Queensryche get the name. Geoff Tate gets Mindcrime I and II.
In summation, the band Queensryche purchased the rights to the name from Tate. In exchange, Tate gets exclusive rights to performances of Operation: Mindcrime I and II. That sounds like a great solution all around. So the band Queensryche can’t play Mindcrime in its entirety anymore — who cares! I don’t. It’s been done, twice. Tate’s the guy who has the connection to the story, so for him to play it makes sense to me. He can change it stylistically if he wants, he can do anything with it.
Some very relieved musicians made some statements today, and fandom breathed a sigh of relief. It is over.
I got this Japanese import CD from one of our franchisees. Even though we technically were not “allowed” to buy CDs from one of our franchises, we all did it, even the head office people who enforced the rules. In this case the franchisee himself was glad to have a guaranteed sale, rather than sit on an expensive Dokken flop for several months in inventory. It even came with the original obi strip, stickers, and everything else was mint. The scarcity of the complete package was reason alone to buy it.
The infamous Shadowlife will probably go down in history as the worst Dokken album. It’s certainly the most dysfunctional (even though that was the title of the previous, much better album). The dysfunction largely came down guitarist George Lynch, who according to sources at the time, purposely sabotaged the album. He did this to put an end to Dokken, go the claims. Don himself was very unhappy with it, as quotes from the era will reveal (look them up). He also referred to a lead vocal shot (“Here I Stand”) by bassist Jeff Pilson as too “bar band-y”, meaning the lead singer of a pro band is the lead singer, and the bassist is the bassist. Clearly, ego was an issue as well.
Kelly Gray
Not to escape without blame is producer Kelly Gray, who had just ruined the career of Sven Gali a couple years prior. Gray produces, engineers, mixes, and even co-wrote a couple tracks. According to Don, Mr. Gray would not let the band sing their trademark harmonies, opting for grittier more modern sounds. Gray’s trademark distortion on the lead vocals is omnipresent.
There are very few standout tracks here, although many have good parts and interesting bits. It is difficult to remember any songs distinctly even after a few listens. The grungy “Puppet On A String” is OK, due to a blazing George Lynch guitar solo (although buried in the mix). It has a heavy groove, but the distorted lead vocal wrecks it for me. “Cracks in the Ground” is better, containing a shadow of the Dokken harmonies, but mired in boring melodies and production. “I Feel” sounds like Dokken, at least. Not really great Dokken, but Dokken nevertheless.
The Japanese, always so lucky, got two bonus tracks: “How Many Lives” and “Deep Waters”. Neither stand out any more than the album tracks. Not really a bonus this time, sorry Japan. If anything, these songs detract from the album, by making it a longer, more agonizing experience.
In general the album is too slow, too tunelessly dull, too dreary. It’s disjointed and it’s uninspired. Too rainy, like a dark Seattle mist. Mick Brown does rock, at least. There are a few heavy songs, such as “Hello”, but I think my favourite song would be the moody acoustic ballad “Convenience Store Messiah”. It’s the only song that sounds like a fully composed, complete arrangement.
Avoid.
1/5 stars
Afterword:I played around the idea of just writing a two word review a-la Spinal Tap (“Shit Sandwich”). I was going to call it “Shadow Turd”. In the end, my OCD level attention to detail refused to allow it, and the wordy essay on the art of turd-making you just read was posted instead. I’m sorry. (Blame Kelly Gray for that, too.)
Second of a two-part series, by request of reader Deke! This part grew so large that I ended up splitting it up between a review and a Record Store Tale. If you missed part one,Sven Gali (1993), click here.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 237: Sven Gali – Inwire (and Peter the Rocker)
When Sven Gali released their anticipated second album Inwire, Peter the Rocker was not impressed. Not in the least. A few weeks after it came out, Peter stopped by the record store. He picked up one of the M.E.A.T Magazines sitting on our front counter and opened it to a page. He pointed.
“Have you heard this Sven Gali?” he asked me in a semi-shouted voice.
“No I haven’t, I responded, “I’m waiting for a used copy. I do have a four song sampler and it’s pretty good.”
“It blows,” he fired back, eyes wide. “Sucks. Shit. Garbage. Piece of fucking shit.” He paused to take a breath. “They fucking sold out man! You know what they did? It’s grunge. It’s pure shit.” He raised his hands on either side, as if to emphasize the weight of the turd that Sven Gali had laid.
