Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Eddie Jackson - Bass
Michael Wilton - Guitars
Geoff Tate - Vocals
Chris De Garmo - Guitars
Scott Rockenfield - Drums
This is an old CD, there is no doubt about it, but what a classic. Queensryche gained the reputation of being “thinking mans” rock music, and after listening to this epic it’s easy to see why. On May 3rd 1988 Queesryche unleashed Operation Mindcrime on the public (while president Reagan was in power). The content of the album is resolutely antifascist and vents a great deal of criticism at media corruption, religion, poverty, vice, repression and monetarism.
There are those who say that it’s just a Pink Floyd rip-off, but that is only a comment that the seriously uneducated would make. Operation Mindcrime is a journey of a CD as it’s a story about…well maybe you should listen to it and decide for yourself.
Geoff Tate’s vocals are truly awesome, and the guitar work…oh the guitar work! In metal circles there is a trend of tuning your guitar as low as it can possibly go, and simply hammering out a chunky riff, and it has to be said there’s a lot of fun to be had in doing that, but on this album you get guitar masterpieces and exchanges between Chris De Garmo and Michael Wilton. De Garmo is the recognised lead guitarist, but it comes as quite a shock when you find that Wilton is just as capable.
As it stands, this is a must for anybody with a serious interest in music, and just in case you become converted and wonder what happens to some of the characters...
there's always Operation Mindcrime 2
