30 Years Ago Today Tourniquet Released "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance."

I personally don't listen to this one that much.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogenic_Ocular_Dissonance
Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance is the third studio album by the American Christian metal band Tourniquet. It was originally released on Intense Records in 1992 to the Christian market and later released on Metal Blade Records in 1993 to the secular market. It is the last Tourniquet album to feature vocalist Guy Ritter, who left the band after the recording of the album. It was independently re-released on Pathogenic Records in 2001 with digital remastering, two bonus live tracks from the 2000 Dutch Flevo Festival featuring then-lead vocalist Luke Easter, and new cover art (with "Dissonance" misspelled as "Dissonence" on the tray liner edges). Another remaster was released, by Retroactive Records, on June 26, 2020 with the original cover art, an expanded album booklet, and four different bonus tracks. Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance was voted as the "Favorite Album of the 1990s" by readers of HM Magazine. In 2010, HM Magazine ranked it #23 on the Top 100 Christian metal albums of all-time list.^[3]

I remember that year and the moment I listened to Pathogenic the first time.

Before it was released I was thinking the best days of METAL have sadly passed away and a lot of music that didn´t fit to my taste was released.

Than I listened to Pathogenic and heard that thick and broad sound, songs with power and aggression but yet melodic and with great harmonies. Some fast forward thrash with perfect vocals and some fantastic effects used on all instruments. With a band that played their music so tight and precise alltogether and I was thinking: Yes that is the way new music of the 90ies should be and sound like!

I used to like it a lot more than I do now. It’s a very good album, but this is when they went a bit too much into the prog direction.

One of the greatest albums ever made. I can’t fathom how many times I’ve listened to it.

I like this album, this was the last one with the classic lineup of Tourniquet, and if you look the credits you realize that Gary,Guy and even Victor has credits on the songs. 

I listen right now Stop the Bleeding and I was thinking about the Guy Falsseto, he never use this again, in any record. 

Anyway, this Pathogenic record is a masterpiece.

This is when I really got on board with TQT, the first one is good but the over the top vocals wore me out. And now I feel really old.

I like it better than Psycho Surgery for sure.

zelote wrote:I like this album, this was the last one with the classic lineup of Tourniquet, and if you look the credits you realize that Gary,Guy and even Victor has credits on the songs. 

I listen right now Stop the Bleeding and I was thinking about the Guy Falsseto, he never use this again, in any record. 

Anyway, this Pathogenic record is a masterpiece.

I read in an interview that they gave up the operatic vocals b/c of feedback from the fans. From what I remember Ted Kirkpatrick said it was the only negative reviews they got from STB.

When I listen to this side-by-side with new metal albums, I'm presently surprised with how well the production and loudness holds up. This album was ahead of it's time; it doesn't sound 30 years old!

I'm with Pethead; this is Tourniquet's best album and among my top favourites!

Truly a Masterpiece that has stood the test of time. I do like Stop The Bleeding cause it was my introduction to Tourniquet and was a game changer for me personally.

Aged like fine wine.

I bought it at a pawn shop for $3-6 in the mid 90's.

It's really good album!

zelote wrote:I listen right now Stop the Bleeding and I was thinking about the Guy Falsseto, he never use this again, in any record.

Not quite true.

On Psycho Surgery he used falsetto in the end of Broken Chromosomes.

On Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance he used it in the second "The treasure you see, the treasure you know..." part. It's very faint in the background but it is there. Check out the part starting at 3:21 and listen very closely. At least one of the background vocal layers is Guy singing falsetto. And En Hakkore ends with a short falsetto. And Guy's part on The Skeezix Dilemma (starting at 4:27) has background falsetto vocals too.

They certainly toned it down almost to the point of not having it at all, but they still used it very sparingly.

I like the falsetto singing, but only in small doses. It’s one of the reasons it’s hard for me to listen to King Diamond. Guy Ritter’s mid-range voice is quite good! I like the way he sounds on The Test for Leprosy, Spectrophobic Dementia (which also has true baritone) and Officium Defunctorum.

The Axl Rose style wailing at the end of Broken Chromosomes is awesome! That’s the falsetto that really stands out. If you use it sparingly like a well placed double bass part, it really shines!

I not know about that, thanks for the info Airola.

Thanks for reminding me how old I am.  
But seriously, this was at the time, and perhaps still is, the most anticipated, most impactful, and most memorable albums of my life. I was a freshman in college and had pre-ordered the CD from the local Christian bookstore. I had worn out my STB and PS cassettes by this time, and had already established Tourniquet as my favorite band. I vividly remember getting the call from the bookstore owner ( on my dorm room landline) that my CD was in. I drove over there immediately, got the CD, and drove back to my dorm because I did not have a CD player in my truck. My roommate was gone for the night, so I was able to put my headphones on, open the cellophane wrapper, and pop the CD in my boom box. I just remember sitting there at my desk for the duration of the album (over an hour) in complete awe and listening to every song with my jaw dropped wide open. That experience has never been topped since then, although Microscopic came the closest to anticipation, listening enjoyment, return to form, and a similar experience of sitting at my desk at work listening all the way through while the CD was playing in my Dell desktop CD Rom player