By Steve Newton
One of my favourite prog-metal albums of all time is Operation: Mindcrime, released by Seattle-based Queensrÿche in the Year of Our Metal Lord, 1988.
It was a concept album about a drug addict who becomes disillusioned with the corrupt society of his time and reluctantly becomes an assassin for a revolutionary group.
I loved the LP from start to finish, but felt that the biggest highlight was “Spreading the Disease”, a harsh track about a teenage prostitute-turned-nun who falls under the spell of a corrupt priest.
The entire band–guitarists Michael Wilton and Chris DeGarmo, bassist Eddie Jackson, and drummer Scott Rockenfeld–is smokin’ on that track, but what really stands out for me is singer Geoff Tate‘s dynamic vocals.
I’m not sure why, but when Tate hits those high notes with the last words of verses two and three–followed by him hollering “spreading the disease!” in the chorus–I sometimes get a tingle at the top of my skull.
It’s the type of pleasureable tweak I normally only get from certain guitar solos, like the ones by Scott Gorham on Thin Lizzy’s “Romeo and the Lonely Girl”, Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser on Blue Öyster Cult’s “Burnin’ For You”, and Huey Thomasson on the Outlaws’ “Hurry Sundown”.
Listen for yourself, and maybe you’ll get a tingle too.
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