As I contemplate the above post, it just struck me that perhaps the above was intentional. I remember reading an interview with Chris DeGarmo a long time ago about the guitar tone, mixing, and mastering choices that went into Operation: Mindcrime. Given the topic, he wanted the overall sonic experience to be jarring, biting, and caustic, because that is actually fitting. There, it worked. We tend to forget how jarring the production is on that album because it came out so long ago that we are used to it. I wonder if perhaps Nick was going for something similar here. It would certainly fit.