Queensryche - Operation:Mindcrime II

transplant · April 2006

I bought it yesterday, stared at the thing for 15 minutes, got my nerve up and put it in.

It is great. I mean really good. It is such a huge relief. I don't think they will pick up new fans with this, though I can argue it isn't a bad starting point, but I think they will regain those that thought they lost it....like myself.

I would like to add a thank you to both Tate and Dio for still delivering. Their voices are still great and can blow the roof off those 1/3 their age.

I guess with their tour they will play both Mindcrimes back to back? I am fired up. Show isn't until September though.

burnin-candle · April 2006

Hey transplant, I've always thought about getting into these guys, but never knew where to start. What do you recommend?

A critic I personally know reviewd the album and said it was great also. Should I start with this baby, or maybe the earlier stuff?

Cheers.

transplant · April 2006

Holy cow burnin, my eyes just lit up!

The original Mindcrime and I kid you not has not left my top 3 greatest CD's of all time since 1988. I wouldn't hesitate to tell you to get this first since I have some backround on your musical tastes and your willingness to dive into a CD like this. It is a monster musically and lyrically.

I would say their most accessible is Empire. Yeah, it has Silent Lucidity on it, but it was still a great great CD.

Their most experimental and my second favorite is Rage For Order. It is out of this world however it is a little unique.

Ok I can go on for days, here is my order of my favorites. I can't really rank this new one yet other than to say it is great. This was my favorite band for a LONG time.

Operation:Mindcrime I
Rage For Order
Promised Land
Empire
The Warning
Queensryche EP

The others, Hear in the Now Frontier, Q2K, and Tribe don't bother.

Atomic Punk · April 2006

I totally forgot it came out already. I wanna get it after work today now. Operation Mindcrime is one of my favorite albums of all time.... I am hoping that II comes a little close. I too was worried that it would ruin the legacy of the original, but hearing a good review is very easing to my mind...

DocChicago · April 2006

transplant, thanks for the review. i'm still a bit nervous about hearing this for the first time, since the first Mindcrime is sacred to me. but i will pick it up later this week and hope for the best. your words allow me to be a bit more optimistic.

transplant · April 2006

Atomic Punk wrote:

Operation Mindcrime is one of my favorite albums of all time.... I am hoping that II comes a little close.

It won't really come close. I think of it more in the Empire vain where most Queensryche fans consider that a pretty solid CD considering what it followed. What I take out of it is that II is very respectable. I would be a little surprised if those that love the original don't come out of listening to II with a smile on their face followed by a Thank God.

I wouldn't mind reading yours and DocChicago's thoughts on it once you get the chance to hear it.

UKDave · April 2006

Not out in the UK til end of April........ can't wait!!

rbrianj · April 2006

This cd is KILLER. I can't stop listening to it. I had it in my car's cd player for over a month. The more you listen the more you like it. There's so much going on musically, and lyrically that you have to listen to it quite a bit to really judge how you feel about it. I have to say that the guys stepped up to the challenge on this one. When I first heard they were going to do this I was like "NO" please don't, but damn if they didn't deliever.

My Favorite Songs are Murderer?, Fear City Slide, Hostage, Re-arrange You, The Chase, The Hands, If I Could Change It All

Anybody else think that Nicki blows up the city at the end or do you think he just shoots himself? I guess this will be the question that everyone will ask, kinda like who killed mary in the first one.

Atomic Punk · April 2006

you can hear it for free at q1043.com

transplant · April 2006

rbrianj wrote:

Anybody else think that Nicki blows up the city at the end or do you think he just shoots himself?

I think he will shoot himself.

I am on day 3 and I still feel the same way. This CD is great. I'm American gets it started right. MUCH quicker on disc than it was live last year. Re-Arranger, The Hands, yeah, I am beyond fired up. An amazing accomplishment.

gusturtle · April 2006

i saw them on their mindcrime I tour (which was when they were opening for (gasp) def leppard on their hysteria tour). i never heard of queensryche before that night. hopefully (for Q's sake), people would still be interested in a mindcrime sequel coming nearly 20 years after the original.
i kind of left Queensryche alone after their 'Empire' album...

UKDave · April 2006

Aaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!! 23 days and counting!!

rbrianj · April 2006

frogwater wrote:

i saw them on their mindcrime I tour (which was when they were opening for (gasp) def leppard on their hysteria tour). i never heard of queensryche before that night. hopefully (for Q's sake), people would still be interested in a mindcrime sequel coming nearly 20 years after the original.
i kind of left Queensryche alone after their 'Empire' album...

