On May 3rd, 1988, Queensryche released their fourth and arguably best album of their career. ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ is a magnum opus of epic proportions. The first album of it’s kind. A concept album following the likes of Pink Floyd, The Beatles and The Who. However, the song structure would follow the new wave British Heavy metal bands: Iron Maiden, Saxon and Judas Priest. Yet, the album production sounded like a big 80’s hair band: Motley Crue, Poison and Ratt. It’s all those combinations along with a strong story and song structure that make ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ a perfect album. In fact, it was my first perfect album. By that I mean there are no songs that are skipped. Each one is flowing to serve the story, yet at the same time they stand as their own songs. It blew me away how it was a concept album that didn’t need to be a concept album. During the time I purchased the album I was deep into album buying. I loved 70’s, 80’s and 90’s metal. My collection was formidable, with the first two Queensryche albums under my belt as well. Geoff Tate’s voice on those albums actually turned me off for a while. They were just too high for me. They took me out of the rest of the songs. I actually bought ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ as an impulse buy on a Wal Mart trip. There was this cool looking box set of the album. I’m a sucker for those so I bought it expecting it to be decent like their first two albums. However, I was totally unprepared for what would come out of the speakers. I was floored, Tate found this great middle ground with his voice and became one of my favorite singers in the metal genre; #3 to be exact. His voice still inspires me to this day with my singing. It was also the album that was the last straw on drum influence. When I heard the drums I finally decided to pick up the sticks. Thank you Scott Rockenfield.
Oh, and they looked better than just about everyone during the time.
