LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT

I've been searching a long time to get this album, that is so hard to find original in Argentina (at reasonable price), and I finally had the opportunity to buy this, 3 months ago, and I've been listening to this almost compulsory, because it's BRILLANT !! The musicianship is brillant: the legend Tony Levin with his great stick and NS electric upright bass, one of the best actual guitar players, John Petrucci, that NEVER fails to disappoint me, the beast of the drums Mike Portnoy, who is who started this project, and a new talent (in that time) Jordan Rudess, in keys. This is another way to say, a virtuoso group, a super group !! It seems that these guys formed this band in the right time: they're SO good that they compused this entire album in hmmm... 6 DAYS !! It's brillant too how this incredible musicians could creat such an incredible instrumental music in just that time. Even, the production is so clean and fresh (and the art cover too) !! I'm so happy I've discovered this project (because of Dream Theater), one of the most enjoyable bands I've recently discovered. Here goes a description track by track of this tremendous masterpiece:

"Paradigm Shift" starts with a 200 km/h melodic line between guitar, keys and drums (hey, virtuosos !!). Then Petrucci introduces a very cool riff, and the adrenalin starts, with magnificient use of 'wah wah', some wild drummnig and another killing riff (not metal riffs). In the middle of the song, it slows down with another great bass line followed by a veery emotive Petrucci solo with a lot of feeling, a big demostration for those who say he's just technique ... IMO he's the perfect combination of feeling and technique in the guitar, a genius ! Then goes the first keyboard solo, crazy and great solo, going back then to the main theme and finalising with a remake of the first melodic on the intro at very high speed. Adrenalin ! After this song I was very surprised, I wished the disc could be all like this, finally it is !

"Osmosis" is the most experimental moment. The characteristic thing about it is the creative bass line, backed with atmospheric keys and slow notes with the guitar. A calm and relax moment to anticipate the rocker follower.

A very rocker riff introduces "Kindred Spirits", in the style of the first song. Is very enjoyable the middle part, when the music turns more dramatic, with incredible guitar and keyboard solos, to go back to the main riff and melody, which has a very symphonic feeling. Another great track.

"The Stretch" is the first really crazy track here. A funky bass line carries the whole song and then goes a crazy, mind blowing keyboard solo (we've no Petrucci here), very 'fusiony'.

Then goes the mid-tempo "Freedom Of Speech", which starts with a nice piano melody, and then all the instruments join and goes a fantastic and emotive guitar solo that really gives me shivers, it's incredible how music can drive you. After that the song slows down into a more experimental ambient, with a lot of piano, and goes going heavier and heavier, slowly until a nice riff explodes (oh what a moment!!) and after some passages a tremendous rocker keys solo goes, which in some moments reminds me of John Lord's Hammond, and another rocker guitar solo, to go back finally to the main melody. Nice song !

"Chris And Kevin's Excellent Adventure" is the other crazy piece which features only drums, another nice line with the stick and some whistling, that really gives a crazy feeling to it. This song really made me laugh the first times I listened to it.

The most melodic and quietest moment is "States Of Grace", a fantastic duel between Rudess and Petrucci. The guitar makes all the beautiful melody, backed with the keys. In some way it reminds me of a himn and I enjoy it a lot because it has an incredible feeling on it. On the booklet (where Mike tells us how the band formed and how it all was recorded) says that 'in the coming weeks, John and Jordan laid down various guitar and keyboard overdubs when they had some available time ... and the rest is history (or at least someday might be!)'

The last composed song is "Universal Mind", which is the first song I listened from LTE and the one that made me frenetically search for this album, yeah, and this song itself is a masterpiece, IMO. It starts with a complex, fast and nice guitar melody, which is repeated through the track. It features again tremendous guitar solos until a rocker riff (and the most rocker moment) comes up with an excellent keys-guitar duel, oh yeah, so good ! Then is a neo-classical transition with nice piano, to go to some complex riffs and the main melody. To finish, we've a melody I've heard before, in a cartoon program, yeah, and at 220 km/h speed !!

To finish the album, "Three Minute Warning" is a 28 minutes free improvisation. This is totally spontaneous and I wanted to hear how these guys improvise, and as expected, they didn't disappoint me. They can create some nice atmospheres and spontaneous riffs and solos that give me a very fusion feeling, improvising like gods ...

Overall, this is a masterpiece of (modern) Prog music, anyone should get this, amazing musicians making music out of this world, you'll realise Prog's NOT dead, not at all !! Very, veeery recommended (even to the DT bashers) !! Keep on rocking LTE !!

Rating: 4.7/5