When I first heard this album I thought it was rather disappointing, maybe at the time I expected screaming early Power Metal like the material on the debut EP. Retrospectively I've change my opinion of 'Rage for Order' and now I see it's a logical progression between 'The Warning' and 'Operation Mindcrime' and do find it a more impressive release than I first did. That said it's always going to be overlooked in favour of the next release, but there's still a wealth of well written material here and while the slightly more progressive nature of the songs doesn't make them age so well, it's still a respectable album by it's own rights.

'Rage for Order' opens impressively with the 'Mindcrime' reminiscent 'Walk in the Shadows', a melodic rocker which highlights 'Geoff Tate's' amazing vocals, thoughtful lyrics which are a characteristic of this album and plenty of sweet guitar licks along the way. The pace drops for 'I Dream in Infrared' a passionately executed balladsy number, which again emphasises wonderful delivery of reflective lyrics and is further braced by a strong melody throughout. Slightly brisker is the lightweight rocker 'The Whisper', a strong track which ebbs and flows excellently, the synthesiser work isn't overdone and is very complimentary. Next up is a cover of 'Gonna get Close to You', an unusual progressive sounding track, which varies pace from true rocker to chart friendly ballad, but all told comes across a little disjointed and repetitive for my liking. The atmospheric ballad 'The Killing Words' follows and although the synthesiser work is a tad overdone, it's a passionately penned and performed piece with another superb performance from 'Tate'. The first half closes with the brisk paced 'Surgical Strike' a strong effort that has a certain 'Operation Mindcrime' flow about it, lyrically it's not up to most tracks on the album but still an enjoyable piece, complete with a great instrumental break. The second half of the album fails to excite me as much as the first, 'Neue Regel' promises plenty, but it's more progressive stance ends up sounding dated for '86 let along '05, 'Tate' as always puts in a fine performance, but it doesn't quite hit the mark in my book. A prelude to 'Operation Mindcrime' is foretold on the lively 'Chemical Youth' and this comes across a lot better, the energetic chorus works well, as does the clever song structure. More excellent penmanship is displayed on 'London', regrettably the musical side of the song is lacking in my opinion and the song falls a little flat, especially the over-the-top chorus. Improvements are quickly made on the harder edged 'Screaming in Digital', a well written track, which highlights good use of synthesisers and strong all round performances, especially by the rhythm section. The album closes with the ballad 'I Will Remember', a decent affair if that's your bag, but it's a bit sloppy for my liking.

Perhaps 'Rage for Order' hasn't aged as well as some of 'Queensrÿche's' other 80's albums, but still a thoughtfully penned album with more pleasant surprises than I initially gave it credit for.