Sweet Oblivion - S/T (New project featuring Geoff Tate)

[whiplash1972]

BREAKING NEWS: Frontiers Music Srl is excited to announce the release of an exciting new project featuring legendary former Queensrÿche and current Operation: Mindcrime singer Geoff Tate (Official) on lead vocals, entitled Sweet Oblivion Band on June 14th. The first single and video from the album, "True Colors" is out today and can be watched HERE: 

 

Pre-order the album and stream "True Colors" HERE: http://radi.al/SweetOblivion

Sweet Oblivion sees Tate teaming up with a stellar cast of Italian musicians led by Simone Mularoni, the mastermind of prog metal masters DGM. Musically, this album marks a return to the more melodic metal style for Tate and showcases a fine collection of songs highlighting the great talents of Mularoni and his cast of musicians.

Geoff Tate says, "I was approached by Frontiers to do this record and am pleased I took this chance. It’s an album filled with fun and I believe a lot of the fans who dig the old Queensryche sound will enjoy this one!”

Simone Mularoni adds, "I grew up listening to the '70s and '80s rock and metal bands and, of course, Queensryche's classic albums are among my favorites ever. Having the opportunity and luck of working together with a musical giant like Geoff Tate has been a real blessing on both the human and the artistic side. I asked a few amazing musicians and friends to help me out and together we delivered a bunch of classic heavy rock songs in which I tried to fuse a more contemporary approach with a classic Queensryche vibe… the performances are amazing!”

The opening track and first video “True Colors” sets the pace for the entire release and shows what the listeners can expect from this record. Excellent musicianship and a sound that harkens back to the massive melodies and hooks of classic albums like “Empire,” “Rage For Order”, and “Operation:Mindcrime”. Enjoy!

"Sweet Oblivion" tracklisting:
True Colors
Sweet Oblivion
Behind Your Eyes
Hide Away
My Last Story
A Recess From My Fate
Transition
Disconnect
The Deceiver
Seek The Light
Produced by: Simone Mularoni

Geoff Tate - Vocals
Simone Mularoni – Guitars and Bass
Emanuele Casali – Keyboards
Paolo Caridi – Drums

Follow Sweet Oblivion on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SweetOblivionGeoffTate/

[Darkstone]

This one looks really promising. First track is great.

[heavyharmonies]

First song doesn't suck quite as much as one would expect.

[All Nights Reserved]

7 hours ago, heavyharmonies said:

First song doesn't suck quite as much as one would expect.

Or maybe it does.

[AlphaMale]

Meh

[whiplash1972]

It's not great, but I like it better than anything off the most recent Rhyche release (The Verdict), or Tate's last Operation: Mindcrime effort.  

[miguelrl]

Awesome!!!

[Stefan]

New song.

 

 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

He finally rocks!

 

But his voice is kinda shit, isn't it? I'mma pass. 

[Stefan]

New song.

 

 

[AlphaMale]

On 5/2/2019 at 1:22 PM, KarpetRydOFunk said:

He finally rocks!

 

But his voice is kinda shit, isn't it? I'mma pass. 

Indeed. His voice is trash now.

[martinsane]

I am unsure what you all are tooting  but Geoff's voice sounds the same as it always has on these tracks and this stuff would slip right in the Mindcrime era Ryche all day long.

[Darkstone]

15 minutes ago, martinsane said:

I am unsure what you all are tooting  but Geoff's voice sounds the same as it always has on these tracks and this stuff would slip right in the Mindcrime era Ryche all day long.

I agree.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

4 hours ago, martinsane said:

I am unsure what you all are tooting  but Geoff's voice sounds the same as it always has on these tracks and this stuff would slip right in the Mindcrime era Ryche all day long.

But we already know your ears have been in steady decline for years now. 

;}

[AlphaMale]

16 hours ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

But we already know your ears have been in steady decline for years now. 

;}

True dat!

[Dead Planet]

It's okay....

[PeterS]

It's not dreadful but some of the songs do sound somewhat like muffled operation mindcrime. Maybe an accident, maybe not. 

Certainly nothing as good but it's probably the best thing he's been involved with for 10 or 20 year. 

