The Warning is the debut studio album by American progressive metal band Queensrÿche, released on September 7, 1984, and reissued on May 6, 2003, with three bonus tracks.
The Warning shows the band in an early stage of development, playing straight heavy metal songs unlike later albums in which more experimentation was expressed. The album's lyrics explore themes such as mysticism and the occult.
It was a moderate commercial success in the United States, although none of the singles charted domestically. However, "Take Hold of the Flame" was an international hit, particularly in Japan.
In 2019, Metal Hammer ranked it as the 13th best power metal album of all time.
Background
Queensrÿche wrote the material for The Warning during their tour in support of the Queensrÿche EP, inspired by world events and the 1949 George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The album was recorded in various recording studios in London with Pink Floyd-producer James Guthrie.
In 2013, lead singer Geoff Tate explained the band's dissatisfaction with the album's mix: "The only time I ever experienced [a record label restricting creative freedom] was during the recording of Queensrÿche's first album, The Warning. We went $300,000 over budget and the label took the record out of our hands and gave it to someone else to mix. ... The guy that mixed the album had no clue what Queensrÿche was. He never listened to hard rock music and didn't take input from anyone in the band. He just mixed it according to how he thought it should sound. No-one in the band could listen to that record. We all hated it."
Release and promotion
In support of the release, Queensrÿche went on a worldwide tour from August 1984 through to July 1985. This original intended sequence is identical to the final track listing but with the following exceptions: "N M 156" as the opening song, "Warning" as the second to last track, and "Deliverance" and "No Sanctuary" appearing in the opposite order. The band first learned of this in August 1984, while on tour in Japan.
Original track listing (unreleased)
- N M 156
- En Force
- No Sanctuary
- Deliverance
- Take Hold of the Flame
- Before the Storm
- Child of Fire
- Warning
- Roads to Madness
Personnel
Queensrÿche
- Geoff Tate – vocals
- Chris DeGarmo – guitars (lead guitar on "Take Hold of the Flame"), backing vocals
- Michael Wilton – guitars (lead guitar on "Warning"), backing vocals
- Eddie Jackson – bass, backing vocals
- Scott Rockenfield – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
- Michael Kamen – conducting, orchestral arrangement
Production
- James Guthrie – production
- Val Garay – mixing
- Neil Kernon – engineering, mixing ("The Prophecy"), production
- Evren Göknar – 2003 remastering
Charts
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! scope="col"| Chart (1984)
! scope="col"| Peak<br /> position
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