2112

I admit that I am not a big fan of Rush mainly because I find the vocal's colour irritating and not enough progressive rock elements in the piece I've heard so far. Rush is a fine instrumental band albeit limited to bass, guitars and drums at this level. This lays more focus on the rhythm part of music and highlights dynamics as opposed to layers and advanced composing. With 2112, Rush successfully combined elements of classick, hard and progressive rock. In its essence, I wouldn't call this record a progressive rock, I'd characterize it as a sophisticated and adventureous hard rock.

The highlight is the title track that is ambitious, versatile and shows potential. Guitar playing is top notch but bass and drums don't play second fiddle. The first minutes are somewhat anthemic, before becoming mellow and coming back to the aggressive hard-prog extravaganza without any vocal disturbance. Another highlight is the finale of the song with equilibristic instrumentation.

Shorter tracks are very good executed and designed, albeit limited to the hard-rock/classic rock area. Melodies are quite memorable. Those looking for accessible rock, should listent to "The twilight zone" and the great ballad "Tears". "Lessons" may be the most conventional hard rock song on this album. This is a 4 star hard-rock album and 3-star progressive rock album.