Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I admit I was predisposed to dislike the album before I even listened. That may seem unfair, but my predisposition was based on the fact that, with the exception of a few standout tracks, the past four Queensryche albums have been abyssmal. As far as this album is concerned, Overall, I am a bit surprised. Frequency Unknown is not as bad as I thought it would be, and there are more moments that I like than I would have thought. But the ideas are not fleshed out well at times, the vocal melodies are frequently half-baked, and the vocal delivery is just outright painful and bad most of the time. But most of all, this sounds like a Geoff Tate solo effort and not like something that should have the Queensryche name attached. The three biggest problems I have with the album can be summarized as follows: 1. Everything sounds rushed and underdeveloped. There are some good ideas and some good melodies. But nothing about the album feels like any amount of care or thought was put into making it sound and feel like a finished product. Most of us know the facts behind how this album was put out. We know that it was a rush job. The problem is, it SOUNDS like a rush job, whether we are talking about the poor mix, the disjointed "cut-and-paste" sound of of the songs, or what have you. 2. The singing is atrocious. Geoff Tate was a key influence of mine, both in terms of getting into singing in the first place, and also in terms of pushing the envelope in my singing. However, his singing has so badly deteriorated that it is painful to listen to. Tate sounds strained, nasal, and off-key more often than not, and is far and away the weakest link on this album. This is not a matter of personal taste. He is objectively singing incorrectly and in a way that detracts from any positives these songs might have. And that is a shame bacause, as mentioned above, some of these songs truly show promise and could have been decent. 3. The album does not have the "Queensryche sound." I do not mean to try to "put the band in a box." One of the things I have always appreciated about Queensryche is that they have always changed and grown their sound. Even in their earliest history, each album sounded very different from anything else in the catalog. And yet, there was always a trademark complexity and depth to their sound. I felt that Slater finally managed to capture that a bit on American Soldier. However, with a few exceptions, it has largely been missing for several albums, and this latest Geoff Tate solo effort mislabeled as "Queensryche," that trend continues. If Tate and his team had taken the time to refine some of the ideas on this album, and if he had taken the time to work hard and sing correctly, this could have been a good album. It still would not be a Queensryche album, but it could have been something worthwhile. As it is, I have given it a fair listen, and see no reason I will ever be compelled to listen again.