Queensryche, the multi-platinum EMI Recording artists whose latest CD release is Promised Land, today announced that they and EMI Records will be releasing a CD-Rom entitled "Promised Land" in the summer of 1995.
Produced by David Traub of Mediatrix (Santa Cruz, CA) and written by Queensryche, Traub and Mediatrix artist, the "Promised Land" CD-Rom will be released by EMI Records and will be able to run on both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
The "Promised Land" is a two disc CD-Rom set designed to lead the next generation of interactive music titles. Comprised of over 70 distinctively different, interactive environments, the "Promised Land" CD-Rom is a documentary of the multi-platinum artists woven together within the context of five levels of gaming. Vigilant users are rewarded at the end of the game with a bonus track written exclusively for the CD-Rom by Queensryche. This multi-platform hybird disc was written with Apple Media tools, and features nearly 2000 photo-realistic raytraced images, nearly 100 minutes of digital video, and a soundscape written specifically by Queensryche to reinforce the users experience.
The disc lands the user in a surreal, computer-generated animated forest similar to those of the Pacific Northwest's San Juan Islands where the Promised Land album was recorded. As the user explores through the forest, they will come upon 3D versions of the "Big Log" recording studio. Inside they are able to fully explore the various rooms where the band lived, created and recorded the album, as well as view 23 uniquely projected "mini-documentaries" with both band members and crew.
Within the forest the game aspect of the CD-Rom begins. There are five distinct worlds representing the psyche of each of the members of the band, together containing over 25 interrelated puzzles, games and interactive obstacles. Users must solve these challengers to get to the bonus track. From sailing the "Ocean World" to exploring the "Blade Running World" to guesting on "The Ed Bass Talk Show," the CD-Rom is an invitation to journey with the band through the many facets of Queensryche.
"We decided to do a CD-Rom because we wanted to be able to give our fans a vehicle to interact with us," explains Chris DeGarmo, guitarist/songwriter for Queensryche. "We've always explored different medias to express ourselves both musically and visually, and this just give you another perspective of what we're all about. The nice thing about the CD-Rom is that it allows the user to discover at their own pace, and the artists at Mediatrix have helped to develop some very impressive and twisted imagery as well as a maze of games and information on the band that fans and users can work through.
Traub added, "We wanted to develop an interactive music format with a lot more psychological depth and immersive richness than on any previous disc, one that could easily be migrated to an interactive television server. As part interactive documentary, part Freudian reality, the "Promised Land" experience quietly emerges as an overall psychological puzzle. For those that 'win,' it inevitably becomes somewhat of a multimedia epiphany - particularly for those that ask the bigger questions in life. It's rock 'n' roll, consciousness and sailing rolled up within a single, graphically stunning and strangely relevant world that will take many tens of hours to fully explore."
The first CD-Rom release by EMI Records, the CD-Rom has been one year in the making and will be unveiled in late May.
Queensryche is currently embarking on a U.S. tour starting April 14th in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The tour will continue through the summer. Promised Land has sold over 1.5 million records in the U.S. and two million worldwide and their fifth EMI release. Queensryche home page can be found at http://www.queensryche.com.
The "Promised Land" CD-Rom marks the beginning of EMI Records commitment to interactive artist development.
Queensryche are Geoff Tate, vocals; Chris DeGarmo, guitarist; Michael Wilton, guitarist; Eddie Jackson, bassist; and Scott Rockenfield, drums.