Sweet Oblivion: Mularoni and his problems with Tate

[Stevie WOnder]

Thanks to Guillaume for this one.

Tate being himself, what a jerk!!

https://sleazeroxx.com/simone-mularoni- ... n-project/

[introclaus]

Thanks to Guillaume for this one.

Tate being himself, what a jerk!!

https://sleazeroxx.com/simone-mularoni- ... n-project/

You believe everything you read on the internet?

[Stevie WOnder]

Thanks to Guillaume for this one.

Tate being himself, what a jerk!!

https://sleazeroxx.com/simone-mularoni- ... n-project/

You believe everything you read on the internet?

Once no... twice no... after multiple times like spitting on his former band mates, not respecting his fans? Yes.

[introclaus]

Thanks to Guillaume for this one.

Tate being himself, what a jerk!!

https://sleazeroxx.com/simone-mularoni- ... n-project/

You believe everything you read on the internet?

Once no... twice no... after multiple times like spitting on his former band mates, not respecting his fans? Yes.

There are so many things in that story from this guitar player (a complete nobody) that doesn’t make sense though;
- hip hop?
- recorded on a bus?

It sounds to me like here’s a guy who was told that he was getting a band with Geoff Tate signing and when he realized this is all promoted as the second coming of Geoff Tate he got all upset. I’m sure seeing Geoff get all the money, fame and credit for what is ultimately Mularonis “child” is a hard one to swallow but it is what it is.

Either way, I honestly don’t really care as I didn’t like the album (music bores me, and Geoff while sounding perfectly great isn’t what I prefer listening to in 2019).

It’s just interesting to see how many people that jumps right back on the “I hate Geoff Tate” train after a complete nobody comes out with one story years after all other drama has gone away, following years of where everyone who’ve been working w Geoff in recent years have had nothing but good things to say. We all know that what transpired 10 years ago was ugly (not taking sides - that’s old news), but from what we’ve seen in recent years we should have more trust in Geoff than just immediately believe the first “horror story” that we see on the internet.

Now, who knows, there might be another bunch of them lurking out there waiting to come on out in the open soon and I might pay more attention (not really, I don’t care enough), but for now I think I’m seeing too many people on the forums, on Blabbermouth etc jumping the gun in the Geoff hate.

[Nos]

There are so many things in that story from this guitar player (a complete nobody) that doesn’t make sense though;
- hip hop?
- recorded on a bus?

Makes sense to me. "Dedicated To Chaos", the last thing he did where he wasn't trying to prove he was the 'real' Queensryche, had some hip-hop elements to his vocal phrasings. That's one of the big reasons it sucked so much.

[Guillaume]

You believe everything you read on the internet?

Once no... twice no... after multiple times like spitting on his former band mates, not respecting his fans? Yes.

There are so many things in that story from this guitar player (a complete nobody) that doesn’t make sense though;
- hip hop?
- recorded on a bus?

It sounds to me like here’s a guy who was told that he was getting a band with Geoff Tate signing and when he realized this is all promoted as the second coming of Geoff Tate he got all upset. I’m sure seeing Geoff get all the money, fame and credit for what is ultimately Mularonis “child” is a hard one to swallow but it is what it is.

Either way, I honestly don’t really care as I didn’t like the album (music bores me, and Geoff while sounding perfectly great isn’t what I prefer listening to in 2019).

It’s just interesting to see how many people that jumps right back on the “I hate Geoff Tate” train after a complete nobody comes out with one story years after all other drama has gone away, following years of where everyone who’ve been working w Geoff in recent years have had nothing but good things to say. We all know that what transpired 10 years ago was ugly (not taking sides - that’s old news), but from what we’ve seen in recent years we should have more trust in Geoff than just immediately believe the first “horror story” that we see on the internet.

Now, who knows, there might be another bunch of them lurking out there waiting to come on out in the open soon and I might pay more attention (not really, I don’t care enough), but for now I think I’m seeing too many people on the forums, on Blabbermouth etc jumping the gun in the Geoff hate.

Weird to hear this from you, a metal fan like me, who calls the DGM guitarist, a "complete nobody" (you wrote this not once but twice!). While most of the bands you and I like could have that tag then as our discussed and preferred styles talked here are really for a minority). So, this is all shit cause the guy who talks never got worldwide recognition so far? Yeah right. About this story, and knowing about Tate's and his wife's past, I'm on Simone side.

And I find it sad because Tate had regained my respect with his performances on the last 2 Avantasia discs, and on that Sweet Oblivion one. And after seeing him live with Avantasia, where he looked happy and almost nice on the stage. Now, it seems his silly huge ego got in the way again. Maybe he thinks he's the only reason Avantasia's tour was successful...

