Geoff Tate released the first single “Power” from his upcoming solo record “Operation: Mindcrime III” releasing on 3rd of May.
Along with the single, the legendary former “Queensryche” frontman released the full track listing from the upcoming album. “Operation: Mindcrime III” will be released as a concept album with a storyline that follows but this time, the story is set from the Doctor’s perspective and will conclude the story that first started in 1988. In an interview with “Border city rock talk” Tate states “We don’t really know much about him in the first two albums. He’s sort of this mysterious character that is lurking in the shadows, and he has a sway over Nikki and Mary. And he’s really, really difficult to understand — how did he get to where he is, and what makes him powerful, what makes him the way he is? And this album, it’s all about him. And we find out who he is and how he controls Nikki and Mary and other people in his sphere of influence. And, yeah, it’s really the first two albums from Dr. X‘s perspective. The first two records were from Nikki’s perspective. He was writing and he was talking, and he was singing, and he was complaining. And this one is all about Dr. X.”
The producer of “Operation: Mindcrime III” and the bass player on the album is the longtime collaborator of Tate’s, “Disturbed” bassist John Moyer. This is the fourth album he and Tate have been working on, since “The Key” in 2015. Another longtime collaborator of Tate’s, Scottish guitarist Kierran Robertson, is the lead guitarist for the upcoming album. He also is the cowrote many of the songs on the album. In an interview with “Ultimate classic rock” Robertson states “I decided to come at it: I grew up with the music of Queensryche and I love the Operation: Mindcrime album, so I go, I’m going to write it, personally, what I would want it to sound like as a fan of that album. We’d also been playing the “Operation: Mindcrime” album on tour for about three years when I first started writing. So I knew every intricacy, every guitar part, all the songwriting, everything pretty much down to a T in terms of the original album. I think when you’re playing something a lot as well, it influences your writing and influences your style. When I sat down to actually write things were coming to me pretty fast.”
After splitting up from “Queensryche” in 2012, after a two year legal battle Tate and “Queensryche” settled in court with an agreement that Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson would continue under the “Queensryche” name, while Tate has sole rites to perform “Operation: Mindcrime” and “Operation: Mindcrime II” in it’s entirety.
Tate will be performing “Operation: Mindcrime” in Belgrade on the 11th of April at Zappa Barka thanks to “Devotion Booking” and “Rockfire record shop” during his “Operation: Mindcrime the final chapter tour” where he will perfom the album in it’s entirety as well as notable songs from “Queensryche” catalogue. Online tickets are sold out, while physical tickets are available in “Rockfire record shop” at Kraljice Natalije 45 in Belgrade for the price of 4.000 RSD.
Track listing from Geoff Tate’s “Operation: Mindcrime III”
1. “The Scene of the Crime”
2. “You Know My F–king Name”
3. “The Answer”
4. “Vulnerable”
5. “I’ll Eat Your Heart Out”
6. “Do You Still Believe?”
7. “The Devil’s Breath”
8. “Ascension”
9. “Set You Free”
10. “Descension”
11. “Power”
12. “You Can’t Walk Away Now”
13. “A Monster Like Me”
