Operation Mindcrime: The Key

Temple of Blood wrote:

You think it's great because you focus 95% on the vocals.  That's why you don't appreciate how good the backing music became on much of their later material.  Pretty much all you talk about is vocals.  Be honest with yourself.

Fact is, the vocals made that song.  Put a mediocre singer on it and no one would care about it.

The whole reason why I posted that song in the first place wasn't about the song itself, but to reflect back on what Geoff Tate used to sound like as a vocalist.

You don't care for the instrumentals that much, and that's fine. I like that you act as if you know me personally to assume that all I care about are the vocals.

At this point, we're only arguing semantics, so it's not necessary to keep dragging this on.

No one ever said Tate's vocals didn't make those songs better, but without the music Tate doesn't exist.

Quote :

without the music Tate doesn't exist.

I suspect the opposite will be the case with this project. The way he's talking about this trilogy in interviews it sounds more like a book deal than a record deal.

Painkiller wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

No one ever said Tate's vocals didn't make those songs better, but without the music Tate doesn't exist.

Not literally. Haha.

Eyesore wrote:

Ugh. Disappointing. That first track is just more of the same boring crap he's been doing for years now. It even sounds familiar. The second song is a lot better, at least the chorus. I dig the chorus quite a bit. The other two songs are more of the same like the first. Just all kinds of meh. =(

I will say, despite sounding very similar to what he's been doing, it is a bit more creative musically. Not much, though.

Shame, really, because there are far too many talented songwriters working for Frontiers. This album should have been amazing.

This just showed up in my Facebook feed, so I listened a few more times. Gonna eat my words a bit here. The second sounds like it could be a really great tune. The first still doesn't do anything for me, but I thought the last two sounded much better this time.

Curious to know who's singing the verse on the third clip.

I'm hoping this isn't the "buddy comedy" phenomenon at work when all is said and done.

You know - whenever there's an odd couple-style comedy movie coming out, the trailer looks great and like the movie will be a laugh riot of jokes galore and then you see the full movie and realize all the best bits were in the trailer and the rest of the movie stinks like hog ass.

When it comes to Tate, I can forgive a litany of sins (though I will probably never go out of my way to meet the guy or see him live since he sounds like a super deluxe knob as a human being) IF he's putting out interesting music and doing interesting things with his instrument - his voice. Even for the limitations in his range, I've heard him do interesting things melodically and texturally with his voice.

Promised Land wasn't exactly a vocal powerhouse album, BUT what it did bring was memorable and interesting. Q2K, Tribe and even his first solo album all had great melodic moments in the vocal department. After that, the music got so dull that it was like giving a $20k guitar to a ten year old. Yeah, maybe the kid would be able to do SOMETHING with it, but it was just about guaranteed to never be used anywhere near its potential. That's Tate's voice and, at least from these clips, it sounds like someone in the "apparatus" is pushing him to use his instrument in interesting ways again.

I'm also not entirely convinced that some cleaner living and vocal exercises might not bring back the mighty pipes. Maybe not to a 20 year-old level, but a hell of a lot closer than what he's been turning out lately. So much of Tate's voice was down to almost operatic resonance that I think he could get that aspect back up and running instead of sounding like a phlematic bear that just smoked a carton and tried to run a triathalon...

Runicen wrote:

   So much of Tate's voice was down to almost operatic resonance that I think he could get that aspect back up and running instead of sounding like a phlematic bear that just smoked a carton and tried to run a triathalon...

I've never heard a phlematic bear that has just smoked a carton and tried to run a triathlon, but i aim to remedy that!

To YouTube I go!! 

Boris2008 wrote:

Runicen wrote:

   So much of Tate's voice was down to almost operatic resonance that I think he could get that aspect back up and running instead of sounding like a phlematic bear that just smoked a carton and tried to run a triathalon...

I've never heard a phlematic bear that has just smoked a carton and tried to run a triathlon, but i aim to remedy that!

To YouTube I go!! 

...You're totally going to end up in THAT part of the internet...

ill give it a listen when it comes out. Not expecting much though by the samples.