[introclaus]

Weird to hear this from you, a metal fan like me, who calls the DGM guitarist, a "complete nobody" (you wrote this not once but twice!). While most of the bands you and I like could have that tag then as our discussed and preferred styles talked here are really for a minority).

He is a nobody! It's a fact that his band sells absolutely nothing in the music scene outside our little circle-jerk of prog metal enthusiasts. I don't necessarily count myself as a "DGM fan" but I own most of their albums, and I even used to work as a promoter for the bands old record label back in the day (so I've also been hyping their discs to the media). Let's face it - when these guys were at their biggest they might have sold 8-10k copies of each album, but now they should be lucky if they reach the 4-5k mark. The business is cruel.

So, this is all shit cause the guy who talks never got worldwide recognition so far? Yeah right.

Did I ever say that the story isn't true BECAUSE the guy saying it didn't get worldwide recognition? No. What I said is that a motive for talking bad about Geoff could be jealousy/envy on his part, seeing Geoff getting all the credit for an album which Mularoni obviously wrote 99% of. It would piss off anyone - there's just a difference between handling it like a man, and handling it like ... well

About this story, and knowing about Tate's and his wife's past, I'm on Simone side.

And that's fine Guillaume. I'm not saying it's not true. I'm just saying that it's way too easy to jump back on the "I hate Geoff Tate" train based on one very biased story coming from someone who obviously has a high stake in the game (a guy with a less-than-impressive career, seeing the credit for his hard work going to a "has-been" rock star).

And I find it sad because Tate had regained my respect with his performances on the last 2 Avantasia discs, and on that Sweet Oblivion one. And after seeing him live with Avantasia, where he looked happy and almost nice on the stage. Now, it seems his silly huge ego got in the way again. Maybe he thinks he's the only reason Avantasia's tour was successful...

Ahhh ... well ... we could talk about that one if we wanted to As much as I like Tobias' music and the Avantasia project, there's probably no denying that with Geoff Tate on board, that several "non-metal" fans have found their way to this band and gone to the shows. Of all the name musicians on the tour, only 2 of them (Eric Martin and Geoff Tate) are in the million selling category, and for Eric Martin the name recognition value just isn't as large as with Geoff (Mr. Big was always more about the sum of the parts, whereas - as Geoff himself pointed out in an interview last week - he was the face of the band QRyche). Either way, that's got nothing to do with the topic at hand.

I'll state it once again: I don't know the truth in this story, neither does any of you! It's just funny to see how people immediately jump to the worst conclusion about everyone's favorite person to hate in the prog scene. Says more about y'all than it does about him if you ask me (which you didn't, so I don't really care).

[introclaus]

There are so many things in that story from this guitar player (a complete nobody) that doesn’t make sense though;
- hip hop?
- recorded on a bus?

Makes sense to me. "Dedicated To Chaos", the last thing he did where he wasn't trying to prove he was the 'real' Queensryche, had some hip-hop elements to his vocal phrasings. That's one of the big reasons it sucked so much.

Hip-hop? Hmmm, perhaps I just don't know what constitutes hip-hop, 'cause I don't really hear it. What I hear is some more "soul", some more "funk", and less of a blues/rock based vocal performance on that album. I actually just listened to it again, and some of it (like "Higher") isn't as bad as it sounded when the album was released at first. It's still not a great album in any way.

[Nos]

I'll state it once again: I don't know the truth in this story, neither does any of you! It's just funny to see how people immediately jump to the worst conclusion about everyone's favorite person to hate in the prog scene. Says more about y'all than it does about him if you ask me (which you didn't, so I don't really care).

When one person involved (Tate) has a history of stretching the truth, and the other doesn't, I'm inclined to believe the guy without the checkered past.

The impression I get is that he doesn't want to have to make a second album with Tate.

[introclaus]

The impression I get is that he doesn't want to have to make a second album with Tate.

I'm 100% sure you're correct about that part. My thought here is that Mularoni was hoping to be the next Magnus Karlsson on Frontiers roster, but seeing that Geoff got all the credit he probably realized that Sweet Oblivion should better sink into oblivion (pun intended!) ... if he is smart, he keeps the band name and finds another profile singer for the next album, and that ways establishes himself as the main "ingredient" in the S.O.-recipe.

[Guillaume]

The impression I get is that he doesn't want to have to make a second album with Tate.

