Queensryche vs Queensryche

Queensryche is certainly not a household name like Aerosmith. The band did have a big hit, "Silent Lucidity," in early 90s, which is actually not typical Queensryche, which started out as a progressive metal band. Prog bands were favorites of certain magazine writers those days and I was persuaded to listen to some, like Crimson Glory and Queensryche. I enjoyed Queensryche's "epic" concept album: Operation Mindcrime, a whole lot. Their techniques were superb, melodies were catchy and storyline was interesting. Fast forward 25 years to 2013, the band fired the lead vocalist Geoff Tate. At that time his wife was managing the band and his step-daughter was managing the fan club. It's not hard to imagine $$$ might have caused some problems. After the split, both parties claimed ownership of the band's name. Both of them released an album in 2013. And both of them are touring to promote the albums. Well, two bands with the same name certainly caused quite a bit of confusion. I received newsletters from concert promoters and have to read carefully to tell which one is performing when. I hope they could ultimately resolve the conflict peacefully. (I could live with two bands having the same name) This controversy was actually the reason I listened to both new albums! The verdict: Queensryche with Todd La Torre (the new singer) holds a slight edge over Queensryche with Geoff Tate. The new album of the former sounds just like a continuation of the ones from the earlier days. Even the vocal sounds very similar! The latter is not bad either. Just sounded a bit too mainstream.

Post #601

Last week I have published my 600th posts of this blog which was started in 2008/12/26! The average was about 120 per year. To be honest, there's a clear downward trend. It's unlikely to reach 120 for 2013 :( Maybe there are less notable events/interesting topics to write about on a daily basis. Another reason is that I got "distracted" by Facebook (what else!) where it's appropriate to post about marginally-notable events and semi-interesting topics! And I have also "diverted" some of my music-making and biking related writings to my other blogs. Finally, I gotta admit I wrote less about my views on politics and current affairs. You don't need Snowden to remind us that the Big Brother is watching as he always do. Still, my blog is a better place for such posts than FB (I guess it's less likely to offend my friends here) For example, some of my FB friends posted this one about the Japanese radiation-leaking danger zone (formerly known as a nuclear plant) causing health issues in North America now (e.g. California) I am very skeptical and seems like some people with first-hand knowledge feel the same as I do judging by the comment section.