Release Date: Mar 14, 2006
Label: Rhino
Genres: Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Progressive Metal, Album Rock, Heavy Metal
Number Of Tracks: 17
Set 20 years later, and awash in "rock, revenge, and redemption," this brilliant new sequel was inspired by current political and social climates.
Operation: Mindcrime II
Reviewed by:
FacEraser117, on april 18, 2006 3 of 4 people found this review helpful
Sound: This is the newest Queensryche album to date. This album is a continuation of the first Mindcrime CD. I'm not sure exactly what the story behind the whole Mindcrime thing is, but it adds a cool element to the sound. The recording quality is exelent. Michael Wilton's guitar work on this album is amazing. This album has more heavy songs than slow songs. A lot of the songs start out slow and get heavier as time goes on. They use some weird voice tracks at the begining of some of the songs that sound really cool. // 10
Lyrics and Singing: The vocals on this album are awsome. I think that Queensryche singer Geoff Tate is one of the best rock singers ever. The vocals go great with the music. The lyrics, like a lot of Queensryche albums, are somewhat political. Espically the song I'm American. I'm not posivtive but it sounds like Ronnie James Dio guest stars on one of the songs, which is very cool. // 10
Impression: Overall I think that this is one of the best Queensryche albums to date. My favorite songs are One Foot in Hell, I'm American, The Hands and Re-Arange You. None of the songs are just ok. All songs are amazing. You can tell that they didn't just throw this album together in a few days. I would recommend this CD to any Queensryche fan. // 10
Operation: Mindcrime II
Reviewed by:
ScruffMcGruff, on august 20, 2007 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Sound: The sound of Queensryche's new Operation Mindcrime II album is definitely more widespread then it's prequel. That something which I've indulged in, yet it is also something which is holding me back from giving the sound a solid ten rating. I wasn't expecting to hear a dark synthy opening in the first "Freiheit ouverture" track or for that matter hear more orchestral or synthesized sounds snuck into the a couple of tracks in the album. That's just not Queensryche, and I think they could've done without that. Aside from that, I think Queensryche has adopted a new taste which I'm loving already. Their songs are a bit heavier, yet they keep the same "Mystery Ballad" theme adopted from the prequel. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: The lyrical content is very clever, and it's poetic, but not the point of where you're guessing so many things about what it means that the lyrics could mean a zillion things. So you're never lost in the story. Accompanied by the lyrics are background sounds to let you know what the characters are doing, it gives you a vivid picture of the environments that characters are in. It's almost like a movie. // 10
Impression: It's a worthy follow up to Operation Mindcrime I, but not quite as good. Like I said, they're sound is different than previous albums like Empire and even Operation Mindcrime I. The album is heavier than the prequel, which is pretty cool if you're in favor of that stuff. But if you bought the album to listen to more Operation Mindcrime themed songs, that's in there too. The album also has some other little stuff in there that will throw you off a little. It's definitely a worth while album to get. // 9
I heard some bad things about this album, but maybe i'll give it a try. But honestly, no album (maybe an exception on dark side of the moon) is a 10 in everything. a 10 in everything is not human. This is my new theory on giving reviews. I'll start a religion based on that principle. who's in?
Musically, it is a solid album, it carries the onus of living up to it's namesake, and therefore fails.
Geoff and Mike went retro to recapture the sound, going so far as to rent the same studio spaces and rent equipment that they used in the mid 80's when they recorded the the first O:MC.
Lyrically, it's weaker than the first, and musically, it's a stand-up album, but Chris DeGarmo is definitely smirking somewhere. The attempts to rip off his hooks overtly fail and the chord progressions just feel incomplete or unfinished, like there should be a few more notes to make it a full on Chris DeGarmo riff or something.
Tate's voice is much weaker than it was almost 20 years ago, and the high notes don't come as easy, but he still is an excellent singer. They even brought back the original singer for Mary and even her voice seems tired. Ronnie James Dio is the only truly remarkable voice on the album, honestly, but the other voices are strong, but not strong enough overall.
It's good, it answers questions that didn't need to be answered (Who killed Mary? Well, per O:MC1, Nikki did!), and exactly how powerful Dr.X is etc.
If it had been given any other name, it would be a solid album with an ok story, but since they wanted the noteriety associated with the original, it falls far short of expectations. It is a good album, really, they just let marketing get the best of them and tainted what was once a great story with it's sequel.
Mind you, it's not a 'Highlander 2' in comparison, but more of a 'Lethal Weapon 2'. Good in it's own right, but not as good as the original.
I'm a huge Queensryche fan, and I bought the CD the day it came out, but it just isn't Queensryche without DeGarmo. The thing that made the first Mindcrime so great was the combination of Tate's voice and DeGarmo's stylings. Hate to say it, but I was disappointed with Mindcrime II. I wish DeGarmo would have come back to do the new one.
I 100% agree with onfire. I really really dont like OpMC2, it has a couple of decent songs, but over all, sucks compared to their older and way better stuff!!!
The album is not PERFECT, but you have to take into consideration; the AGE that they artists are now. PLUS; The TIME that the original Mindcrime was wrote and set in MADE IT. MindcrimeII comes off as a DeGarmo cover-band, but they managed to pull it off.. Its not Mindcrime but for the Rychers that demanded a second mindcrime, I think this gets the job done.
We've detected that you are using Ad Blocking software.
If you hate ads, but love Ultimate Guitar, how about subscribing to Ultimate Guitar's Ad Free Service? If you subscribe to this service, you won't see annoying banner ads, pop-up ads, text-link ads or video ads and will be helping to support your favorite site at the same time.
As you know, we provide you with a lot of great, free content like news, reviews, interviews, tabs and chords, but you see, ads are the way we generate revenue to run UG and pay royalties to the songwriters and music publishers of the songs that are posted here.
Was this review helpful to you? 
Yeah, that is Ronnie James Dio as the mysterious Dr. X. Great album, Queensryche owns.