I'm 100% sure you're correct about that part. My thought here is that Mularoni was hoping to be the next Magnus Karlsson on Frontiers roster, but seeing that Geoff got all the credit he probably realized that Sweet Oblivion should better sink into oblivion (pun intended!) ... if he is smart, he keeps the band name and finds another profile singer for the next album, and that ways establishes himself as the main "ingredient" in the S.O.-recipe.

Hummm... This album with Tate is not the first one Simone did for Frontiers. He wrote the Lione/Conti album from 2018 and the last Sunstorm - Road To Hell as well (Joe Lynn Turner's project) if I'm not mistaken. And noone knows he participated, or very few. Why would he suddenly be pissed off by Tate getting all the credit?
And as he mentioned Serafino from Frontiers in this story against Tate, I don't think he'd shoot himself in the foot like this by forging a false story while involving his "boss".

[venidominefan]

Hummm... This album with Tate is not the first one Simone did for Frontiers. He wrote the Lione/Conti album from 2018 and the last Sunstorm - Road To Hell as well (Joe Lynn Turner's project) if I'm not mistaken. And noone knows he participated, or very few. Why would he suddenly be pissed off by Tate getting all the credit?
And as he mentioned Serafino from Frontiers in this story against Tate, I don't think he'd shoot himself in the foot like this by forging a false story while involving his "boss".

Simone also does producing and mixing. One example being the latest Starbreaker album on Frontiers which sounds great.

The Sweet Oblivion album just came out...why would he say what he did in an interview so close to the release date...as it reflects negatively on the whole project and Frontiers...I could see talking about the difficulties a year or so out after the dust settles and if Simone knew there wasn’t going to be a follow up album.

The whole thing seems odd to me.

[Nos]

The Sweet Oblivion album just came out...why would he say what he did in an interview so close to the release date...as it reflects negatively on the whole project

By talking now, when there is still some attention on the project, he can blunt any momentum to make a second record, unless it's his choice to do it. He could be getting out in front of it, whereas people would say the same comments are an excuse to cover for Tate not wanting to do another one if he waited a year or two to talk, when it would have been time for the follow-up.

[venidominefan]

By talking now, when there is still some attention on the project, he can blunt any momentum to make a second record, unless it's his choice to do it. He could be getting out in front of it, whereas people would say the same comments are an excuse to cover for Tate not wanting to do another one if he waited a year or two to talk, when it would have been time for the follow-up.

If that’s the case then Frontiers must also be on board with not doing a Sweet Oblivion 2 and are aware and approved of Simone saying what he said. Your explanation makes sense but we shall see

[introclaus]

One more point to Geoff for a very nice interview talking in extremely positive words about Mularoni and the songs:
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/geoff- ... -mularoni/

[Nos]

Tate's positive attitude in interviews isn't surprising. He's not going to piss on the first album in twenty years for him that's actually getting some good press. It might be the only salvation for keeping his career from being purely a greatest-hits touring act.

[Stevie WOnder]

One more point to Geoff for a very nice interview talking in extremely positive words about Mularoni and the songs:
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/geoff- ... -mularoni/

Of course, it’s the only decent thing he’s done in years.

And as far as jumping back on the hate Tate train, I’ve been a huge fan even with some of their shittiest discs and even his firs solo album. The thing is, he’s burned so many bridges with the community, the fans by denying his metal roots, doing some stupid cabaret stuff, he put the QR name in the dirt. I was happy to jump back in but this is just a wake up call.

[introclaus]

Tate's positive attitude in interviews isn't surprising. He's not going to piss on the first album in twenty years for him that's actually getting some good press. It might be the only salvation for keeping his career from being purely a greatest-hits touring act.

Your hatred for Tate is too hilarious. It has blindsided you to the point where you actually believe your own comments.

Let’s be real here - whether Sweet Oblivion gets great reviews or not, it’s most likely the least selling of all the albums Geoff has done in the last twenty years. All the Qryche albums and his Operation Mindcrime albums had the “name recognition” which would still get people outside our little board here to buy them. Do you honestly think that “that” many people are buying Sweet Oblivion?

Again, I’ve said it before, I’ve lost my interest in Tate and his music long ago, but your hatred for him is hilarious.

[Nos]

Let’s be real here - whether Sweet Oblivion gets great reviews or not, it’s most likely the least selling of all the albums Geoff has done in the last twenty years. All the Qryche albums and his Operation Mindcrime albums had the “name recognition” which would still get people outside our little board here to buy them. Do you honestly think that “that” many people are buying Sweet Oblivion?