You should listen to Promised Land. It's probably one of my favorites, but it came out in 1994, when PJ, Soundgarden, AIC, Nirvana were all over the radio. So most people didn't really get the chance to appreciate it. Ryche was just another 80's band at that point.

transplant · April 2006

rbrianj wrote:

You should listen to Promised Land. It's probably one of my favorites, but it came out in 1994, when PJ, Soundgarden, AIC, Nirvana were all over the radio. So most people didn't really get the chance to appreciate it. Ryche was just another 80's band at that point.

agreed. I think Tate peaked vocally with Promised Land. He sounded incredible.

UKDave · April 2006

Promised Land is a great album, as is Empire & Rage For Order, original Mindcrime was mind blowing though!!

When they toured Empire in the UK they played the whole Mindcrime album through, awesome...

DocChicago · April 2006

I listened to it for the first time today. My initial impression is that this simply doesn't stand up to the original Mindcrime, but it doesn't dishonor it either. I thought it got really good and intense when he confronts Dr X and Tate and Dio are singing to each other.

Overall I'm pleased. I'm gonna have to sit down with some headphones and the lyrics before I can render a complete review. But thanks for prompting me to go buy it, transplant. Good shit.

barcoach · April 2006

Got it last monday... I haven't bought a QR release since Promised Land, but this I just needed it, I mean the first Operation album meant too much for me at the time, so I just knew I would get this one no matter how good or bad it'd be... Fortunately I started to listened and found a really tight album, yeah, I don't think it hits you as deep as the first Operation, but this is a really solid effort on its own merits... Though I can't name any especific songs yet (have tons of music to listen and I've only gave this one a couple of spins so far) I was pleasently surprised with this songs because even they keep the Queensryche sound, they're plaid like with a different approach, this is not prog metal, and that's just good, I went to see Dream Theater a few weeks ago and it was the most boring concert I've ever been to, it isn't heavy metal either, this is just a band in control of their own game, a band that sounds contemporary without forgetting their roots. Yeah, the album, I think is far from being a classic or anything like that, but it blew my soul away... this was just like meeting with an old friend again (yeah, I'm stealing the metaphor, transplant) I really thought QR couldn't make records as good as this anymore.

burnin-candle · April 2006

transplant wrote:

Holy cow burnin, my eyes just lit up!

The original Mindcrime and I kid you not has not left my top 3 greatest CD's of all time since 1988. I wouldn't hesitate to tell you to get this first since I have some backround on your musical tastes and your willingness to dive into a CD like this. It is a monster musically and lyrically.

I would say their most accessible is Empire. Yeah, it has Silent Lucidity on it, but it was still a great great CD.

Their most experimental and my second favorite is Rage For Order. It is out of this world however it is a little unique.

Ok I can go on for days, here is my order of my favorites. I can't really rank this new one yet other than to say it is great. This was my favorite band for a LONG time.

Operation:Mindcrime I
Rage For Order
Promised Land
Empire
The Warning
Queensryche EP

The others, Hear in the Now Frontier, Q2K, and Tribe don't bother.

Alright! Thanks for a detailed recommendation, transplant!

I like a little experimentation in my metal, so I'll go and check out the ones you mentioned. Cheers!

rbrianj · April 2006

All I've got to say is just keep listening to it. It will grab you. You will have a different opinion, I say more positive one, with each listen. Songs that didn't stand out at first, will later on.

transplant · April 2006

DocChicago wrote:

I listened to it for the first time today. My initial impression is that this simply doesn't stand up to the original Mindcrime, but it doesn't dishonor it either. I thought it got really good and intense when he confronts Dr X and Tate and Dio are singing to each other.

Overall I'm pleased. I'm gonna have to sit down with some headphones and the lyrics before I can render a complete review. But thanks for prompting me to go buy it, transplant. Good shit.

I remember it took me a couple months before the original became legendary in my mind. Funny, I have turned more people on to the original by plopping them down with a set of headphones. You really do have to concentrate at times to get the full effect. I also need to do that with II but haven't had the time.

Sounds like you are in the same mindset as myself. I am really interested to hear what people think of this so I hope to read a complete review. It will take time but I hope to do the same.

Barcoach, didn't know you were a fan of the original! I should have known better!

burnin, hope you enjoy, let me know what you think of them when you get a chance.

Atomic Punk · April 2006

frogwater wrote:

i saw them on their mindcrime I tour (which was when they were opening for (gasp) def leppard on their hysteria tour). i never heard of queensryche before that night. ...

