I've never been a huge QR fan, I've barely touched anything outside of Mindcrime really but I do certainly get where you're coming from. The voice is the most distinctive part of a band, followed by the song writing (imho, some people would define it the other way round). I also think they would be better just giving it a new name at this stage - even though the singer sounds extremely similar and many bands still succeed despite changing singer... there is simply too much bad associated with the QR name at this stage. A new band even consisting of the same members will shed that bad blood, while keeping the more 'hardcore' fans on board (because they'll know who they are) and having people who's first listen was one of the later albums and thought "nah QR arent good" open to another chance.
I agree with all of this. I'm all for them getting together and doing albums with Todd, but I just think they should break off of Queensryche. I was on Twitter, and just getting a look at the reaction from the casual fans, I mean, to say people weren't thrilled is an understatement. So those casuals don't look like they'll be following the band any longer. They'll pick up more later if the album is good enough, so they might as well just start from scratch.
If you mean VR don't have the two main songwriters anymore... Scott Wieland is the only departured member. If you mean VR is GnR minus the 2 main songwriters, whilst Izzy Stradlin contributed a huge amount to GnR's sound, Slash is in VR and was one of the people who more 'personified' the band and did a great deal of the song writing.. so either way I think this statements wrong
Again though, it's a new band even if it has some of the same members.. so it can take a different sound entirely, a different approach etc, and should not be compared as the same band.
I meant that from my personal perspective, not from others' perspective.
The band for me is Axl and Izzy more than Axl and Slash, so when I first heard about VR, that's how I felt. VR had to win me over because it was basically my favorite band minus my two favorite members. And that's what I hope this new QR will do, win me over sans my two favorite members. But see, I'd like a name change to show that it's a different band. It's petty, I guess, but that's how I feel.
Likewise I personally love Chinese Democracy but think whilst having the GnR name on it helped its sales, it would've been far better received by press and fans alike had it been under a new name (less comparing to AFD). It would've also reduced the "how has this taken 15 years" comments because people could have just assumed there was a complete hiatus.
In all honesty, I think the name hurt more than it helped for the reasons you stated and because people thought, "Well, he destroyed one of the most legendary bands over this?" I actually admire him for keeping the name because there was so much baggage around it, even though I disagreed with it. The band should've just died. Still, it was a tough thing Axl did, and at some point, he deserves credit for enduring the shit thrown at him over it. I'm digressing here, but I really wish he'd just sold it as a solo album. I also wish the label hadn't taken that Best Buy deal. Nobody I knew knew that the album would be released until I said anything because they didn't go to Best Buy and the album wasn't promoted, like, at all. Axl totally disappeared and only surfaced for those super cool forum chats. Where he talked about a music video to be released in a couple weeks.
Ah, so many regrets in GN'R land.
I half share your sentiments. I would have liked it to sort out. Geoff Tate and DeGarmo were the heart and soul of QR. However, ever since Promised Lands they've only managed to put out a couple of good records (Tribe and Mindcrime 2) and a handful of CD's that only works as coasters.
I will decide on what I think after the new album. I get the feeling though that it's due to Tate that the later albums have sucked. Geoff Tate is still pretty good live, but certainly not nearly on par with the Mindcriem 1 era Geoff.
I pretty much agree with all this. Honestly, I just want to see it as either continue the band with both Geoff and DeGarmo, or start a new band with a new name, start from scratch. I think it'd just be the best for everybody. There's a lot of baggage tied to Queensryche now anyway, so just let it die.
That's my fave QR song too 
