Geoff Tate’s Operation: Mindcrime to Unleash ‘The Key’ Album in September

Operation: Mindcrime, the new band fronted by former Queensryche singer Geoff Tate, has announced its new album, The Key, which will arrive in September. Fans can listen snippets of four different tracks featured on the album via the trailer in the player above.

Tate’s group, named after Queensryche’s seminal 1988 concept album Operation: Mindcrime, is a seven-piece band comprised of Disturbed / Adrenaline Mob bassist John Moyer, drummers Simon Wright (AC/DC / Dio) and Brian Tichy (Whitesnake / Ozzy Osbourne), keyboardist Randy Gane, along with guitarists Kelly Gray (formerly of Queensryche) and Scott Moughton.

The trailer for The Key features snippets of four different songs: “Burn,” “Re-Inventing the Future,” “Life or Death” and “The Fall.” “Burn” is a straight-ahead rock song featuring Geoff Tate’s signature low-spoken vocals before he belts out the chorus, “Give me gasoline / I’ll burn everything.” While “Re-inventing the Future” is a bit reminiscent of the Queensryche’s song “The Mission” and the chorus is comparable to the heavy guitar-driven verse of “Suite Sister Mary,” both fittingly off the band’s Operation: Mindcrime album. “Life or Death” starts slowly with drums and bass but builds into an intense and fist-pumping anthem, while “The Fall” is a heavy groove song with some impressive technical riffs and drumming, as well as Tate’s trademark vocals.

The Key will be released on Sept. 18, via Frontiers Music Srl. It also features guest appearances from Megadeth bassist David Ellefson and Candlebox drummer Scott Mercado. The effort is the first part of Operation: Mindcrime’s trilogy project, which Tate started in 2014. He explained, “I tried to reduce the story and eventually got it down to 37 ideas that need representing to complete the story. I knew that one record wouldn’t cover it and that it would have to be a trilogy.” Tate continued, “It is so refreshing to be able to concentrate on the many stories and ideas that I have been working on with no boundaries or restrictions. I think fans will continue to enjoy the music we create and perform together and hope they share this new musical journey with us.”

Back in November, Queensryche announced a Pledge Music campaign to help them record a new album. The campaign offers fans closer access to the band and will even give the opportunity for select people to financially invest in the progressive rock group. Click here for more.

The Cover Art for Operation: Mindcrime's 'The Key:'