”

“The record sounds fantastic, the clarity and the vibe,” Rockenfield said. “We want to be a rock and a metal band again. That’s what we’re focusing on.”

IF YOU GO: Queensryche, with opening act Dead Fish Handshake, 8 p.m. Friday, March 8, Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 N. Van Brunt St., Englewood. Tickets are $29 to $99. Call (201) 227–1030 or visit www.bergenpac.org

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