Tate was fired from Queensrÿche in 2012, as his relationship with the rest of the band had deteriorated.
The acrimonious split caused a considerable amount of discord among fans and major lawsuits began. Tate filed suit for
wrongful termination while the band counter-sued citing what it alleged as violent behavior by Tate. With an ongoing court case over the rights to use the name 'Queensrÿche' going on, Tate announced his own line-up under the name, leading to two bands using the name while actively touring at the same time. Tate's group released the album
Frequency Unknown, produced and mixed by
Jason Slater, on April 23, 2013, in the U.S. Although selling well, the release picked up mixed reviews from music critics and somewhat of a fan backlash. Following a settlement, Tate was granted the exclusive performance rights to the band's
concept albums
Operation: Mindcrime (1988), and
Operation: Mindcrime II (2006). Those two releases garnered both critical praise and widespread commercial success for the group, with Tate then serving as its frontman. In return, musicians
Michael Wilton,
Scott Rockenfield,
Todd La Torre, and
Eddie Jackson retained all rights to the 'Queensrÿche' brand. The band signed a worldwide deal with Frontiers Music Srl for its coming releases in December 2014. In 2015,
John Moyer,
Brian Tichy, and Scott Moughton became members after the departures of
Rudy Sarzo and
Robert Sarzo. Their debut album and first of the trilogy,
The Key, was released on September 18, 2015. The album features a guest appearance from
Megadeth bassist
David Ellefson. The second album in the trilogy,
Resurrection, was released on September 23, 2016, and features guest appearances by
Blaze Bayley and
Tim "Ripper" Owens, among others. The third and final album of the trilogy,
The New Reality, was released on December 1, 2017. During promotion of the album, Tate announced that the album would be the last for the band, saying "This group of musicians was put together specifically for this project...this is the last album of the trilogy and the last album for Operation: Mindcrime." == Band members ==