King's & Thieves＜限定盤/Royal Gold Swirl Vinyl＞

When proto-metal act Queensryche fired vocalist and chief songwriter Geoff Tate, fans were justifiably shocked. Tate has his side of the story and the rest of the bandmembers have theirs. It is he, however, who is first out of the gate with Kings & Thieves. Included in his backing lineup is guitarist Kelly Gray, who played in Tate's first band, Myth, and later with Queensryche for a time after founding guitarist Chris DeGarmo left the band. Tate produced this set, while Gray recorded and mixed it. Kings & Thieves is Tate's second solo album, and his first in a decade. The album's best tracks are "Dark Money," which has an interesting guitar vamp that offers a hard rock backdrop to Tate's assertive and convincing vocals, and "Change," a power ballad, which has a compelling string chart that adds a lush texture underneath Tate's emotive vocals and then gives way to some screaming guitar work as the intensity gets upped. ~ Thom Jurek