“Seriously?” I queried. “The songs I heard were OK…”
“Listen to me man. It’s fucking shit. Garbage.”
Alright then!
Peter the Rocker came in periodically over the months. Sven Gali didn’t come up very often, but having heard it since that conversation, I was inclined to agree with Peter. Maybe not to the same extremes, but we saw eye to eye, more or less .
A year or two after the initial conversation, Peter came in to the store once again to discuss Sven Gali.
“Guess who I fucking saw this weekend.”
Not having a clue, I shrugged my shoulders. “I give up. Who?”
“The fucking bassist from Sven Gali man! Shawn. I told him that second album fucking sucked man.”
I had to laugh at that. “You did? What did he say?”
“He fucking agreed with me man! He said they sold out on that album. He said they fucking sold out and went grunge!”
Take that as you will. It’s an old story heard second hand from Peter the Rocker. I wouldn’t use it as a Wikipedia source, but it does shed some light on the album we’re about to discuss.
SVEN GALI – Inwire (1995 BMG)
Kelly Gray (Tateryche) really helped fuck up this album. Sven Gali went to Seattle, and hired Mr. Gray, who had recently co-produced the 4x Platinum debut album by Candlebox. It’s rarely a good idea for hard rock bands to go grunge, but it’s doubly bad when they work with Kelly Gray. [More on this tomorrow.]
Gray encouraged the band to experiment. I guess part of this experimentation was hiring one of his Seattle buddies on drums. Mike Ferguson was in a band called Dog Daze with Mr. Gray. Additionally, the songwriting on Inwire is credited to Sven Gali and Yard Dog. Who the fuck is Yard Dog? I suspect Gray’s got a writing credit on every song. His buddies from Candlebox show up on guest vocals, and even Christopher Thorn from Blind Melon plays mandolin (one of the best moments on the album during “Tired of Listening”).
In a M.E.A.T Magazine write-up, writer Carl Begai said that the album Inwire would “leave people awestruck and impressed”. Awestruck, yes, but not very impressed. I got this CD for free, which is the only reason I have it. It was simply too alternative for most fans, who ignored it in droves. It also had the unfortunate problem of being very weak on songs. There are a handful of must-haves here, along with a whole bunch of don’t-needs. When things click occasionally, it’s on songs like “Truth”, “What You Give”, and “Make Me”.
When things fall apart, it sounds like bad U2 demos, disjointed parts connected together, boring melodies and underwhelming guitars. I hate the needlessly distorted vocals on Inwire. They dominate the whole album. “Helen” features two David Wanless lead vocals, one distorted and one more distorted, yelling at each other. More singing, less yelling Dave! Kelly Gray, I’m looking at you.
No sir, I don’t like it. Down from the 90’s shit cover art through the 90’s shit distorted vocals to the 90’s shit songs, I don’t like it. Except for a few sparkling moments, Inwire smells like a turd.
2/5 stars
EPILOGUE: The band never made a third album. After breaking up, bassist Shawn TT Mahar joined Forgotten Rebels. When guitarist Dee Cernille was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, the band organized two reunion concerts. These concerts were attended by Mif from Slash Puppet, who was quoted as saying, “Went to the Sven Gali show at the Sound Academy the other night to watch Dee rock out. I gotta tell ya, if I didn’t know any better I wouldn’t know that there was anything wrong with the fucking guy. He was shredding all fucking night.” Unfortunately Cernille died on February 25, 2012.
A Tribute to Ace Frehley – Return of the Comet (1997 Shock Records)
Last time we talked about a tribute album with a new recording by Ace. This time, we’re talking about a tribute album with new recordings by the Comet! Return of the Comet even features some of the same artists that were on Spacewalk: Tracii Guns, Gilby Clarke and the brothers Abbott (Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul) are on both albums. And like Spacewalk, this one also comes with a guitar pick. This time it’s a Bruce Kulick pick, because the CD also features a cool bonus: Bruce’s debut solo track, “Liar”.
This is a pretty good tribute CD. Somebody called Bruiz does a faithful reproduction of the “Rock Bottom” intro, which seques directly into Brian Tichy’s “Rip It Out”. I was familiar with Tichy from Zakk Wylde’s Pride and Glory, but he sings and plays every instrument on this. Everybody knows today how talented he is, but this was a revelation to me in 1997. Do I need to say that he does an excellent job on it? He also nails Anton Fig’s drum solo.
