I'm with wolf on this one. I for one can't base my music collection on who is an asshole and who isn't. If that was the case, my collection would be redused quite abit. No more Skid Row and GnR for example. Tate is an ass based on the information provided no question. But I'm going to listen to this with an open mind. I've wanted heavy Queensryche for years. Now it seems there may be two heavy releases in the next couple months. The list of guest stars is very intriguing too.
Nicely said Jason, agree too. For me, I'd have to throw out all my Yngwie, Iced Earth, Megadeth, WASP etc. albums, and I'm sure as hell not gonna do that.
And yeah, we might get two decent metal albums out of this, or we may get one, or maybe none, who knows at this stage.
Yea, put me in that category, too. Rock stars are not exactly known for being the most humble and reasonable of people. If I had to throw out all my rock or metal albums which were made by pretentious, self-absorbed egomaniacs, I wouldn't have much left for listening! Hell, by those standards, I'd never be able to listen to classical music at all; Mozart and Beethoven were both insufferably selfish and narcissistic in life, and the less said about Wagner's social-political views, the better!
When Tate first got fired and the court documents started making their way to the internet (courtesy of Samsara's Breakdown Room, of course!
) I did get a bit heated about how Tate had blatantly abused his position as lead singer to marginalize the other guys and remake the band in his image. Combined with having to put up with a decade and a half of mediocre Queensryche albums, as well as Geoff's exceptionally shameful behaviour at the end of the QR tenure, I saw Geoff Tate as the root of everything that was wrong with Queensryche, and wanted nothing to do with him ever again. At this point though, I've cooled off a bit, and while I still whole Tate primarily responsible to the decline of QR, it should be noted that the other guys (DeGarmo included)
allowed it to happen, so while Tate deserves most of the blame, not all of it should be placed on him alone.
So I will check out Geoff's "Queensryche" album, at least out of curiosity if nothing else. Since it has been written with Jason Slater, I think there is a chance it may turn out half-way decent, like O:M II and American Solider. However that is as high as my hopes will rise for that record. Maybe half of it will be genuinely good songs, but the rest I expect to be sappy tripe or awkward experimental ideas that just don't work. No matter who plays on it, Geoff's singing will most likely drag down any quality music there is to be found on the album. Considering that his voice has been of abysmal quality ever since Take Cover, even in the studio, I don't expect him to suddenly get his shit together vocally now.