- May 13, 2007
- 1,820
- 347
- 83
Geoff Tate
Kings & Thieves
InsideOut Music - 2012
http://www.geofftate.com
With all the brouhaha going on about the dismissal of Geoff Tate from Queensryche after 30 years and the subsequent legal battles, I have to admit that I've been soured a bit with the actions of EVERYONE involved.
When Geoff Tate announced he would be releasing his second solo album, my immediate reaction was "Good Gawd! I hope it isn't a complete clusterfuck like his first solo release."
Sometimes when I listen to a disc for review, I might listen once and have a solid idea about what's going on. Sometimes it takes more than one listen. In the case of Kings & Thieves, it is a good thing that I listened more than once.
After the first listen, this album was going to be consigned to the fiery pits of hell for being atrocious. But upon listening twice more, I found that there was actually some good stuff here. In announcing the upcoming release, Tate said that it would be a real rock album. He wasn't kidding. There is nothing here that resembles metal, but that doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility of good songs.
The CD opens with the song "She Slipped Away", a nice little uptempo number that gets the album rolling. "Take A Bullet" was decent, if a bit repetitive with the chorus.
The uptempo songs "In The Dirt" and "Say U Love It" left me shaking my head and wondering what happened to Tate's lyric writing ability. A line from "In The Dirt" that reads "Rides me hard like an exercise machine" seems beneath him. And while I'm not opposed to S&M imagery in general terms, his idiotic sounding lyrics in "Say U Love It" felt predatorily creepy. I felt the need to take a shower (and not in a good way). What happened to the man who wrote "The Lady Wore Black" and this verse:
"In the distance I saw a woman
Dressed in black with eyes of grey
She wore her pain like a shackled spirit
Eternal life was her debt to pay"
The midtempo track "The Way I Roll" came off lyrically like he was responding to both his former Queensrych bandmates and/or his doubters. "Tomorrow" simply dragged on too long, while "Waiting" closed the album with a very slow pace and far too much repetition.
Tracks 7 - 10 is where Tate really picks up the pace a bit, saving the album from complete disaster.
"Dark Money" (lyric video below) rants about the political system and the screwjob it does to the people. Generally I wouldn't be interested in the topic but after a few listens I got into it both musically and lyrically.
"These Glory Days" was a good track, very uptempo. "Change" started out slow paced but well done. The soaring orchestral like backing music gave the some more "emotional" heft. The song picks up the tempo about 2 1/2 minutes in with the guitar solo. I liked the chorus of "I don't want to change the world, I just wanna change me". The brief appearance of piano in the song was a nice touch.
The best song on the disc was "Evil". It's the one that comes off as the most hard rock or metal sounding. It was just a well crafted romp.
All in all, surprising as it may seem to those who have been disappointed one time after another with the most recent Queensryche releases, Kings & Thieves, turned out to be a solidly done CD that had 6 out of 11 tracks that made the album well worth checking out.
GRADE: B MINUS
Kings & Thieves
InsideOut Music - 2012
http://www.geofftate.com
With all the brouhaha going on about the dismissal of Geoff Tate from Queensryche after 30 years and the subsequent legal battles, I have to admit that I've been soured a bit with the actions of EVERYONE involved.
When Geoff Tate announced he would be releasing his second solo album, my immediate reaction was "Good Gawd! I hope it isn't a complete clusterfuck like his first solo release."
Sometimes when I listen to a disc for review, I might listen once and have a solid idea about what's going on. Sometimes it takes more than one listen. In the case of Kings & Thieves, it is a good thing that I listened more than once.
After the first listen, this album was going to be consigned to the fiery pits of hell for being atrocious. But upon listening twice more, I found that there was actually some good stuff here. In announcing the upcoming release, Tate said that it would be a real rock album. He wasn't kidding. There is nothing here that resembles metal, but that doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility of good songs.
The CD opens with the song "She Slipped Away", a nice little uptempo number that gets the album rolling. "Take A Bullet" was decent, if a bit repetitive with the chorus.
The uptempo songs "In The Dirt" and "Say U Love It" left me shaking my head and wondering what happened to Tate's lyric writing ability. A line from "In The Dirt" that reads "Rides me hard like an exercise machine" seems beneath him. And while I'm not opposed to S&M imagery in general terms, his idiotic sounding lyrics in "Say U Love It" felt predatorily creepy. I felt the need to take a shower (and not in a good way). What happened to the man who wrote "The Lady Wore Black" and this verse:
"In the distance I saw a woman
Dressed in black with eyes of grey
She wore her pain like a shackled spirit
Eternal life was her debt to pay"
The midtempo track "The Way I Roll" came off lyrically like he was responding to both his former Queensrych bandmates and/or his doubters. "Tomorrow" simply dragged on too long, while "Waiting" closed the album with a very slow pace and far too much repetition.
Tracks 7 - 10 is where Tate really picks up the pace a bit, saving the album from complete disaster.
"Dark Money" (lyric video below) rants about the political system and the screwjob it does to the people. Generally I wouldn't be interested in the topic but after a few listens I got into it both musically and lyrically.
"These Glory Days" was a good track, very uptempo. "Change" started out slow paced but well done. The soaring orchestral like backing music gave the some more "emotional" heft. The song picks up the tempo about 2 1/2 minutes in with the guitar solo. I liked the chorus of "I don't want to change the world, I just wanna change me". The brief appearance of piano in the song was a nice touch.
The best song on the disc was "Evil". It's the one that comes off as the most hard rock or metal sounding. It was just a well crafted romp.
All in all, surprising as it may seem to those who have been disappointed one time after another with the most recent Queensryche releases, Kings & Thieves, turned out to be a solidly done CD that had 6 out of 11 tracks that made the album well worth checking out.
GRADE: B MINUS