L.A. Guns is next, but it’s not Phil Lewis. It’s Ralph Saenz. You might know him better as Michael Starr from Steel Panther. So how’s their “Cold Gin”? It’s perfect for this band and this singer. Eric Singer and Karl Cochran take a shot at “Strange Ways”, but I don’t like their take on it too much. Eric’s vocal doesn’t suit the song in my opinion, and this version is too chunk-chunk-chunk.
“Getaway” was always a bit of a throwaway Kiss track, but I like the lesser known songs. Seattle’s Tubetop speed it up a fair measure, but that’s not the problem. I always identify this song with Peter Criss’ gritty voice. Who doesn’t? The singer, Gavin Gus, takes a smooth approach to the song, but sometimes Kiss songs aren’t meant to be tampered with too much. It improves as it gets harder at the end.
Then we have the Presidents of the United States of America. OK band I guess, but their stripped back sound is totally wrong for “Shout It Out Loud”. Having said that, the brilliance of the song itself still shines through. The album is immediately redeemed by a remarkable performance from a remarkable guitarist: Dimebag. He and Vinnie Paul stomp through “Snowblind”, a sludgy Ace classic. Wisely, Dime changed nothing about the song, except adding some trademark Dime guitar shrieks on top. It’s a totally appropriate touch. Even though his singing voice is nothing like Ace’s (he’s more Zakk Wylde than Ace Frehley) he still lays down a lead vocal that fits. Then his guitar solo rips your head off, end of story. Mind blown, the album can end here thank you very much!
We’re not even half through yet. Tod Howarth (ex-Frehley’s Comet) turns up with his own solo version of “Dancing With Danger”. It’s a Streetheart cover that Frehley’s Comet also did on Second Sighting. Tod tries to update the song for the 1990’s but fails. His voice is also noticeably lower. Then, Karl Cochran and Eric Singer are up with “Love Her All I Can”, a song originally sung and written by…Paul Stanley? Why? According to the liner notes, Cochran used to sing this song when he was in Frehley’s solo band in the 90’s. Cochran and Singer perfectly nail this one, right down to the guitar solo and those Simmons/Stanley harmony vocals. A winner.
Filler is “Speedin’ Back to My Baby” by Lee and Dallas (?). As great as the original song is, I didn’t need to hear a jazzy country version of it. It’s old-school country, swinging and authentic, but no thanks. Thankfully Gilby Clarke comes to the rescue with the classic “Rocket Ride” fromAlive II. I love it. I like it better than his version of “Shock Me” from Spacewalk, actually.
Richie Scarlet from Frehley’s Comet teams up with Beatlemania’s Mitch Weissman on Ace’s “Remember Me”. It’s great and much like the original. Then the Presidents are back for a second term, this time adding members of Tubetop and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden to the mix. They do a cool campfire version of “New York Groove” that sounds live. This is much better than “Shout It Out Loud”. Well done.
A Frehley’s Comet reunion is the climax of the album. Alumni Richie Scarlet, John Regan, Steve Werner and Arthur Stead are back to redo two unreleased Comet classics. These songs are Vinnie Vincent’s “Back On the Streets”, which is, in a word, awesome. It’s a dark ominous song with balls. Then they do “Animal” which was written by Regan and Stead (perhaps the reason it was never released before?). It has a funky little riff before it breaks into a cool anthemic chorus.
It’s best to think of the last two songs as bonus tracks, because they have little to do with Ace. From a forthcoming Howarth album named Cobalt Parlor is a lacklustre song called “California Burns”. I wanted to like this, really I did. It’s just a really nauseating attempt at being modern and heavy, and no sir I don’t like it. Sorry Tod. “The Liar” by Bruce Kulick is much better. I am a real fan of Kulick as a solo artist. He is an articulate, skilled player with a knack for melody. “The Liar” is a great instrumental, alternating between light and heavy, but always very lyrical. Just sing a lead vocal of your own over Bruce’s guitar, and you can imagine this as a “I Still Love You” rock ballad. This song was Bruce’s first ever post-Kiss solo release, and according to the liner notes, it serves two purposes. One: to end the album with an instrumental as Ace always did. Two: to tip the hat to the guy who succeeded in filling Ace’s shoes for over a decade.
