Label: EMI Records
Release date: 03.05.1988
Production: Peter Collins
Album length: 59.16 min
Genre: Art Metal
The backbone of “Operation:Mindcrime” is its concept. A first-rate thriller, a conceptual nail-biter on the road to a personal Armageddon. It tells the story of a “junkie” who joins an underground organization, where, under hypnosis and heavy doses of heroin, he takes and carries out orders to kill corrupt people in leading positions in society. The concept is described in more detail at the bottom of the review, because “Operation:Mindcrime”, in all its splendor and greatness, undoubtedly deserves it.
It was more than obvious that the band absolutely loved “Rage for Order” (1986), despite the mixed reviews from music critics, many of whom didn’t like how decisively Queensryche had moved away from the elements of classic heavy metal with it. The guys built on that look going forward. For the new album they picked a chilling concept that reflects their own minds. The music is entirely subordinated to the concept!
The guys went at it with everything they had and polished the concept until it came alive so successfully through the music that they could easily have shot a whole film based on it. A hopeless, icy-logical chill runs through the whole album. Just as a horror story should. The ticking of a courtroom clock, the anticipation of terror, violence, evil schemes being hatched, and a constant sense of running from the truth. All of it literally pulls the listener so deep into its embrace that at this point you can start seeing through the diseased brain of the concept’s central figure, Nikki. Insane! In its atmosphere, “Operation: Mindcrime” comes dangerously close to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”. The longer, “full-on” proper rockers are interrupted by shorter pieces in between. The whole thing is masterfully laced with special effects. Throughout, you can hear TV and radio reports in the background, slamming doors, gunshots, crowds chanting, electric car windows rolling down, glass breaking, rain falling, the ice-cold dialogues of the main players,…
Queensryche, with unpredictability and superb dynamics as the album’s standout traits, manage to conjure up a dramatic atmosphere in an instant through Nikki’s inner dialogue with himself (I Remember Now…), which suddenly morphs into the gloomy yet lofty march of Anarchy X. Then we hit the first real head-and-tail rocker, Revolution Calling. The anthemic chorus sucks the listener in with ease. Welcome to the depths of total manipulation! From here the album is wound up and runs smooth and easy through its first half, with a “metal” peak in The Mission! Right behind it sits the strongest art rock moment on the record! The almost 11-minute epic Suite Sister Mary. The darkest moment on the record, where a whole range of emotions and moods, brought to life by Tate’s singing, simply boil over. A special allure, and an upgrade not just for this song but for the concept and the album as a whole, comes from the vocals of Pamela Moore, who brings Sister Mary to life. You won’t easily find that much yearning in a duet between Tate and Moore piled up in one single place. The eeriness is further underlined by a choir that appears through almost the entire song. Suite Sister Mary is also the strongest moment on the record in terms of unpredictability, which superbly builds up the sense of drama! The song also has a top-notch buildup of this chilling atmosphere over its running time, peaking right at the end. The blood frozen in your veins thaws in an instant with the hardest rocker on the record, The Needle Lies, with an AOR-style use of vocal harmonies in the chorus that make a great contrast against the aggressive stance of the riff and the furious charge of the drums. After the schizoid Electric Requiem, the gloomy part of the album, peaking in Suite Sister Mary and The Needle Lies, suddenly loosens up through the glam metal beat of a rocker with an open riff in the pre-chorus of Breaking The Silence, and then through a similar approach in I Don’t Believe In Love. Alongside the closing Eyes Of A Stranger, these two are top-shelf AOR material in their choruses, with an unbelievable execution of melody that’s glued to a first-class, intense touch of melancholy and drama. These are the album’s moments of greatest melodic perfection. The closing Eyes Of A Stranger opens by conjuring the atmosphere of Pink Floyd’s famous “The Wall” and is a kind of counterpart to that album’s Comfortably Numb. On the artistic side too. The song is perfection that stands out not only on the record but in Queensryche’s entire body of work. Incredible shifts in motif, intensity building up to a peak in the chorus, a striking riff you can get hooked on yourself. By now I’m shamelessly repeating myself that the flawless Tate stands out in this song as well. The magic is complete.
On top of all that, Queensryche also delivered an album with flawless production. In that department the album breathes with full lungs and can’t be any better than it is. If you tried to improve it, you’d only make it worse. The drums are cannon-like and crushing, with transitions of deep, booming echoes that at times recall Neil Peart’s touches (Rush). All the instruments are clearly separated from one another and together build, magnificently, a grand and singular sound that only “Operation: Mindcrime” has, an album with an out-of-this-world touch. Cleverly crafted riffs, orchestral arrangements in the background that sustain the high dramatic mood, yet another flawless demonstration of Tate’s vocals across the album, proving once again that he’s one of the greatest singers in rock! The voluminous growl of a thick bass line. An album of incredible dynamics, with the magic of the hard-working chemistry of guys who were breathing together for the same cause in the studio, caught on tape!
Yes. This is the album that answers why some bands are just bands and some are big bands. Big bands have one big album in their career, an album that’s usually important in the history of rock, a kind of precursor, a herald of the new, a factor that changes the course of evolution in rock music. Usually such an album doesn’t come right at the start, but through the band’s maturing. That’s “Operation: Mindcrime” too, and with it Queensryche are a big band. It’s a monument of rock music and one of the most important musical documents ever to happen on this planet. Regardless of the fact that this album has nothing to do with the term progressive metal, it pointed the way for the future development of heavy metal. “Operation: Mindcrime” is progressive in the purest sense of the word. Especially in its concept, its poetry, and the unique, one-of-a-kind identity Queensryche managed to develop at this point in their evolution. So I can once again call it an art rock album. I wouldn’t dare call it anything else. Queensryche sound and rock you’ll find only on this record! The unrepeatable charm of high art and intelligence!
