Ultimate Guitar recently spoke with Queensrÿche guitarist Michael Wilton about the band's forthcoming album, The Verdict. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

UG: I heard that Todd (La Torre, vocals) did the drum tracks for this album. Is that true?

Wilton: "Yeah, it is. Basically, as I said, the songs were in a state of disarray and that includes drums. When we found out that Scott (Rockenfield) wasn’t going to be able to record the drums for this album it was a natural succession to Todd. Todd has been writing almost all of the drum parts – he wrote most of them for the last two albums and Scott just played what he did and gave his spin on it (live). So, this wasn’t anything new for Todd. It was a just a matter of, during pre-production, hooking up a MIDI drum kit and finished up the drums during that time and it worked out great. We were off in a time crunch schedule and there was no need to seek out a studio drummer or something like that when we have someone who’s able to do it – he’s been playing drums his whole life and cutting his chops on Queensrÿche, so it was a natural succession for Todd, and he pulled it off great."

UG: This is a very guitar-oriented album, as we would expect. Is there a riff or a solo that you’re most excited for fans to hear?

Wilton: "Oh my gosh, there are so many moments of all kinds of guitar work – there’s a lot of double guitar solos and melodic solos. There’s a song that Parker wrote called 'Dark Reverie' ... holy cow! There’s some great guitar work on that and he did all the guitar work on that song which is just awesome. There all kinds of great Queensrÿche riffage. This album rocks. I think these songs are going to really sound good live."

Read the complete interview here.

The Verdict was produced, mixed, and mastered by Zeuss (Rob Zombie, Iced Earth, Hatebreed) at Uberbeatz in Lynwood, WA, Planet-Z in Wilbraham, MA and Watershed Studio in Seattle, WA.

2CD edition tracklisting:

Disc 1
"Blood Of The Levant"
"Man The Machine"
"Light-Years"
"Inside Out "
"Propaganda Fashion"
"Dark Reverie"
"Bent"
"Inner Unrest"
"Launder The Conscience"
"Portrait"

Disc 2
"I Dream In Infrared" (Acoustic)
"Open Road" (Acoustic)
"46° North"
"Mercury Rising"
"Espiritu Muerto"
"Queen Of The Reich" (live) (Live 2012)
"En Force" (live) (Live 2012)
"Prophecy" (live) (Live 2012)
"Eyes Of A Stranger" (Live 2012)

"Man The Machine" lyric video:

Queensrÿche will hit the road in March for their headline tour featuring supporting slots from Fates Warning, with The Cringe joining both bands on select dates. The tour will kick off on March 2nd in Orlando, making stops in major markets such as New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and will wrap on April 3rd in Seattle.

Tour dates:

March
2 - Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live
3 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
5 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
7 - Baltimore - Sound Stage*
8 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun^
9 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza*
10 - Worcester, MA - Palladium*
12 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogarts
13 - Detroit, MI - Diesel
14 - Chicago, IL - Concord
15 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave
16 - Medina, MN - Medina Entertainment Center
17 - Davenport, IA - Rhythm City Casino Resort^
20 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
21 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
22 - San Antonio, TX - Aztec
23 - Albuquerque, NM - El Rey
26 - Tempe, AZ - The Marquee
27 - San Diego - Observatory
28 - Los Angeles, CA- Fonda
29 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
30 - Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades

April
2 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
3 - Seattle, WA - Neptune

* with support from The Cringe
^ Queensrÿche only

(Photo - Grizzlee Martin)