Bob Savage

Originally posted by t-rave I always thought Rob Halford was a cut way above all the high screamers... tone, power , melody and a killer midrange voice...halford is the real deal! and for pure metal vocal ability Ronnie James Dio takes it..at 64 his voice is still in great shape...ever see Dio live? He still puts his voice up front in the mix and belts it out with total authority..they don't make 'em like that anymore! Yeah, Halford was the first of the powerful, high range singers. I heard he too was an "opera singer" prior to his metal years (seriously). After that, it seemed every guy that could scream was too. As far as Dio, I think he's one of the few guys that can still pull it off like he used to. Yeah, he's a little weaker, but the dude is in his 60's and muscles weaken. He's kept his voice healthy all these years.

Originally posted by typedeaF Well there is also the fact that Tate was born in 1959, and started Queensryche in 1982, which would have made him 23. You dont think from 18 to 23 he could have taken opera? And you think everyone is just lying about his opera teacher singing with her? Anything is possible, but I think it's boohickie. By the way, where are you finding your facts? Their first EP was recorded in 82, which means they were probably around a bit before that.

Originally posted by typedeaF If thats "before Queensryche" then I guess so. I dont know about where you live, but where I live they have/had a vocal chior in highschool and many kids got full scholarships to college based on their performance. Some people actually do start practicing opera at an early age, just like all other musicians. Nice job with the rolleyes. And here I thought only women did that rolleye thingie. Don't take it so personally that I think the whole "Geoff was an opera singer" is balogna.

Originally posted by typedeaF You do know that the woman singing on "Suite Sister Mary" is his opera teacher, right? Yes, he did used to sing opera before Queensryche. So Geoff sang in the opera in his early/mid teens?

Originally posted by draelyc Man, the funny thing about Tate's voice is that, even when he's in the stratosphere, the tone quality is such that it "sound" like he's singing lower... I often don't realize how high he's singing till I try to sing along. Of course, other times it's more obvious... I'm probably going to catch a load for this, and it's to a much lesser degree, however, I always found this to be true with Roth too. Some of the stuff he's done is a lot higher than it sounds... not on Tate's level, but I'm just sayin'...

Originally posted by bstaley LOL. Well he named his son Zachary Tate Holtz. Zachary (Stevens of Savatage) and the Tate part is obvious. It was both a blessing and a curse. The guy could sing his balls off but no matter what we did we always got the QR comparison. I hear you man. Singers with that much influence from another single artist care both a blessing and a curse, especially when they're good, because they can pull it off to the point that it's obvious.

Originally posted by bstaley If you guys dig Tate you would probably love the singer from my last band. He used to get that comparison all the time. Check this out: Burn For You Yeah, he sounds slightly influenced by Tate. Good stuff Bill.

Originally posted by draelyc When I saw DT with Queensryche in Atlanta, Geoff Tate simply outclassed LaBrie. But to LaBrie's credit, he seemed to concentrate on serving the songs, and he avoided the over-the-top stratosphere screams I'd been told to expect from him live. That said, I love his work on _Images and Words_. (But at the Atlanta show, when they did a duet towards the end, I thought it was cool that Geoff took the high parts, & never once sounded stretched, forced, or strained... ) Chris I saw DT and QR in L.A., and while I wasn't comparing singers per se, I walked out of there thinking QR got their arses handed to them. DT's sound was tight, thick and just knocked your socks off, whereas QR had probably the worst guitar sound I have ever heard from a band playing a venue the size of the Universal Amphitheater. Just so I'm not misunderstood though, I'm not throwing QR in front of the bus to make a point. I think QR is great, but Geoff suffers from the same vocal straining Labrie does, at this point in time, and I think they just made some bad decisions on their guitar amps that year.

Originally posted by Alex Flouros hmm...since its that simple to say whats on your mind without having to backup up anything i would say that Labrie is a great singer and you suck.... simple enough... Alex And I agree, so now it's 2:1.

Originally posted by willy22 Wow. I really offended some of you guys with the thread title. Maybe I should've said he blows goat balls instead? I will try to be more kind when giving my .02 cents so as to not offend you oversensitive types. I don't know that you really offended anybody. I think the lashing is due to the stupidity of how you presented your "opinion."

Originally posted by Duolos Of course they will respond and say, but Tate "could" sing at one time.....LOL. If he wants to go down that road, which I think is a poor argument anyway, then I would contend that Labrie could also sing at one time.

Originally posted by DeadNight Warrior To be fair, he probably could sing better than Labrie. It's interesting that you have Tate as your avatar. You're aware that Tate suffers from a weakened voice from age, and wandering notes during live performance like Labrie, right? If you're going to throw out Labrie as not being able to sing, you better throw Tate out with him.

Originally posted by willy22 So I'm in a Dream Theatre mood. Listening to the Once in a Livetime disk. Do the other guys not realize that he sucks huge donkey balls? I like Labrie's vocals.

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe Hi Bob - good to have you with us! I was just looking at your site and I saw the THD Univalve combo unit - I've got a Univalve, and a 1X12 combo for that would be sweet! I hope they eventually release that! Thanks Phil. I'm guessing the combo cab is on the backburner, considering that picture is 3-4 years old.

I guess I don't get out much, since I just noticed this forum. Looks cool...