OPERATION: MINDCRIME – The New Reality

8/10

OPERATION: MINDCRIME - The New Reality - 8/10

8/10

Summary

Frontiers Music
Release date: December 1, 2017

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User Review

2/10 (2 votes)

The New Reality, third album in the trilogy from Geoff Tate’s Operation: Mindcrime, is as elusive and slippery to get a grip on as it’s predecessors The Key and Resurrection, and as such listeners would be well advised to give it a few spins on the stereo before making up their minds. Nominally a Progressive Metal album, it’s sound effect-laden mix frequently has the drums, keyboard (and occasionally, sax) turned up and forward, with the guitars and, quite often, Geoff’s iconic voice further down. The sonic effect of the mix and the top shelf musicianship is singular enough to almost be unsettling; one hears elements of other work in the album—comparisons to Queensrÿche are inevitable, and Geoff channels Heathen-era David Bowie on a few of the cuts, the rousing opener “A Headlong Jump”, third track “It Was Always You”, and the title track all have some elements of later career Bowie.

But The New Reality ultimately is an album that sounds like nothing else, and ultimately that is a very good thing. There are several places—again, the title track is a great example—where Geoff and band defy expectations by switching the whole cadence of the song and then replacing the de rigueur Metal guitar solo with one of Geoff’s saxophone solos. These touches, combined with the tribal drumming, the edgy, stark guitars and keyboards, and Geoff’s consistently excellent vocals make The New Reality both a unique and highly enjoyable listening experience.

TUNE INTO METALEXPRESSRADIO.COM at NOON & MIDNIGHT (EST) / 6:00 & 18:00 (CET) TO HEAR THE BEST TRACKS FROM THIS UPCOMING RELEASE!!!

Author

Daniel Waters

Daniel was a reviewer here at Metal Express Radio. Iron Maiden’s Piece Of Mind wasn’t the first Metal album he owned, but it was the one that lifted the lid off his soul when he received the record as a gift on his 15th birthday. He's been a Metal fan ever since. He's probably best known as the author of various Young Adult novels such as the Generation Dead series and the ghost story Break My Heart 1,000 Times, now also a major motion picture entitled I Still See You, starring Bella Thorne. Writing and music, especially Heavy Metal music, has always been inextricably linked in his mind and career. His first paid gig doing any type of writing was for Cemetery Dance, where he wrote a horror-themed music column called Dead Beats, and when he was writing the first Generation Dead novel he had a ritual where he started his writing day with a Metal playlist that kicked off with “Crushing Belial” by Shadows Fall.
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