[AlphaMale]

Once a cunt, always a cunt:

https://allthatshreds.com/simone-mularoni-says-geoff-tate-nearly-sabbotaged-sweet-oblivion/?fbclid=IwAR2w4J4pKnwHVZUe2XuRjYdGOOUakKc6UJhr0WXvok3pSxf7JWpp9VHxCZQ

Simone Mularoni Says Geoff Tate Nearly Sabotaged Sweet Oblivion

July 1, 2019 1 Comment Frontiers Recordsgeoff tateSimone MularoniSweet Oblivion

In an interview with Aardschok Magazine, guitarist Simone Mularoni explains how Geoff Tate nearly sabotaged The Sweet Oblivion project when he sent the music back to him completely butchered and sounding like “hip-hop” vocals:

“Serrafino, Chief of Frontiers Records, got me in touch with Geoff Tate and Tate was also happy with the music and the rough vocal melodies I had delivered. Very soon he sent me the first two songs back. (Simone pauses, in order to contain his emotions.) The entire structure of the songs had changed. The guitar solos were erased and the vocal melodies were a closer resemblance to Hip-Hop rather than Metal. Besides that, he added all sorts of strange keyboard sounds. I was in shock and wondered how Frontiers would feel about this. They were not pleased either and asked me to persuade Tate to stay closer to the original ideas. So I wrote him a polite email, something along the lines of ‘I think my version will do better commercially.’ But his wife, also his manager, throwing a fit, phoned Frontiers and demanded to know what I was thinking, how dare I criticize Tate’s work? Wow, I had a high opinion of Geoff Tate, but now I was summoned to the Frontiers office. Luckily, I had kept all the email correspondence and could show that I hadn’t been rude to Geoff. I told them that I would produce the album for them, but if the final results would be anything like the songs Geoff sent back, I wouldn’t want my name on it.”

Question: The contact with Tate was not so friendly after that?

Answer: What contact? “He simply quit responding to my emails. A few weeks later, I got all my material back. Geoff had recorded his vocals on the tour-bus. Who records vocals on a tour-bus? I struggled for a month just to make it all sound a bit better. Ultimately, the album turned out okay, but If we had done it my way…”

[heavyharmonies]

Is this really a shock to anyone? Once a douchenozzle...

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Can we all stop giving this fucko any sort of acknowledgement? I don't know why Tobias Sammet keeps bringing him on. I wonder what the relationship is like there, and how he behaves on the Avantasia tour. 

[Geoff]

On 7/5/2019 at 5:55 AM, AlphaMale said:

Once a cunt, always a cunt:

https://allthatshreds.com/simone-mularoni-says-geoff-tate-nearly-sabbotaged-sweet-oblivion/?fbclid=IwAR2w4J4pKnwHVZUe2XuRjYdGOOUakKc6UJhr0WXvok3pSxf7JWpp9VHxCZQ

Simone Mularoni Says Geoff Tate Nearly Sabotaged Sweet Oblivion

July 1, 2019 1 Comment Frontiers Recordsgeoff tateSimone MularoniSweet Oblivion

In an interview with Aardschok Magazine, guitarist Simone Mularoni explains how Geoff Tate nearly sabotaged The Sweet Oblivion project when he sent the music back to him completely butchered and sounding like “hip-hop” vocals:

“Serrafino, Chief of Frontiers Records, got me in touch with Geoff Tate and Tate was also happy with the music and the rough vocal melodies I had delivered. Very soon he sent me the first two songs back. (Simone pauses, in order to contain his emotions.) The entire structure of the songs had changed. The guitar solos were erased and the vocal melodies were a closer resemblance to Hip-Hop rather than Metal. Besides that, he added all sorts of strange keyboard sounds. I was in shock and wondered how Frontiers would feel about this. They were not pleased either and asked me to persuade Tate to stay closer to the original ideas. So I wrote him a polite email, something along the lines of ‘I think my version will do better commercially.’ But his wife, also his manager, throwing a fit, phoned Frontiers and demanded to know what I was thinking, how dare I criticize Tate’s work? Wow, I had a high opinion of Geoff Tate, but now I was summoned to the Frontiers office. Luckily, I had kept all the email correspondence and could show that I hadn’t been rude to Geoff. I told them that I would produce the album for them, but if the final results would be anything like the songs Geoff sent back, I wouldn’t want my name on it.”

Question: The contact with Tate was not so friendly after that?

Answer: What contact? “He simply quit responding to my emails. A few weeks later, I got all my material back. Geoff had recorded his vocals on the tour-bus. Who records vocals on a tour-bus? I struggled for a month just to make it all sound a bit better. Ultimately, the album turned out okay, but If we had done it my way…”

lol, what the balls? So the album is all heart n' soul, ay? How's an audience supposed to connect with the songs given a back-story like this? I know Tate's name will probably double (or more) sales of this album, but fuck me... surely you'd just tell him to fuck off and go with someone who can at least pretend to be a bit passionate about your material. 

All that said, though, the songs aren't terrible. 

On a side-note, I was listening to Dokken's 'Tooth and Nail' album tonight and to my own detriment, I've been listening to a lot of newer stuff over the past few years and not digging back into the archives as much, purely because it's all still on CD and not digital. But I was just listening to 'Tooth and nail' thinking how much better it is, honestly, than pretty much anything and everything you hear these days. And I love a lot of stuff "these days." But if stories like the above are even just a small insight into how music is recorded in 2019, I really need to step up my efforts to digitalise all my CDs. I need more of those older classics in my ears far more often.