new project featuring Geoff Tate...

[T'ski]

Sweet Oblivion.

yes this track will sound familiar to QR fans, but Geoff sounds really good on it.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6489svhyBg

[Hearing Aid Man]

Hmmm... This song isn't too bad.

[prog_powermetal99]

Anyone else getting a "Breaking the silence" vibe on the chorus?

[LarryD]

Yes it is a pretty good song .......
Yes Geoff sounds very good on it .......
Yes, I get the Breaking the Silence vibe in the chorus......

But no ...... for some reason, nothing that Tate does interests me anymore. And that includes anything QR sounding or related..... a lot of discs coming out nowadays with him on it, says " feat. Geoff Tate " ..... and maybe 15 years ago that would have stoked me, now it doesn't do anything for me.

Really, the only thing that Tate has done to blow my mind in the last 15 years, is his solo acoustic show from a few years back ..... and sadly, or intentionally, it was not released on DVD. It was sensational - yet he chose not to release it. Go figure.

[Mardoch]

Yes it is a pretty good song .......
Yes Geoff sounds very good on it .......
Yes, I get the Breaking the Silence vibe in the chorus......

But no ...... for some reason, nothing that Tate does interests me anymore. And that includes anything QR sounding or related..... a lot of discs coming out nowadays with him on it, says " feat. Geoff Tate " ..... and maybe 15 years ago that would have stoked me, now it doesn't do anything for me.

Really, the only thing that Tate has done to blow my mind in the last 15 years, is his solo acoustic show from a few years back ..... and sadly, or intentionally, it was not released on DVD. It was sensational - yet he chose not to release it. Go figure.

Perhaps the fact that he's a tremendously shitty human has dimmed your enthusiasm for his output? He's guaranteed that I'll not pay anything toward him again.

[LarryD]

Perhaps the fact that he's a tremendously shitty human has dimmed your enthusiasm for his output? He's guaranteed that I'll not pay anything toward him again.

***I'm guessing you're right because I have no other answer ...... and I hate to admit things like that, as there are lots of dickheads out there we listen to on a regular basis...... I always look for other answers when it comes to things like this, but in this case ... I have none.

[prog_powermetal99]

Perhaps the fact that he's a tremendously shitty human has dimmed your enthusiasm for his output? He's guaranteed that I'll not pay anything toward him again.

I would have agreed with you a few years back, but I hear Tate has changed quite a bit. Everyone that's worked with him, including Tobias on the Avantasia project, say that he's been great and a perfect gentleman.

He even mentioned not too long ago on a youtube interview that he saw a Queensryche show (with Todd), and was commenting on how great Todd sounded, and even mention that he talked to the band the first time since the lawsuit. I think Tate realizes how much of a dick he was in the latter years of the band. But on all of the interviews I've seen over the last few years, he comes across very humble and a perfect gentleman and never says anything bad about the band, or any band for that matter.... There's always time for change, and if Geoff has changed, then I applaud him.......


Dusty

[GaetanL]

The movie Crash (2004) is one of my favorite movies of all time.

At the beginning of the movie, a policeman did a very stupid thing to a black woman he arrested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtvbEtPIGiA

Further in the movie, this policeman risked his life to save this black woman. This scene is on my mind forever...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUTQFpVOWGE

[Guillaume]

Perhaps the fact that he's a tremendously shitty human has dimmed your enthusiasm for his output? He's guaranteed that I'll not pay anything toward him again.

I would have agreed with you a few years back, but I hear Tate has changed quite a bit. Everyone that's worked with him, including Tobias on the Avantasia project, say that he's been great and a perfect gentleman.

He even mentioned not too long ago on a youtube interview that he saw a Queensryche show (with Todd), and was commenting on how great Todd sounded, and even mention that he talked to the band the first time since the lawsuit. I think Tate realizes how much of a dick he was in the latter years of the band. But on all of the interviews I've seen over the last few years, he comes across very humble and a perfect gentleman and never says anything bad about the band, or any band for that matter.... There's always time for change, and if Geoff has changed, then I applaud him.......


Dusty

I've read the same things about him. If he indeed changed, that's great news! Maybe he realized he had to change if he wanted to save what was left of his career...

