TEST FOR ECHO

Test For Echo is... I guess it's considered one of the weaker albums by the majority of people, or even the worst of Rush's huge collection. I can't really tell if this is the worst Rush album of all, (if there's even a bad Rush album out there) but I can certainly say that I enjoy this album very much. It's not my personal favorite. And I agree, it's one of the weaker ones. But still, you've got to give this album a chance. Listen to it twice, three times, or ten times. I'm sure you'll appreciate it after a while, just like I did. But why is this one of Rush's weaker albums? Well... The album lacks flexibility, a lot of songs sound mediocre and don't stand out too much. Also, it is NOT a mediocre album if you don't compare it to previous albums of Rush. A lot of people tend to compare Test For Echo to their older stuff, and that's just wrong. Two Rush albums never sounded the same, they like to change their style everytime. So... Comparing two albums is rather stupid. I'll go quickly through the songs featured on this CD. "Test For Echo", the title track, is really amazing. "Driven" continues the pure greatness of "Test For Echo", and even adds more variety to it with the acoustic guitar chorus. "Half The World" seems to be a weaker song, though. I never got into it, but it's not a bad song by any means. No. 4 is "The Color Of Right". I think the opinions about this song are divided, some people like to think it's a filler, while people like me enjoy it very much. "Time And Motion" was my personal worst track of the album at first, and I always skipped it after hearing "The Color Of Right", but now I like it as much as the others, I guess. "Totem" is a very very upbeat sounding song and it's one of my favorite songs on this record. It's about religion, I think? Well, let's move on to the next song. Now here's what I don't understand. A lot of people hate this song and I don't understand why. Sure, it seems to be a filler and sounds extremely mediocre but it has it's moments, really. I didn't like it too much at first, too. But it really grew on me. Give it a chance! "Virtuality" seems to be one of the best tracks on Test For Echo. I think it's the song I listened fifty times in a row. Followed by "Resist", probably their BEST song. It's either "Test For Echo", "Driven", "Virtuality" or this one. I love this song, it has a really warm feeling to it. The middle part does it for me. "Limbo" isn't their best instrument in the world, though it perfectly illustrates the whole Test For Echo sound. I don't even know how to phrase it, but this track fits PERFECTLY together with all the other tracks, despite being an instrumental. Even though being one of the weaker instrumentals of Rush's career, what a pity. The final track, "Carve Away The Stone" isn't too great to be honest. After "Limbo", it sounds rather weak. But that's just my opinion, it's still a mediocre track for a Rush song.

Now that's it for Test For Echo! What I can say to all people out there, (especially Rush fans who tend to judge quickly) is that you should really give this album a chance. For real. Give this album a fair chance, don't judge too quick. Don't expect this to be Hemispheres 2, there will never be a Hemispheres 2, or a sequel to Moving Pictures, 2112, etc. It's a fresh Rush album with shorter, a whole lot simpler songs. And with that being said... I give this album 3 stars! Absolutely fair I think.