No, there probably aren't. But, the last few QR albums, and all three Operation:Mindcrime ones got absolutely shredded by the press. Tate might have still sold some records, but he was a laughing stock. This record, at least, has people talking in more optimistic tones about him. That's worth something to a guy who has fallen so far.

Again, I’ve said it before, I’ve lost my interest in Tate and his music long ago, but your hatred for him is hilarious.

You're reading way too much into things. I find Tate funny, in a pathetic way. I don't actually give a drizzling shit about him, since hearing "Silent Lucidity" in the background of those old clip shows is probably the only time I had ever been exposed to Queensryche before they split up.

[introclaus]

Let’s be real here - whether Sweet Oblivion gets great reviews or not, it’s most likely the least selling of all the albums Geoff has done in the last twenty years. All the Qryche albums and his Operation Mindcrime albums had the “name recognition” which would still get people outside our little board here to buy them. Do you honestly think that “that” many people are buying Sweet Oblivion?

No, there probably aren't. But, the last few QR albums, and all three Operation:Mindcrime ones got absolutely shredded by the press. Tate might have still sold some records, but he was a laughing stock. This record, at least, has people talking in more optimistic tones about him. That's worth something to a guy who has fallen so far.

I seriously doubt that matters that much to him. At the end of the day he is a business man. The difference between him and Mularoni is that he has made it his full time career (and quite a successful one at that), and as such he cares more about the bottomline than what the media rates his albums.

Again, I’ve said it before, I’ve lost my interest in Tate and his music long ago, but your hatred for him is hilarious.

You're reading way too much into things. I find Tate funny, in a pathetic way. I don't actually give a drizzling shit about him, since hearing "Silent Lucidity" in the background of those old clip shows is probably the only time I had ever been exposed to Queensryche before they split up.

That's the other thing that's so interesting here, is how you, who claim to have no knowledge of the guys past, is being overtly judgmental based on things that have transpired in the last decade, but you weren't there for the first 2 decades when the rest of us were heralding the guy as the best thing since sliced bread.

[Nos]

That's the other thing that's so interesting here, is how you, who claim to have no knowledge of the guys past, is being overtly judgmental based on things that have transpired in the last decade

So an entire decade of a guy acting like an ass, and releasing terrible music, while his voice deteriorates, isn't enough to pass judgment on? That's a lengthy track record to go on.

but you weren't there for the first 2 decades when the rest of us were heralding the guy as the best thing since sliced bread.

Right, so why haven't more people from your generation written him off for good, after he's wasted that talent for so long? If someone I was a huge fan of fell apart before my eyes, I'd be even more harsh on them than if they were terrible all along.

Actually, I have been. Ask me about Meat Loaf of the last ten years or so, and I'll be merciless.

[introclaus]

That's the other thing that's so interesting here, is how you, who claim to have no knowledge of the guys past, is being overtly judgmental based on things that have transpired in the last decade

So an entire decade of a guy acting like an ass, and releasing terrible music, while his voice deteriorates, isn't enough to pass judgment on? That's a lengthy track record to go on.

Was his music really as terrible as YOU claim it was? Did his voice really deteriorate as much as YOU say it did? Meh ... I didn't care for either enough to be bothered, but I checked it all out last week again just for the fun of it, and it wasn't nearly as bad as you're making it out to be. In fact, that album that you were claiming the other day was so absolutely horrible, wasn't half bad. Anyway, I am not in either camp, just think band wagon jumpers are hysterically amusing.

but you weren't there for the first 2 decades when the rest of us were heralding the guy as the best thing since sliced bread.

Right, so why haven't more people from your generation written him off for good, after he's wasted that talent for so long? If someone I was a huge fan of fell apart before my eyes, I'd be even more harsh on them than if they were terrible all along.

Actually, I have been. Ask me about Meat Loaf of the last ten years or so, and I'll be merciless.

I don't see why I should be harsher on someone who was great before and now aren't, than someone who always sucked and now suck even more?! That's just stupid! If you suck now, you suck - end of discussion.

HOWEVER, what you have to keep in mind is that a lot of people, and I'm sure you as a Meat Loaf fan will recognize this as well, you will hope for the best in your former "idol" (if that's how you thought of the person) and keep checking out their albums. AND, if you're a "random fan" (of which there are MANY once a band hits the million selling point), you don't follow the scandals and petti-stories that we do here, and you just keep on buying the albums and probably listen a few times, shelf them with the other ones, and don't really think much more about it until you see another album (perhaps a few later down the line) from same band and think, "oh I used to like these guys, let me buy this". It's a mentality that the people on these forums don't have, because we're way too invested in our music, but it's what the world is made up of predominantly (the people here on these forums are the few), and you can argue till you're blue in the face, but it's how it all goes down.