“Operation: Mindcrime” proved that harder rock can have “intellect” too. In other words, “metal with intellect”. Why metal? “The Warning” is a metal album, and metalheads took Queensryche to be most their own after it! And afterward, too, Queensryche cashed in their divine riffs as if it were nothing, riffs that always won over fans of heavy sounds in an instant. And after “Operation: Mindcrime”, a whole pile of bands took artistic cues from it in the years to come, among them Dream Theater and Shadow Gallery. It’s a case of the ideal combination of concept and music. To bring a concept to life through music, you have to know how to subordinate yourself to it. That goes for the need to adapt on multiple levels, too. And the music on “Operation: Mindcrime” follows the chosen concept in a thoroughly brilliant way. “Operation: Mindcrime” leaves the listener under the strong impression of reality, and the feelings can hang on for a few hours after listening. It’s a timeless work of art in the best possible manifestation, and an album that belongs in every school curriculum and among the basic must-haves of every household.
THE STORY OF “OPERATION: MINDCRIME”:
The central figure of the concept is Nikki. The story begins in a hospital. The guy lies in an almost catatonic state, motionless on his bed, his memory doesn’t function normally, and from time to time shards of wreckage from the experiences of his past drift through the field of his memory. After a nurse visits him and gives him one more concrete dose of sedatives as a goodnight gift, Nikki suddenly has a “flashback” in which a picture of the sequence of events and deeds he committed, which lead back into his past, falls sensibly into place (I Remember Now, Anarchy X)… In this “illumination” he returns to the times when he was a heroin addict and, as a rebel against society, joined a secret organization devoted to revolution (Revolution Calling). The leader of this clique is the religious and political demagogue Dr. X, who manipulates Nikki through a combination of heroin doses and hypnosis and exploits him for the purposes of killing. Whenever Dr. X uses the word “mindcrime”, Nikki instantly turns into an obedient puppet who blindly obeys and carries out the doctor’s orders. So Nikki accepts every order to kill (Operation: Mindcrime, Speak), to kill any person who stands in the way of the villain Dr. X. It happens that, through one of Dr. X’s allies and likewise a member of this secret organization, the corrupt priest Father William, Nikki meets Sister Mary, who went from being a easy girl who once sold her body on the street to becoming a nun. She offers Nikki her services. It isn’t entirely clear in the concept whether these services are sexual in nature or whether it’s merely platonic feeling (Spreading The Disease). And so, through his growing friendship with Sister Mary, Nikki begins to question the nature of what he’s doing (The Mission). Dr. X, who is always carefully on the lookout, of course notices this important detail too, and sees a direct threat in Sister Mary! So he orders Nikki to take care of Sister Mary, along with the priest. Father William gets a bullet between the eyes, but when Nikki finds himself face to face with Sister Mary to carry out the same deed, he caves and doesn’t fulfill Dr. X’s order (Suite Sister Mary). He and Sister Mary decide to leave the secret organization. Dr. X warns Nikki that he’s an addict and that only Dr. X can supply Nikki with the daily doses he needs to function normally (The Needle Lies). After a conflict with the doctor, Nikki returns to Mary and finds her murdered (Electric Requiem). He simply can’t bear this realization, and he also begins to wonder whether he might have killed her himself in a hypnotic state, without being aware of it. This shock drives him into madness (Breaking The Silence, I Don’t Believe In Love). So the long arm of the law arrives at the scene of the crime too, arrests Nikki on suspicion of Mary’s murder and, consequently, of all the murders he carried out for Dr. X (Waiting For 22). Since Nikki is mentally almost in a state of catatonia, they put him in a hospital, where he begins to remember (My Empty Room, Eyes Of A Stranger). The circle is closed.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 10 / 10
Track list:
1. I Remember Now (1:17)
2. Anarchy-X (1:27)
3. Revolution Calling (4:42)
4. Operation: Mindcrime (4:43)
5. Speak (3:42)
6. Spreading The Disease (4:07)
7. The Mission (5:46)
8. Suite Sister Mary (10:41)
9. The Needle Lies (3:08)
10. Electric Requiem (1:22)
11. Breaking The Silence (4:34)
12. I Don’t Believe In Love (4:23)
13. Waiting For 22 (1:05)
14. My Empty Room (1:28)
15. Eyes Of A Stranger (6:39)
REISSUE BONUS TRACKS (2003):
16. The Mission* (6:11)
17. My Empty Room* (2:43)
(*)- live versions
Lineup:
Geoff Tate – vocals
Chris DeGarmo – guitar, backing vocals
Michael Wilton – guitar, backing vocals
Eddie Jackson – bass guitar, backing vocals
Scott Rockenfield – drums, percussion, keyboards
ROLES:
Pamela Moore – Sister Mary
Anthony Valentine – Dr. X
Debbie Wheeler – Nurse
Mike Snyder – Anchorman
Scott Mateer – Preacher
The Moronic Monks of Morin Heights – choir
