The Key (Operation: Mindcrime album)
| The Key | ||||
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| Studio album by Operation: Mindcrime | ||||
| Released | September 18, 2015 | |||
| Recorded | London Bridge Studio, Seattle, Washington | |||
| Genre | Progressive metal, alternative metal | |||
| Length | 47:53 | |||
| Label | Frontiers Music Srl | |||
| Producer | Kelly Gray, Geoff Tate | |||
| Operation: Mindcrime chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Key | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| SputnikMusic |    |
| Loudwire | (positive reaction) |
The Key is the debut album by progressive metal band Operation: Mindcrime. It is the first in a concept album trilogy to be released by the band, involving virtual currencies, internet banking and . It was released on September 18, 2015. The first single, titled "Re-Inventing the Future" was released on July 28, 2015, and two more, "Burn" and "The Fall" were released on August 19, 2015. The fourth and fifth singles, "The Stranger" and "Hearing Voices," were released on September 1 and 9, 2015, respectively.
Geoff Tate's previous album with the lineup that would form the basis for the band Operation: Mindcrime, was called Frequency Unknown. It was released on April 23, 2013 under the Queensrÿche moniker to mixed reviews, predominantly panning the album's rushed mixing/remixing. However, the album distinguished itself through having many guest appearances from musicians in the hard rock and heavy metal community.
Tate planned to continue collaborating with a multitude of people, saying: "I like working with, you know, in a collaborative sense, with different people. And I don't ever want to be in a band again. A "band"-band that sticks together through thick and thin and all that, you know. I've already done that. I want to work with different groups of people. And I want to constantly be changing it up to make it interesting and different. And I want to play with as many great players as I possibly can. Because I can, you know. I can call up K. K. Downing and say, 'Kenneth, hey, you got time two weeks in November to play a short tour?"
Even before the album's release, on April 17, 2013, Tate announced that he would start on another record in the near future, saying: "I'm kind of feeling it already. Got some ideas, and so, hopefully... This summer, we have a short break in touring, I can hit the studio and start throwing down some ideas." On May 28, 2013, he elaborated: "I'm working on a brand new album that I started about a month ago. I have another one that is probably about a quarter of the way completed that will probably be released in 2014."
He explained the writing process as: "What I’m doing is basically setting the story to music and trying to tell it in a musical fashion. So it’s long and involved and very in-depth. The beauty of it is that I’m not under any time constraints to finish it. So I can work on it when I feel moved to work on it, you know. And I can work at my own pace, which is a great feeling, and not have a deadline looming over my head." To his writing approach, he has also explained: "I’m in bulk writing mode, where I write every day and put ideas down in a rough form and typically I’ll go back after a few months of doing that and see what I have and then piece together an album out of good ideas that I’ve got recorded." According to Tate, it was too early to tell at that time if it is suitable to take out on the road, with theatrical elements added to it, but that it is quite probable.
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