Geoff Tate, the former voice of Queensrÿche, is set to release Operation: Mindcrime III on May 3, marking the next installment in his legendary concept album series. The LP’s first single, “Power,” is now available to stream, giving fans a high-energy taste of the story to come.
“Power is the first – I don’t know – we call ’em singles nowadays. It’s a really cool song – very, very energetic, very up, and kind of says a lot in a very short time, which I like,” Tate told Dean Delray on the Let There Be Talk podcast.
Written alongside guitarist and producer Kieran Robertson, “Power” features Tate on vocals, Rich Baur on drums, and Disturbed bassist and Mindcrime III co-producer John Moyer on bass. Guitar duties were handled by Dario Parente and Amaury Altmayer, with Tate and Robertson contributing synths and strings. The track was mixed and mastered by Juan Urteaga at Trident Studios in Pacheco, California.
Unlike the first two chapters, which followed protagonist Nikki, Operation: Mindcrime III tells the story from the perspective of the enigmatic Dr. X.
“Which is kind of interesting, I think, because we’ve only heard it from Nikki‘s point of view, and he’s been sort of this victim throughout the whole story. And Dr. X‘s perspective is completely different, ’cause he’s not the victim at all. So it’s very aggressive,” Tate explained.
Tate also detailed his meticulous songwriting approach: “I write the story out first of what is happening, and then I kind of dissect it and create chapters, and those chapters turn into songs… Then you gotta kind of factor in musically how you’re gonna tie it together.
“Does it make sense musically and melodically to put this song before this song, before this song, before this song? ‘Cause that’s a big thing too, is making it flow, so it doesn’t seem obtrusive and people don’t have to turn the page back to find out what happened.”
Tate emphasized that, while released under his own name, the music was crafted within the Mindcrime universe: “Part of the whole writing process was keeping the music in the universe of Mindcrime, writing within that style, I guess you’d say.”
Adding to the album’s mystique, recording took place in unconventional locations across the globe. “One track was recorded in a church… parts of it in this castle in Italy… big, high ceilings, open environment, big stone walls… it added a really unique sound to the song. We just kind of took advantage of that wherever we could and wrote the album as we were touring around the world,” Tate said.
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