I would recommend this tribute album to any serious Ace/Kiss fan, simply because it has some great cover versions of some obscure classics. That to me raises it above most cut-and-paste tribute albums that are out there on the market. There is a real sense of passion to this CD. John Regan put it together and you can tell by the attention to detail. Kudos, John.
RATT – Infestation (2010 Roadrunner Japanese and iTunes editions)
Ratt needed a comeback. Lineup changes galore, deaths, poorly-received changes in sound — forget all that stuff. The band has since stabilized. Pearcy’s back on lead vocals, and Carlos Cavazo (ex-Quiet Riot) has taken over guitar duties from John Corabi. Corabi’s a rhythm player, not a soloist (and that’s not a knock on Corabi). Cavazo rocks out quite a few solos on this album. The difference is noticeable, and it’s a welcome return to something like the Ratt sound of yore. Do you like twin leads? Cavazo and Warren DeMartini rip out a few, each with his own distinct sound, but meshing well like they’ve been doing this forever. Cavazo also contributes strong co-writes to about half the album. Surely, you can’t imagine a better match than this for Ratt.
Pearcy’s in great voice, the passages of time disguise-able. But be forwarned, if you never liked Pearcy’s style before, this album is not going to change your mind. His vocals are augmented by some nice, but not overdone, backing vocals from the band. Longtime bassist Robbie Crane supplies backing vocals while holding down the bottom end.
The sound of the album is pure Ratt, but modernly produced; surely the best sounding record they’ve done so far. Picture a heavier Out Of The Cellar. There are nods and winks to other eras of Ratt as well: I hear a little bit of “Way Cool” here and there, and damned if “Best Of Me” wouldn’t have fit right in on Detonator. Yet this is no retro-fest, as much as it does echo the 80’s. There are still sounds here that sound tougher and more modern, like the fast and heavy opener “Eat Me Up Alive” (my second favourite song). There’s filler here, but even the filler is worth holding your finger off the skip button. All except perhaps the dreadful “A Little Too Much”.
There Japanese bonus track is a cool slow groove rocker called “Scatter”, with a great memorable chorus. This is the best song to me. Itunes got the track as well, but because I always prefer a physical edition, I bought the Japanese for my physical copy. You will have to judge the value of that expenditure yourself, however I deemed it worthwhile.
There are also three live bonus tracks on the iTunes version, worth getting. These songs are “You Think You’re Tough”, “Tell The World”, and “Way Cool Jr.”, all previously unreleased and with Cavazo on guitar, “Live from the Rockline Studios”. “You Think You’re Tough” is my favourite song from Ratt EP.
If you have ever liked Ratt, pick up Infestation if you’re curious what the band sounds like 25 years later. This is a solid Ratt album, not classic, but song for song among their better records. They’ve retained their signature “Ratt N’ Roll” sound, but also what dignity and integrity a bunch of Ratts have. Well done.
Part 2 of my 2-part review of the Quiet Riot Twin Pack set. Twin Pack bundled the band’s final two releases: a retro live album, and the final studio album, Rehab.
QUIET RIOT – Rehab (2006 Demolition)
I love Quiet Riot, even more than I have reason to. Metal Health was the first “metal” album I ever bought, on cassette, and I’ve re-bought it three more times since. I just love that album, and I admit it’s probably 60% music and 40% nostalgia. Since it came out, I’ve managed to collect a lot of Quiet Riot. Prize possessions are my CD copies of Quiet Riot I and II. This Twin Pack set was important to me because the version of Rehab contained herein has the European bonus track, “Wired To the Moon”.
It turns out, however, that Rehab kinda sucks. It has its supporters who enjoyed the heavier, bluesier sound. Rehab unfortunately repeats the problem that Quiet Riot have had for many years: they don’t write very many good songs! Kevin DuBrow and Frankie Banali were reduced to a duo after the departures of Rudy Sarzo (who went on to Dio and is now in Tateryche) and Carlos Cavazo (now in Ratt). Rehab had the right ingredients in place, with the awesome Tony Franklin on bass and Glenn Hughes providing backup vocals, but it was not to be. I give them an A for effort, as I am usually in favour of heavying up the sound and adding blues elements. They get a D for execution.
