2112

"2112" is the 4th full-length studio album by Canadian progressive rock act Rush. The album was released through Mercury Records in April 1976 (and through Anthem Records in Canada). "2112" was Rush first major commercial success. They were actually asked by their label to write more mainstream material after the commercial failure of "Caress of Steel (1975)", which sold less than "Fly by Night (1975)" had done. But Rush chose to ignore the advice and continued to write more progressive inclined material. In retrospect that was of course a great idea, but back then it was a major gamble, where they fortunately ended up collecting the reward. Had they not succeeded with "2112", who knows what the label would have done with them?

Stylistically "2112" is more or less the natural successor to "Caress of Steel (1975)". The album features one 20:33 minutes long progressive epic (the title track) and five shorter tracks. The "regular" length tracks vary in style from hard progressive rockers, to more mellow progressive rock tracks. None of them are overtly complex in structure, but they still feature a progressive edge, which makes them quite intriguing. The real attraction here is the title track though, which displays a lot of different sides of Rush. Their instrumental superiority, Geddy Lee´s incredible vocal range, Neil Peart´s adventurous lyrics (in this case set in a future sci-fi universe), and their songwriting skills.

"2112" is a very well produced album too, and the sound production is a great asset to the album. It´s powerful, warm, and organic, and especially the drums feature a great sound. "2112" is in many ways an impressive release, and it´s obvious why it´s often mentioned among the highlights of the band´s discography. One of the things which makes "2112" stand out compared to the next couple of releases by the band, is that it still features quite a lot of hard rocking riffs, rhythms, and vocals. Sure that has always been a part of the band´s sound, also on subsequent releases, but this is the last album by Rush to feature the primal aggression of their early material. I´d even go as far as to say that the most hard edged and aggressive moments on the album feature heavy metal leanings. A 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is deserved.