Are users with higher ranks pushed up the pecking order when submitting reviews?

Only because the quality of their reviews can be reasonably assured and mods don't have to look over them as hard before accepting.

fair enough

Cool, I never knew that, I always thought my reviews went through pretty fast, even when others were making threads about having to wait, interesting to see I wasn't imagining it.

More experienced users are also exponentially less likely to try to review things like Metallica, Slayer, Lamb of God, Agalloch, Burzum, or other bands with a lot of buzz, simply because it's likely they already reviewed one or more such bands at an earlier point in their stint. Such reviews (especially those which aren't technically outright 'poor' submissions) do have a tendency to hang around in the queue a fair bit longer than others, as they not only require more careful scrutiny in processing (due to scaling acceptance standards), but are also generally far more tedious to read, whatever the nature and quality of the piece may be.

Put another way, many high-volume reviewers don't have such a relatively easy time primarily on account of the strength of their writing, but on other aspects of their reviewing habits.