[Nos]

Was his music really as terrible as YOU claim it was?

Since that claim is an opinion, yes, my opinion that it's terrible is still my opinion that it's terrible.

Did his voice really deteriorate as much as YOU say it did?

His voice is far coarser than it used to be, and it audibly cracks in places on "Frequency Unknown", so I feel comfortable in my opinion of his current vocal prowess.

I don't see why I should be harsher on someone who was great before and now aren't, than someone who always sucked and now suck even more?! That's just stupid! If you suck now, you suck - end of discussion.

It's because someone who was once great has shown the ability to be great. If you've always been terrible, we would never expect anything more of you. There's no disappointment in someone you've never liked making music you still don't like. It's far more disappointing to hear something terrible from an artist you know can do better than from someone you know can't. At least that's my opinion.

HOWEVER, what you have to keep in mind is that a lot of people, and I'm sure you as a Meat Loaf fan will recognize this as well, you will hope for the best in your former "idol" (if that's how you thought of the person) and keep checking out their albums.

Hoping, perhaps, but not to the point where I ignore reality. Meat Loaf sounds like an absolute wreck on his last record. It was even more embarrassing than anything Tate has done, and I said exactly that the moment I heard the thing. Pretending everything is as good as it ever was doesn't help anyone.

[introclaus]

Pretending everything is as good as it ever was doesn't help anyone.

No one ever pretended everything is as good now as it ever was before. Where did you get that idea from? You make up so much stuff in your head. LOL.

My entire point here is: you don't like Tate, and you never did except perhaps one or two songs from 20 years ago - you think he is an idiot based on things that has happened in the last 10 years and which you've only known about because it was posted on the internet in a "he said, she said"-scenario. You see him put his vocals on one album which you think is decent, but the moment you get a chance to slam him (a guy you've made very clear you don't like and never did), you immediately jump right onto the Geoff Tate hate train at full speed.

[Nos]

No one ever pretended everything is as good now as it ever was before. Where did you get that idea from? You make up so much stuff in your head. LOL.

In media reviews, and on other forums, I have seen comments about how great he sounds, on this and on the Avantasia albums. I don't hear what they hear.

*Edit*
From the first two pages of Google results, I found the following in less than two minutes:

"Last but not least, are the Geoff Tate vocals, which exceeded expectations in every way."

"It is easy to forget, sometimes, just how much talent Geoff Tate has. 2017’s Operation: Mindcrime (the band) was a timely reminder. This is just confirmation."

"there is an intensity within that really bodes well to Tate’s vocal approach. Automatically you’re thinking, “Yeah, this is it. This is the Geoff Tate we all know and love!”"

"Geoff Tate sounds his best in years"
*/edit*

It's sort of like how Paul Stanley is still saying he's singing better than ever. Other than one freak of nature in a million, singers don't get better when they start cashing Social Security checks.

[introclaus]

No one ever pretended everything is as good now as it ever was before. Where did you get that idea from? You make up so much stuff in your head. LOL.

In media reviews, and on other forums, I have seen comments about how great he sounds, on this and on the Avantasia albums. I don't hear what they hear.

*Edit*
From the first two pages of Google results, I found the following in less than two minutes:

"Last but not least, are the Geoff Tate vocals, which exceeded expectations in every way."

"It is easy to forget, sometimes, just how much talent Geoff Tate has. 2017’s Operation: Mindcrime (the band) was a timely reminder. This is just confirmation."

"there is an intensity within that really bodes well to Tate’s vocal approach. Automatically you’re thinking, “Yeah, this is it. This is the Geoff Tate we all know and love!”"

"Geoff Tate sounds his best in years"
*/edit*

It's sort of like how Paul Stanley is still saying he's singing better than ever. Other than one freak of nature in a million, singers don't get better when they start cashing Social Security checks.

I give up! We are not even talking about the same thing anymore. You’re now into a completely different talk about Geoff’s voice, which has nothing to do with what I was referring to at any point.

[Nos]

I give up! We are not even talking about the same thing anymore. You’re now into a completely different talk about Geoff’s voice, which has nothing to do with what I was referring to at any point.

It's not new. I've been talking about his voice for several posts now. That's by far my biggest gripe about the guy.

The personality stuff is a minor aside to him dragging down music simply by singing on it.

*Edit*

It's funny, there wasn't really any 'hate' in this discussion until you accused me of having a deep-seeded loathing of the man. Why did you drag us down this road? We could have left things with a couple of us believing Mularoni's side of the story, and you believing Tate.