I also laughed at the QR and FW references, but I found this particular part of the post interesting:
I actually prefer Tribe AND Mindcrime II over Systematic Chaos
It's interesting to me simply because I see some valid comparisons within the contexts of each band's catalog. What each of these albums have in common, IMO, is that they each represent an incredibly strong half-an-album or so of material, and then some other songs that represent...let's say a "different" level of quality. Consequently, I react very similarly to each of these three albums.
(That being said, I'm much less enthusiastic about the two QR albums. The good parts of Tribe are easily on par with anything the band has ever written, but the bad parts are
SO bad it hurts. And MCII has not aged well with me at all. I'm not sure if it is more the knowledge that the band didn't write it, that even the good songs lack the depth and thoughtfulness I've come to expect from the band, or that it just didn't do the original Mindcrime justice. Perhaps a bit of all three. But at least Tribe was written by actual band members, including Chris. Jason Slater is a good songwriter, and I think he tapped the QR style and vibe as well as anyone outside the band could possibly be expected to, but it was still a completely outside effort by a band who has had every opportunity to bring someone actually into the band to write with them, and has simply failed to do so. Anyway, didn't want to turn this into a QR rant, so I'll stop.)