Operation: Mindcrime – Taking On The World (Feat. Ripper Owens & Blaze Bayley): A Video Breakdown
Operation: Silent Lucidity must be next.
Geoff Tate, man. Geoff Tate. Any goodwill left over from Queensryche‘s Operation: Mindcrime has been washed away with a sea of ill-advised sequels, legal fights, and whatever the hell this was. Tate may have lost the naming rights to Queensryche, but he got to hold on to the Operation: Mindcrime name, hence his new band. Yay? Bands gotta work, I guess.
O:M released their second album Resurrection a few weeks ago and released a shiny new video for their song “Taking On The World.” Joining Tate on this hellspiral is our BFF Tim “Ripper” Owens and former Wolfsbane/Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley. Fellow TovH writer MoshOff aptly described this unholy alliance as “The Failed Frontmen.” All three will be touring together and you’d better believe this is hitting The Chance in Poughkeepsie.
This video was requested by a few people, so really, this is your own fault.
0:05: Getting a heavy “Dad Metal” vibe.
0:12: Like cranking Reload out of a PT Cruiser while picking up Grayson from his orthodontist.
0:17: I fully believe that these men would have difficulty working a cell phone.
0:23: “Okay. You get the Tab, you get the sugar free Red Vines, I’ll pick up the Advil.”
0:32: Funeral boner.
0:36: Funeral Boner would be a great band name. No one steal it!
0:41: Geoff Tate: After Dark.
0:49: Typical work desk knickknacks.
0:57: Judging from the smell, he’s been dead for some time.
1:04: Ripper Owens Presents: Film Tricks 101
1:09: Remember to lock your window or else old metalheads may crawl in looking for food and shelter.
1:17: Blaze is treating that guy’s head like it’s stuffed with mozzarella sticks.
1:20: He must have disagreed with Ripper on Twitter to get this sort of reaction.
1:25: The lighting isn’t for effect. The electricity was turned off when they couldn’t pay their bills.
1:32: Sitting backwards in a chair shows that they mean business.
1:38: “Alright! Alright! The Glorious Burden wasn’t that bad! Just let me go!”
1:44: We’ve reached the maximum bald white guy with facial hair quotient for the year.
1:50: Operation: Eyes Wide Shut.
1:59: The safety word is “Demolition.”
2:04: Pull his finger to find out how he really got his nickname.
2:09: “Get in, losers. We’re going to Checkers!”
2:18: The mothership has come to take Geoff Tate home.
2:24: That’s not smoke, Blaze is just cooking chili for everyone.
2:31: This “will they or won’t they” is just killing me.
2:44: Operation: Full Throttle Saloon
2:48: How bizarre.
2:56: Hellbent for boner. I mean Boner for leather. I mean…
3:00: It’s like the Soul Train dance line for middle-aged white people suffering from a mid-life crisis.
3:06: When your motorcycle has a custom “Fuck You” on it, you’ve made all the wrong decisions in life.
3:14: Jeez, I completely forgot about that dead Tate/funeral storyline.
3:19: When I die, please don’t have Mr. Clean’s disappointing younger brother do a solo at my funeral.
3:31: This is all the excitement of being stuck at a dive bar while your ride home hits on the divorcee playing pool with a broken cue.
3:37: “Death, man. It like, sucks and stuff.”
3:41: They’re g-g-g-ghosts!
3:45: Ah, yes. The precious fleur-de-lis shaped turd flash drive.
4:00: Take me away, seizures!
4:07: I guess since he’s playing for a corpse, there really is no need to have an amp, cables, or electricity.
4:17: Mmmm sacrilicious.
4:21: This is exactly what I expect the crowd to look like at these Tate/Ripper/Blaze shows.
4:26: The thick smell of cheap pot smoke in the air as mom and dad disgustingly grind on one another.
4:31: And they’re definitely having sex on your old childhood bed.
4:40: Careful. Medicare doesn’t cover crowd surfing.
4:53: This is probably supposed to signify something, but…eh.
5:00: The heavy metal walk of shame.
5:06: Jesus, what a video.
Operation: Mindcrime’s album Resurrection is available now via Frontiers Records.