Its not bad, but then I actually liked 'Frequency Unknown', and did not feel it was the shitfest everybody else made out to be

manny wrote:

Its not bad, but then I actually liked 'Frequency Unknown', and did not feel it was the shitfest everybody else made out to be

It wasn't. There were moments on FU that sounded more like actual Queensryche than anything on Todd-Ryche.

The real pain in the ass about FU is that, if you crossed its best moments with the best moments of the Todd-ryche album, you'd have what everyone WANTED QR to put out for the last decade or so.

Runicen wrote:

The real pain in the ass about FU is that, if you crossed its best moments with the best moments of the Todd-ryche album, you'd have what everyone WANTED QR to put out for the last decade or so.

I can see that.

AND, when I was listening to Todd-Ryche I thought to myself that there was very little on there that Tate could not have sung in his current voice...so that makes me think it was just a control thing with him.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Runicen wrote:

The real pain in the ass about FU is that, if you crossed its best moments with the best moments of the Todd-ryche album, you'd have what everyone WANTED QR to put out for the last decade or so.

I can see that.

I can see that too.

Geoff Tate - LOL - what a goofball.

Up until that Tribble started nesting on his head, I would have corrected you to "cueball."

Runicen wrote:

Up until that Tribble started nesting on his head, I would have corrected you to "cueball."

I dont get his 'image' at all. He just looks goofy.

Witchfinder wrote:

Geoff Tate - LOL - what a goofball.

That boy is nuttier than a wagonload of pralines.

Eyesore wrote:

exact33 wrote:

Runicen wrote:

Up until that Tribble started nesting on his head, I would have corrected you to "cueball."

I dont get his 'image' at all. He just looks goofy.

i think Bert is the better dressed.

Samples are terrible - sounds like the same crap he has been putting out for years. Crap music, forgettable vocals with poor melodies. The man obviously has a serious narcissistic personality disorder the gets worse every year and by the sound of those samples has surrounded himself with enablers and doesn't push himself to excellence. Hell, the guy hasn't even push himself to mediocrity since Promised Land.... which was probably DeGarmo pushing him anyway.

I loved the S/T 2013 release - the mastering and mix needed some work, would have been a big seller if released back in the day. Looking forward to the new Queensryche....

Tate's crap? no thanks

thejokeriv wrote:

Samples are terrible - sounds like the same crap he has been putting out for years. Crap music, forgettable vocals with poor melodies. The man obviously has a serious narcissistic personality disorder the gets worse every year and by the sound of those samples has surrounded himself with enablers and doesn't push himself to excellence. Hell, the guy hasn't even push himself to mediocrity since Promised Land.... which was probably DeGarmo pushing him anyway.

I loved the S/T 2013 release - the mastering and mix needed some work, would have been a big seller if released back in the day. Looking forward to the new Queensryche....

Tate's crap? no thanks

i do agree that when you have to constantly tout how 'groundbreaking' or 'innovative' or other superlatives your music is that someone is trying to compensate. I do understand most bands engage in some form of hype but Tate takes it heights never seen before.

exact33 wrote:

i do agree that when you have to constantly tout how 'groundbreaking' or 'innovative' or other superlatives your music is that someone is trying to compensate. I do understand most bands engage in some form of hype but Tate takes it heights never seen before.

No argument there. Those are the kinds of words that posterity attach to your stuff. I don't think you get to attach them yourself.

Now, if he managed to master circular breathing via his ass and played anal sax live, I think we could call let him call himself "groundbreaking." Granted, that's something NOBODY would want to see, but it'd certainly be new and unique.

Wow, what a boring album this turned out to be. Got it for $5.99 at Half Price Books then found out the consensus around here and decided to give it one spin despite this. After all, there are many albums I like that don't get much love around here. Well, one spin and I promptly returned the CD (they have a 7 day return policy). Only liked 3 songs (Re-Inventing The Future, Live Or Death, and The Fall-which was almost ruined by a boring sax solo but made up for it with a decent guitar solo) and the rest nearly put me to sleep (not good when you drive for a living ).

I was under the impression his music was getting heavier, obviously the wrong impression. Won't be making that mistake again.