SWEET OBLIVION FEATURING GEOFF TATE

Relentless FRONTIERS

Ex-Queensrÿche man plays to his strengths by keeping it old-school.

Nine years after his acrimonious firing from Queensrÿche, Geoff Tate recaptures the sound of his old group on his second album with Sweet Oblivion.

Recorded in Italy with a different line-up to 2019’s eponymous debut, Relentless is built firmly around Tate’s voice; his range and power seem undimmed even in his early 60s. Aldo Lonobile, from power metal band Secret Sphere, serves as guitarist and producer, favouring a bright, slick production style. Like a lot of late-80s and early-90s heavy music, it’s a very compressed listen. There’s not a lot of space in the mix but Tate has the power in his pipes to cut through. The arrangements of Let It Be and Anybody Out There almost demand comparisons with Empire or Operation: Mindcrime, far more so than Tate’s other solo work, such as Kings & Thieves or the first Sweet Oblivion album. However, if the approach seems familiar, Tate takes complete command of the material, delivering one bombastic performance after another.

As an overall experience, Relentless can be guilty of not pushing the singer to try anything new, but there’s no denying that Tate remains a progressive metal heavyweight.