Just catching up on some live stuff with Arnel, and I think his voice suits Journey much better than Soto's or even Augeri's, with all due respect. The band is now at it's best since Perry, in my opinion.
I feel the exact opposite. I feel like they're at their weakest.
Again, I am NOT bashing Arnel...the man has talent. But, based on the clips I've seen/heard, he's NOT "the man" by any stretch. (Opinion ahead): He oversings, enunciates poorly & is just boring. I get nothing from his performances at all.
In his prime, Augeri was/is 10x better for Journey than Arnel. Soto would have been fantastic for a new direction (ala Van Halen w/ Hagar) and handled the classics admirably and with vigor.
Arnel, again, sounds like a dude singing karaoke (singing it well, but karaoke nontheless).
I'll reserve final judgement for when I hear the new album. But, if its no better than his versions of the classics, I have no more reason to follow Journey. I'm always one of the first one's I know to champion the "replacement" singer...I have been fans of Augeri (Journey), Ripper (Priest), Hagar (Van Halen), Hansen (Foreigner), Burtnick (Styx) & others who have stepped into enormous shoes becuase when they joined their respective bands, they nailed it. They had the voices, the looks, the personas, the passion...and IMO, so far Arnel is not nailing it.