The concept was to leave behind the glam rock, but the songwriting is so underpar. Choruses and verses don’t mesh, melodies don’t stick in the head, and riffs don’t hit you where it hurts. The best song, “South of Heaven”, is a really good Zep-ish tune though. “Strange Ways” features an incredible solo by Neil Citron, like a cross between jazz fusion and Eddie Van Halen. Jazz Halen? On the other hand, “Old Habits Die Hard” is one of the more colossal failures. Aping Joe Cocker’s “With A Little Help From My Friends”, DuBrow sinks this one all by himself with his overwrought lead vocal.
There are some good moments. Pretty much all the guitar solos and instrumental sections are incredible. The drums are good. A song called “Beggars and Thieves” is one of the better songs, because it is anthemic and memorable like old Quiet Riot. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of most of this material. Glenn Hughes classes up the place by several notches when he shows up at the end, but this also highlights Kevin DuBrow’s limitations.
1983 hairline
2005 hairline
I dislike the cover art and packaging. DuBrow’s wig, oh my God. Seriously? The old Quiet Riot logo is also gone, and the masked mascot dude is barely visible. The album was self-produced by Kevin and Frankie, but they really should have spent some money on a producer with a decent set of ears. These songs would not have passed muster with any serious producer. The title of Quiet Riot’s final album is now a sad irony, considering DuBrow’s overdose at age 52.
My understanding is that this EP, much like Twisted Sister’s Under the Blade, was remixed and re-released. It is the remixed version that I got in Mississauga at the Toronto Musical Collectibles Record Show. I’ve wanted this EP for a long time, but for some reason it’s only now that I finally picked it up. I was pleased to find it an enjoyable listen, easily on a par with Out of the Cellar, possibly Ratt’s best album.
Europe got 7 tracks on their version of the original mix (wishlist!), but this remixed version only has six. Missing is “You’re In Trouble” which in re-recorded version was also on Out of the Cellar. 6 songs is a good length, too much Ratt can sound like razorblades coming at your ears, some times! This self-titled debut keeps things brief, each of its songs more or less delivering the goods.
The opener “Sweet Cheater” and “U Got It” are the faster side of Ratt. I love Bobby “Da Blotz” Blotzer’s simple but gleeful drum intro. (Can’t believe this guy was in Tateryche.) Both songs have decent riffs, once again keeping things simple. Pearcy’s trademark vocal snark is in fine form. Ratt are not a great rock n’ roll band, but they certainly satisfy my cravings when I need some spandex-wrapped non-wimpy LA hard rock. No ballads. They had their own sound, largely due to Pearcy’s one-of-a-kind voice.
The closest thing to a ballad would be “Back For More”, which is to say, it has some acoustic guitars before Pearcy yelps, “You turn him away, you tell him you’re mine, You make him believe you’re but one of a kind.” Meaningless but cocky. Which maybe sums up the whole Ratt experience. This is an early version of the hit song from Out of the Cellar, a bit longer, needing some of the fat trimmed.
“Walkin’ the Dog” is a Rufus Thomas cover via Aerosmith. Aerosmith were in no danger of being dethroned by Ratt’s version, but it’s fun. It suits their sound, it’s heavy, they throw their own attitude into it, and I’m sure there were youngsters of the 1980’s who assumed it was their own original tune. The guitar solo is great.
The best song is the single “You Think You’re Tough”. If Ratt has two sides (fast, and mid-tempo) then this is the mid-tempo side. The riff is one of their best, the chorus and bridges are great, and the video had both Ozzy and Motley Crue in it. Cool.
That’s Tawny Kitaen on the cover. Pre-Coverdale. She was dating Robbin Crosby at the time!
A while ago I talked about the rarities/remix compilation album, The Randy Rhoads Years. I recommended that album, but I am also lucky enough to own CD copies of the first two Quiet Riot albums. Over 13 months ago (!) I promised you that we would take a closer look at Quiet Riot I and Quiet Riot II. That day has come! LeBrain never breaks a promise to his readers.
In a 1993 Guitar for the Practicing Musician interview, Kevin DuBrow complained that producers Derek Lawrence and Warren Entner “didn’t know from guitars”. Quiet Riot I is ample evidence for that. Randy’s guitar is but a shadow of what it would later become under the wing of Ozzy Osbourne. Where later on, Randy would fill songs out with catchy, intricate licks, on QRI he tends to stick to riff-solo-riff song structures.
And this is one awful sounding album. The vocals of Kevin DuBrow are shaky, and the recording is muddy. There are very few standouts among its 12 tracks. Even the Small Faces cover “Tin Soldier” is rendered lackluster. You can hear Randy doing some neat tricks on the guitar, but it’s buried in the mix.
