I don't think it's fair to compare X Factor to this. The situation was much different; Steve (a main songwriter) was still in the band. Plus Janick had already proven that he could step up too, which he did. With QR, both main songwriters are out of the band, and the task is put on those who contributed little to nothing in the past 30 years. Not good.
Actually the main songwriters for the classic QR were DeGarmo, Wilton and Tate. Also should be noted that DeGarmo and Wilton were the ones who wrote the music, not Tate. He only wrote the lyrics and vocal melodies. That's certainly important, but don't portray him as being a larger songwriter than Wilton. Classic QR was a sum of its parts, not just any one person in particular.
And in regards to what Travis brought up about Scott's old comment on DTC; it's been pointed out that Scott may have said that prior to the actual recording of the album. The initial plan for the album was to return to the metal/hard rock roots and begin working on rebuilding the fan-base. If memory serves me right, they also had planned to bring back Neil Kernon to produce the album. However, Tate ended up rejecting all the demos and songs the band wrote and brought in the outside writers he'd been using since Operation: Mindcrime II.
It's not that the band hasn't tried to contribute anything to the band in so long; it's that Tate got progressively more and more controlling on what he thought Queensryche should sound like. First they had to write within his approved boundaries musically, then he kicked them out almost entirely songwriting-wise and just had them (sometimes) play parts other songwriters made. According to the band, the new album features songwriting material from the whole band, including Parker Lundgren, who has mentioned last year on Twitter that he wrote a "depressing yet epic song that sounds like a cross between Roads to Madness and Promised Land."
Also about Todd and whether or not he's a Tate clone... I initially got into Queensryche because I thought Geoff Tate was a Bruce Dickinson clone. Now, obviously that isn't the case, but still that's what I thought. However, I've since been able to distinguish voices pretty well for the most part. And quite frankly, Todd isn't at all a Tate clone. He's influenced by him, certainly, but I can tell the difference pretty clearly. Tate sang in a more 'clean' manner, whereas Todd is often more aggressive vocally. Todd's said it himself; he's also pretty influenced by Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson and Chuck Billy. Also, Todd is a multi-instrumentalist and can actually contribute more musically to the band than Tate could.