Thats my story exactly. Queensryche blew Def Leppard away and I went out and bought Mindcrime the next day.

barcoach · April 2006

transplant wrote:

Barcoach, didn't know you were a fan of the original! I should have known better!

Of course, man, early in my story as music lover I'll never forget my uncle -who is a drummer- coming back after some time working at Austin and telling me, "have you listened to Queensryche? No? You have to! They rock! Saw them opening for Metallica and they're insanely good, the singer has the greatest voice, sort like Rob Halford but only better! And their guitar players know how to nail it. They just put an album out titled Operation Mindcrime is a conceptual thing, you know? It tells a story. You really need to get that album... Here you go, it's a pin of them"... And I still keep that pin to this day, it's pretty cool, with the cover of OM... after that I went and get that album and a t-shirt... I was blown away, and immediatly became a fan... After Promised Land I lost their track, though, I didn't enjoy that one that much and was getting into some other kinds of music... but maybe like 3 years ago I found myself diggin' out my ol' QR collection, and coming back especially to Operation... those songs are sooo good, Eyes of Stranger, Revolution Calling, I Don't Believe in Love (which in more than one time I've stated is MY song). Last year the band was about to play in Mexico, but for some strange reason the concert was cancelled... I was so hot about it, wanted so bad to listen some Operation live, and rumor was they'd be playing some of the new stuff for OMII... who knows, maybe now that the album is out and if it receives a decent amount of attention from the music media here, we will have our chance...
But yeah, Operation Mindcrime I think was a very special album for certain people of my (our?) generation.

jeffbr · April 2006

Best album of 2006 so far for me. It fucking rocks. And the more you listen to it, the more you get from it. A couple of songs didn't grab me the first few times, but I've been listening to it for a month+ and am totally loving it.

Here's a link to a board where people have been discussing the album: http://www.breakdownroom.net/forum/

UKDave · April 2006

jeffbr wrote:

Best album of 2006 so far for me. It fucking rocks. And the more you listen to it, the more you get from it. A couple of songs didn't grab me the first few times, but I've been listening to it for a month+ and am totally loving it.

Here's a link to a board where people have been discussing the album: http://www.breakdownroom.net/forum/

Oh, it's a grower all right, has made me go back for some original 'crime, both studio and live......!!

loveboatcaptainsinge · April 2006

I still cant believe how good MC2 is. Thats all I can really say. MC is one of my favorites of all time. I didnt even really expect this cd to be at best decent. Its been a long time...IT's been a long time since the ryche have put out anything worth listening to. I just dont know how they did it...Geoff Tate is a genius.

GummiBeer · April 2006

I'm listening to it for the first time as i type this, its great, But Geoffs voice is not what it was, but still awsome

loveboatcaptainsinge · April 2006

Youll grow to love it.

Inkdaub · April 2006

I pretty much share the opinion of most others here. Mindcrime 2 is a great record that honors but does not equal or surpass Mindcrime. The production, naturally, is better though.

I agree Tate's voice isn't what it was...or that he at least isn't doing any glass shattering screams like he used to. It still sounds like Tate, though, and still sounds good.

DeGarmo is no longer in the band and that's too bad. The new guy, Stone, seems to hold up his end of the guitar playing.

My favorite Ryche record is Rage For Order and I wish they would remaster it.

jb13letters · April 2006

rbrianj wrote:

Anybody else think that Nicki blows up the city at the end or do you think he just shoots himself? I guess this will be the question that everyone will ask, kinda like who killed mary in the first one.

I'm convinced that Nikki blows up the city. That sound toward the end of Fear City Slide sounds like an explosion, not a gunshot.

Also, the artwork in the booklet points toward this theory- one page has the bomb, another the explosion.

Got tickets to see them here in September- they're playing OM I and II in their entirety (did I spell that right?). Maybe the question will be answered when I see it.

Also, I like that the record only implies that Nikki kills X. I read somethwere that in concert they plan to put it to a vote, and have it set up where they can go either way.

transplant · April 2006

barcoach wrote:

They rock! Saw them opening for Metallica

that was the first time I saw them also. I had been a fan since Rage came out but that was my first live experience. Opened up with Queen of the Reich and I went apeshit.

on a side note, do you have that Metallica Box set Live Shit: Binge & Purge? I just realized that live CD was cut from the Mexico City shows and were curious if you were there?

spnoone · April 2006

thanks for the heads up. strong album. its no godfather 2 but at the same time its certainly no 3. now i wanna go to my mom's and dig up my rage for order cassette.

Queensryche - Operation:Mindcrime II

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