Lyrically, “Mama’s Little Angels” is beyond awful:
“As soon as mommy’s at work, Out come the paint cans, We start to spray it on the wall. That’s getting boring, Go get the bats! Gonna have us some indoor ball! …Well Randy’s up to bat, gonna hit me a home run! Sorry ’bout that, outside! Ball one!”
Whooboy.
“Look In Any Window” is better on the Randy Rhoads Years CD. Here, DuBrow is singing a completely different, annoying vocal melody. Shame, because this is QR’s slant on Alice Cooper, very much up the alley of “I’m Eighteen”. I’ll stick with the remixed/re-recorded version, thanks.
The best song on Quiet Riot I is easily the Dave Clark Five classic, “Glad All Over”. I remember growing up, Bob had a Randy Rhoads guitar book. It was loaded with transcriptions of his Ozzy classics, as well as “Glad All Over”. We had never heard of “Glad All Over”. To this day I don’t know why that seldom-heard song was included in a Randy Rhoads guitar book! Kevin’s vocalizing here is hilariously screamy. I love it. Randy’s solo is Nuge-tastic, with a little intricate lick at the end. Great stuff.
So that’s QRI. Quiet Riot II is marginally better in the songwriting department. The band wisely included only nine tracks on the second album. A few of these are standouts: “Slick Black Cadillac” would be re-recorded effectively by another lineup on the Metal Health album. To hear that song played by Randy Rhoads, the guy who co-wrote it, is cool. His take on the guitar is different from Carlos Cavaso’s, although Carlos obviously did copy some parts. If only it were better recorded, this version could easily supplant the hit Metal Health version.
Another familiar song is “Afterglow (Of Your Love)”, also originally by Small Faces. This song was rendered in an acoustic form on The Randy Rhoads Years. On QRII, it is full-on electric. I prefer the electric version, I just wish it sounded better. There are other decent songs on QRII, such as the melodic “Eye For An Eye”, “Trouble”, and “We’ve Got the Magic”. By the second album, Quiet Riot had gotten better at writing melodies. They had work to do on stitching catchy melodies together into complete songs. Most songs on Quiet Riot II have some really good parts, but are not necessarily great all the way through. The dead production does not help the situation.
Even though Rudy Sarzo (Tateryche) is pictured on the sleeve and credited, he did not play bass on Quiet Riot II. Kelly Garni played bass, as he did on the first LP. To this day, I don’t know if the CD copies I have are promos or bootlegs. While I don’t know of any promotional CD test pressings, these are definitely high quality for bootlegs. They even have the hilarious mis-transcribed lyric sheets that usually accompany real Japanese CDs. So, I really don’t know!
I don’t hate it. It has a catchy riff, a good vocal from Geoff Tate, a shredding guitar solo, and it’s not about spitting on people or knives. It sounds modern while still featuring a guitar riff or two. I don’t hate it like I hated, say, Tribe. I’m disappointed that it’s a little faceless and generic sounding.
The problem is that it doesn’t sound like Queensryche. It sounds like a Geoff Tate solo track. Probably the best Geoff Tate solo track that there’s been so far. But just a Geoff Tate solo track.
The blockheaded drums do not sound like the textured complexity of Queensryche. (Sounds like Simon Wright though.)
The piano is distracting, I kept thinking a phone was ringing somewhere in my house. It sounds like, “Hey, we have a keyboard player in our band.”
I love the guitar solo. It’s so tasty and good. Who is this? Kelly? Robert? Neither? What will this sound like when performed live without guest stars?
I don’t know if the mix is worth the brew-ha-ha that’s being made of it. It’s not to my taste personally but it sounds like they had a vision of a heavier than fuck sound and just kind of overdid it.
This track confirms that Tate is still capable of writing good music. It does not confirm that Tate still is capable of writing good Queensryche music. This is his Chinese Democracy. It has a vibe of, “Let’s saturate the song with everything from the biggest sounding drums to the fastest solo to a guy playing piano.” Let’s try anything.
Where the real Queensryche’s song, “Redemption”, sounded unmistakably like Queensryche, Tate’s reeks of contrivances. In the Battle of the Ryches, Round One, the original band comes out on top. Tateryche will have their supporters, but it is clear now that Queensryche is a band sound, not merely a singer.
mikeladano.com 