[Nos]

I've listened to Sweet Oblivion three times now, and there's two things I can say about it; 1) It's the most QR sounding thing Tate has done in decades, including the last few QR albums, and 2) Hearing him singing some good music for a change makes it clear his voice isn't there anymore. Tobi hid him well, but he doesn't sound that good.

The record is rally good, despite him. I think the old QR fans will be very happy with it.

[Guillaume]

I've listened to Sweet Oblivion three times now, and there's two things I can say about it; 1) It's the most QR sounding thing Tate has done in decades, including the last few QR albums, and 2) Hearing him singing some good music for a change makes it clear his voice isn't there anymore. Tobi hid him well, but he doesn't sound that good.

The record is rally good, despite him. I think the old QR fans will be very happy with it.

Man... I didn't hear the album yet. But I saw Tate with Avantasia last Thursday in Montreal, and he sounded excellent, and looked really happy to be part of the experience. He regained my respect.

[Sir Exar Kun]

I've listened to Sweet Oblivion three times now, and there's two things I can say about it; 1) It's the most QR sounding thing Tate has done in decades, including the last few QR albums, and 2) Hearing him singing some good music for a change makes it clear his voice isn't there anymore. Tobi hid him well, but he doesn't sound that good.

The record is rally good, despite him. I think the old QR fans will be very happy with it.

I feel like I'm going to regret getting semi-excited about this album, but I am actually pretty excited to hear it. Geoff shines when working with outside writers.

I do disagree on his voice "not being there" anymore though..... Can he hit the notes he did 25 years ago? Definitely not, but his voice still sounds great when he controls his range. I saw him live a couple years back, and have seen enough live clips (including numerous acoustic ones where he can't hide behind the band) and his voice is still strong as hell.... He simply has had to adapt to what he can sing now versus two decades ago. Interested to hear how he comes across on this album, as he sounded great on Avantasia.

[Nos]

I do disagree on his voice "not being there" anymore though..... Can he hit the notes he did 25 years ago? Definitely not, but his voice still sounds great when he controls his range.

That range is very limited now. His high register is completely gone, but what gets me is when he tries to do the lower/quieter stuff now. You can hear the fry in his voice from where he didn't take care of himself. He sounds like a guy who spent decades smoking, not a guy who valued his voice. The center of his tone might still be ok, but the edges are cracked and broken.

[introclaus]

Geoff’s voice is just fine for a guy his age who’ve been singing for that many years. Not many singers that are capable of keeping all their range intact anyway - it’s all part of getting older.

The problem here is the uninspired song writing! I can totally see the conversation here:
“Hey Simone, this is Serafino from Frontiers Records. I want you to create a melodic metal album with some prog metal in it ... not as much as in your normal band but enough so that we can sell it to the prog people as well”.

“Okay, but I’m not sure my melodies are good enough on their own?”

“No worries, we will get you Geoff Tate to sing on the album and tell everyone it sounds like old Queensryche ... now just to help us a bit, could you throw a couple of old Qryche riffs in there?”,

“But that’s stealing?!” -

“So what? People will think it’s Geoff’s influence”.

All in all, while it’s not bad per se, it really isn’t anything to get me excited. Sure, it’s always nice to hear Geoff singing this style but there’s absolutely nothing here in the songwriting that makes me want to go back and listen again.

[Nos]

“Okay, but I’m not sure my melodies are good enough on their own?”

It's funny how we hear things differently. To me, Sweet Oblivion sounds far hookier, and more melodic, than anything Geoff has ever written on his own.

[introclaus]

“Okay, but I’m not sure my melodies are good enough on their own?”

It's funny how we hear things differently. To me, Sweet Oblivion sounds far hookier, and more melodic, than anything Geoff has ever written on his own.

1) The joke was never about whether Geoff writes good songs or not, but whether the DGM dude is a good enough song writer in the "melodic metal" genre ... which I personally don't think he is. He writes good solid melo-prog songs, but for an album that is as obviously "melodic" as this (less emphasis on prog) I find him failing. Again, it's all personal opinion.

2) As for Geoff being a song writer or not, I never considered him as a particular great song writer on his own, but what him and the rest of Queensryche did together on the first 6 or so albums was phenomenal. It's well documented that you don't like QR so let's leave it at that.

3) I still am one of those that believe the first Geoff Tate solo album is underrated - I liked it back then and I still like it a lot. Great song writing (whoever wrote it LOL) and Geoff was in fine form.

Claus