879. Operation: Mindcrime / The Key. 2015. 1.5/5

So yes, you are right. After the break up of Queensrÿche, and the release of Frequency Unknown by Geoff Tate's side of the break up, and the extreme averageness of the music written and performed on it, I did vow that I would not be seeking out anything further along this path. It had been an epiphany, that the recent spate of Queensrÿche albums had obviously been engineered by Geoff, and that style was not for me. I would no longer have to follow his releases. But I couldn't shake the curiousness. What if, by some small miracle, Geoff and his new band actually produced something that came back to the roots laid down over 30 years ago? What If they did and I missed it? So despite my better instincts, I delved into The Key to see if I could be transformed.

So once again I've gone in with an open mind. I've got a pretty fair idea of what I might find, and I have no preconceptions that this will be a great album, or a piece of crap. I've played the entire album in my general 'album listening' places, each one giving me a different perception of what is on the album - at work at my desk, in the car while driving, in my 'Metal Cavern' at home while writing, and in my wingback chair in the lounge room. In doing so I gave the album every chance to find its way into my psyche, to find its way into a vein that would deliver it to the correct processing parts of my body, and be able to take hold. I gave it every chance.
Part of the process that was distracting was Geoff's insistence that he was writing a three part concept story. Really? Haven't you done this already? Oh well, I guess Alice Cooper does it every couple of albums so let's just get past that and listen to what has been afforded us.
I guess I'm going to have to get used to the tempo, which is slow to a maximum of mid-range. No doubt I also have to get used to the bass guitar rumbling quietly along the bottom of the album, and the keyboards floating along at the top. Yep, I've heard this before, but probably not in the degree it will come across here given the Geoff now has complete control of the direction of the music. "Choices" acts as the entry point to the story, musically in just this way. Once it segues into "Burn", the guitar joins the party in that same grungy way that Tate has made synonymous with his music, while the drums roll in with the time-keeping role. It's catchy enough, but what's missing here? What's missing is any urgency in the music, we just flow along like a slow moving river. No worries, "Re-Inventing the Future" sounds a bit more like what you would like to hear... in fact... it does sound like a poor man's version of something from... well... maybe Operation: Mindcrime II? Hmmm... yeah, I remember this feeling of slight disappointment before. It starts off with the right moves but soon loses its mojo in the mix. It's a shame, but perhaps there is still better to come? In "Ready to Fly" my initial reaction was, "What's that keyboard? It sounds like Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds!!" Perhaps I am to be mistaken about the chance of better to come. The story-joining "Discussions in a Smoke Filled Room" leads into "Life or Death?" which features a guest vocal from Mark Daly. Despite the slight increase in an upbeat song, and Daly's welcome cameo, the momentum of the album is barely able to lift itself from the canvas. "The Stranger" isn't able to improve the mood.
"Hearing Voices" is perhaps the closest Tate comes to an old style song from his previous band, with the harmony guitars through the middle of the song certainly showing a significant similarity to the Queensrÿche sound. "The Queue" puts a stop to this immediately, with the slow treacle-like music stretching out to eternity, while Tate quietly manoeuvres his vocals within, and the strange keys and that saxophone moving this song into waters that are somewhat indefinable. It suddenly sounds like we are in a 1940's detective show, with the star wandering the darkened streets trying to find some clue as to where he is going. Yikes. "An Ambush of Sadness" is a minute and 41 seconds of an inconclusive instrumental, which is followed by "Kicking in the Door" Where it sounds like they are bringing in the string instruments, but perhaps they are just using the keyboards in a different way. Again though, we are just creeping along, almost lulling the listener off to sleep such is the slow pace and mostly uninteresting style of the music. Oh, but when the saxophone comes out in "The Fall", it pretty much puts a big full stop on all of this. If it wasn't too much of the big atmospheric keyboards trying to dictate the flow of the song, once Geoff pulls out the sax it all becomes a bit too overblown and cringe worthy for my taste.

Everyone who goes to listen to this album should know what they are in for. The equation is pretty simple. If you enjoy Geoff Tate's stuff, not only his solo stuff but the last half a dozen Queensrÿche albums, then the odds are in your favour that you will enjoy this. Any one who feels the polar opposite of this will no doubt find more disappointment in store if they venture into this first album of what will no doubt be countless more with the same modus operandi.

Rating:  This ain't nothing, this ain't even a chore.  1.5/5