OPERATION : MINDCRIME II

"Operation: Mindcrime II" is the 9th full-length studio album by US heavy metal/hard rock act Queensrÿche. The album was released through Rhino Entertainment in April 2006. It´s the successor to "Tribe from 2003 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Mike Stone has now become a permanent member of the lineup (Stone recorded some parts on "Tribe (2003)" but wasn´t a permanent member of the band on that album). "Operation: Mindcrime II" is a concept album and a sequel to "Operation: Mindcrime" from 1988. An album which is widely considered the band´s crowning achivement, although "Empire (1990)" was the more commercially successful release.

Turmoil within the band meant that most of the album was written by lead vocalist Geoff Tate and new guitarist Mike Stone, while the rest of the band only contributed small parts to the album and didn´t record much either. Many parts were recorded by session musicians. The concept story starts where "Operation: Mindcrime (1988)" left off, only 18 years down the line, with protagonist Nikki being released from prison after serving his time for the murder of Sister Mary (who we know was actually murdered by Dr. X). The album goes through a wide range of Nikki´s emotions and actions, from anger, despair, and him questioning his own sanity, to another arrest, and him being on the run. Finally he gets his revenge over Dr. X when he kills him, but finds no solace in his deed, and ends up committing suicide. The story ends with Nikki´s spirit being reunited with Sister Mary´s in the afterlife (maybe in heaven?).

So the stage is set for another epic concept story like the original from 1988 and in some ways the concept works well. Musically though "Operation: Mindcrime II" has a hard time competing with "Operation: Mindcrime (1988)", as it predominantly continues the hard/heavy rock trend of the last couple of albums, which means the quality is alright, but there are only few standout tracks, and quite a few less remarkable ones. When they occassionally touch heavy metal territory they shine a bit more, and it becomes even more apparent what the less remarkable tracks on the album lack, and that´s attitude and heavy metal power. "Operation: Mindcrime II" is their most heavy metal oriented release in years though, and Queensrÿche should receive some praise for that.

Not surprisingly the musicianship is on a high level, and Tate was still a skilled and powerful singer at this point. The performances may be delivered by seasoned professionals, but it´s not instrumental performances dripping with sweat and raw emotion. It all sounds rather cold, flat, and calculated, and if it´s true that the other members didn´t contribute many parts to the album, that´s probably a good explanation, because however lacklustre some of their mid to late 90s releases are, they were always clearly performed with the right amount of passion and conviction.

The flat and compressed sound production does not make things better, and especially the drum sound is a bit of an abomination. Sometimes I´m in doubt if the drums are actually programmed rather than played by a human drummer. It´s safe to say it doesn´t sound like Scott Rockenfield playing. Of course even a world class drummer like him can have his performance ruined by a drum sound like the one on this album, but I´ll be very surprised if I learn that it´s him playing here.

So much is ruined by the sound production and the somewhat lifeless instrumental performances, but "Operation: Mindcrime II" is still relatively well written and enjoyable to some extent while it plays. It´s not the triumphant return to form that some fans may have expected/hoped for, when it was revealed that the band was working on an "Operation: Mindcrime (1988)" sequel, but it´s not completely redundant either. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

Originally posted on Metal Music Archives