OPERATION : MINDCRIME II

The long awaited sequel, trying to give us answers to the riddles raised in the first epic, is in the melodically line of the last 3 albums in reverse chronological order, but somehow tries to justify his liaison with the great "Mindcrime". Frankly, it is hard for me to say it's a follow-up, maybe in the matter of story it is, but not as sound, as I expected (my mistake). The intro of "Hands" and the last sequences of "If I could change it all" remind us of the old but gold opus, but all other tracks are something else. But we must take into consideration the time that passed since first "Mindcrime", almost 18 years. Naturally, everything is changing in such a period of time, and I suppose is rather improper to expect the same melodically direction. I would like to consider it as a moving foreword of the band, in the land of prog rock, and this is a strong point for the album and consequently for the band, for trying to reach new musical levels and to experiment new fields. As a sum, in my humble opinion, they succeed to put together the old with the new Queensrÿche and present a well wrapped-up product with nice melodies, changing moods from angry to mellow. In the effort of raising the album value we have to hail Ronnie James Dio and again Pamela Moore for contributing. All over the album deserves at least one spin, but I'm sure that if you try more than once you will find a lot of good things. I will give them a 3 + stars, the + is for being Queensrÿche!!