Special report by "Metal" Tim Henderson

BraveWords.com caught up with QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate this week who talked to us about the expanded 20th Anniversary Edition of Empire, the future of the band's Queensrÿche Cabaret spectacle, his acting career and wine cravings that led to his vintage brand called Insania. The treasured frontman had just returned from New York City, where he was playing freshly-recorded material to the band's new label, Loud & Proud/Roadrunner Records.

"We are planning on a spring release," Tate tells BraveWords.com about Queensrÿche's 12th studio album. "It will be a very strong collection of songs. The topic of the album is all over the place. There's a lot of different subjects we tackle. The sound and the writing direction is probably more focused on rhythm than any of our records have been. Scott (Rockenfield; drums) and Eddie (Jackson; bass) are contributing a lot to the composition of this record, so there's a lot of focus on rhythm structure and keeping things very rhythmatic and moving. It's got a lot of very intricate bass/drum work on it that perhaps hasn't been featured on earlier albums. Therefore it's going to have a very modern sound to it. Music these days, outside of hard rock and metal, is really rhythm-oriented. There's a lot of movement to it. So we're kind of going with that as a feature on this record. Still, there's a lot of interesting guitar work as we try to push the guitar into different areas as well, while trying to stay away from the bone-head stuff like the chunk-chunk-chunk kind of thing. We're using the guitars in a more melodic sense. The band is producing it with Kelly Gray, our longtime friend and engineer (and former guitarist). We've got about three-quarters written and recorded.

When I was in New York last Friday I was playing them tracks, playing them a cross-section of the record. I didn't play them all the songs, but I played them a strong cross-section of what's on it so they can get an idea of the direction and the feel of it. It's a pretty cool record company. They're really focused on music which is refreshing. A lot of record companies you deal with are just thinking commerce. These guys are really into the art and pushing that. I enjoy talking with people like that and who see it from that point of view. That's like the old days. That pre-'90s group that had a lot of music people in record companies, that were actually interested in music, played it themselves and had a background with it. Instead of coming at it from a Harvard Business School sense.

Only time will tell of course - we'll see how the whole album cycle goes. Tom Lipsky (industry veteran and Loud & Proud boss) for example is a guy I've known for my career on a personal level and I've always admired his musical tastes and sensibilities. His heart's in the right place. I feel really comfortable with him at the helm of things. He definitely understands the band and what we're about. He's not going to make any calls that would work against our philosophy."

Watch out for more of BraveWords.com's conversation with Queensrÿche's Geoff Tate soon. Complete details regarding the expanded 20th Anniversary Edition of Empire can be found here.

(Photos by Mark Gromen)