Warrel, please slap some life into Queensryche

DreamNeonBlack

DreamNeonBlack

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Jul 14, 2002
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I just heard the new single If I were king ", bland and boring for sure.

Man, Queensryche were always a big influence on me but it all sounds like the Geoff Tate solo project now. I had really liked all the variation in the ryche albums, up to and including Promised land.
Where did the songwriting go? Why is everything from the past 10 years in the same mid tempo?


So WD, while you are toolin around town please stop by Tate's house and smack him for me. Maybe show them all how to write a decent song again. Thanking you in advance, Dan
 
Smack Tate... in the taint!


I was going to see them in Konocti, but I figured I'd probably be fairly disappointed.

I'll gladly pay 50$ a ticket to see the Operation: Mindcrime tour again, though.
 
DreamNeonBlack said:
I just heard the new single If I were king ", bland and boring for sure.

Man, Queensryche were always a big influence on me but it all sounds like the Geoff Tate solo project now. I had really liked all the variation in the ryche albums, up to and including Promised land.
Where did the songwriting go? Why is everything from the past 10 years in the same mid tempo?
Click to expand...

Because Chris DeGarmo left the band and he was the primary writer and arranger of the musical aspect. Now they have people writing for them (ie. Kelly Grey, Jason Slater, and Damon Johnson).

The album supposedly holds up to Promised Land and before, but I'll believe that when I listen to the full thing in context. Listening to one song, which admittedly shouldn't be a single in the first place, really doesn't show the bigger picture.

Tate sounds strained, as well. Queen$ryche tour constantly now (with stretches of 5-6 days in a row), and Geoff was a heavy smoker throughout the 90s. He also doesn't take care of his voice at all from a technique standpoint. So there's a lot of pieces to the puzzle right there.
 
While I agree with most of what you said, I disagree in part with the Degarmo statement. He wrote some of the crappiest songs on HITNF and his Spys4darwin project blew. So while the lack of a chief songwriter is evident, I'll also say the change in sound has a lot to do with things too. They are trying to do a watered down ,mid tempo, adult comtemporary rock format. Much like Tate's solo album was. hmmmmm
 
This ship went down WITH DeGarmo on board.... they probably should have called it a day when there was at least SOME momentum still going. (And they could have milked the reunion trend hard like every other band that didn't survive the nineties.)

Now they're just slowly fading further with any lackluster effort that's been thrown out...
 
DreamNeonBlack said:
While I agree with most of what you said, I disagree in part with the Degarmo statement.
Click to expand...

but he was also chief songwriter and arranger on everything from the EP up until Promised Land. 6 great albums versus one mediocre album, hrm.

HitNF also came at a time when the band were scrambling for an identity, in the latter half of the 90s - and DeGarmo was quite obviously on his way out with that album. Tate has always said that he was never a big fan of metal, and that's why all the albums have more of a rock/prog influence and leaning towards them, other than the EP. Obviously that played a big part in the failure of HitNF too.

And now that DeGarmo gone, it's basically "Geoff Tate with three other original members of Queensryche." Tate writes lyrics and melodies, like he always has - but now, he also dictates to the session writers (ie. Slater, Gray, Johnson) what he wants the music to sound like, and they write based upon his parameters. That's the key difference.

From what I've read, though, American Soldier is trying to be faithful to the older material. Slater has a high reverence for the original line-up and the first 6 albums, so hopefully he'll come through here and it's not as lacklustre as Mindcrime 2 was.
 
Funny how two Seattle bands both lost stellar guitarists to the airline industry (DeGarmo and Calvert).

Anyone know if DeGarmo is still flying private planes or has he jumped over to the commercial side?
 
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