LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT

Paradigm Shift - Energetic opening track that sets the tone for this virtuosic album of jazz-fusion inspired prog metal. Obvious similarities with Dream Theater are immediate but this already seems more "upbeat" and less weighed down with Dream Theater's dark subject matters and lyrics. This song just gives the band a chance to stretch out their muscles and writing skills. The song then slowly winds down in energy towards the middle section, giving a glimpse into the dynamic range of the album to follow. My one criticism comes at the very end which, to me, seems to be a very rushed and forced recapitulation of the opening theme. 9/10

Osmosis - Much more relaxed opening, this immediately shares a lot in common with the middle section of Paradigm shift in that it mostly consists of variations on a riff that continues throughout. Very nice use of percussion and percussive effects in this song. Although there is a clear progression through the song, I feel that it is incredibly subtle and due to this, the piece feels a bit stale. It doesn't seem to move as much as one would wish. 6/10

Kindred Spirits - The opening provides and immediate contrast with Osmosis and is really satisfying. The unisons between the keyboards, guitars, and bass, as well as the sounds chosen make this piece very similar to Paradigm shift. After a slightly rushed progression through the opening sections, the middle section that alternates solo sections throughout the performers seems to develop at a perfect pace. 8/10

The Stretch - Like Osmosis, this is a short piece that is mostly variations and solos over a theme. Much heavier jazz influence in this piece, almost resembles Casino Night Zone from Sonic The Hedgehog 2. I just wish this piece was fully extended, but like Osmosis, it feels like a short filler piece between two major works. 6/10

Freedom Of Speech - Now in the middle of the album we have a very relaxed opening, the frantic energy is gone and is instead replaced with, honestly, quite a cheesy progression and solo. Almost feels like a follow up to "Hollow Years" from Falling Into Infinity in places. That being said, looking at this piece through cheese-tinted glasses, it is still very nice to listen to. The cut to the solo section at around the 5:00 mark is great and was built towards brilliantly. The solo section lasts quite a long time as is to be expected with this lineup, and builds up towards the new section that opens just short of 8:00. This could have went smoother to be brutally honest, but at the same time I understand that the piece needs to wrap itself up at some time and does so with a nice recapitulation of a previous theme. 8/10

Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure - Another short track that seems to be filling a gap between songs. My criticism remains the same, that this feels like a really good idea and basis for a piece but ultimately doesn't amount to much more than a quick filler. This is really quite sad due to the quality of the bass riff. 6/10

State of Grace - Similar cheesy opening to Freedom of Speech, this time it really feels out of place following Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure. "Pretty" as though it may be, the opening of this track feels more suited to a song about a loved one coming home for Christmas. This track feels really like a preview for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence in a lot of ways, interesting to hear the similarities in the orchestral keyboard sounds, and the chord progressions. I would guess that this piece was more written by JR and JP provided some of the solo touches over the top as variations on the theme. It's nice, I just don't feel it fits particularly well on this album and seems to be very static, compared to SDOIT which rapidly goes between styles. 6/10

Universal Mind - Frantic energy comes back towards the end with a throwback to Paradigm shift from the start. This is probably my favourite track off the album for how it deals with themes and how they develop. For instance the sudden changes between sections maintains the energy from the opening extremely well plus keeping the listener on their toes as far as what can and cannot be unexpected. The sudden cut back to solo piano after the extended solo section at 3:47 exemplifies this refusal to be predictable. As well as cutting off the previous extended section, this also smoothly leads in the next section of the piece which contrasts the high energy of the previous section whilst still remaining ever fresh. All the main themes then collide masterfully, this piece really deals with the material extremely efficiently. The subversive and playful ending can't help but make you smile. 9/10

Three Minute Warning - It's really quite hard to write about this one in a similar way to the rest of the album. A major criticism I often have on entirely improvised music is that it seems far too unstructured. This piece obviously does not have the precise structure that can be found in the previous tracks, but as a group improvisation, it is very well put together. Sections of the piece flow very nicely into each other and the group dynamic builds up and settles down very nicely throughout the piece. It is obvious that the chemistry was fully there for this track. It is far from perfect though, some parts just don't meld together properly and just due to the nature of group improvisation it feels quite rough in a lot of places. I also don't quite know why this was the ending track for the album, especially considering the ending to Universal Mind. I feel that this track may have been better suited as a middle point, the album leading towards, then away from this. It would have balanced it out very nicely. I also have to be honest here, it does feel like quite a long time to just be wildly improvising without a break. The piece does have many different sections but can be a bit tiring. 7/10

Overall - 8/10

The album really holds up over time and manages to remain fresh and new but still quite accessible to those from a "prog" background. It is a very raw album, but the charm from that is rarely matched in more precise and cleaner sounding modern prog metal. A strong recommendation.