TEST FOR ECHO

Dreadful. Two good songs - Driven and Resist. The rest is simply snoozeworthy. I have no idea how a band that has produced such excellent music as Rush could release something this boring. The songs drone along slowly, with truly dull riffs that absolutely fail to catch the attention of the listener; likewise, the vocal lines are not remotely interesting. As usual Neil Peart has written some good lyrics with his consistent skill in wordsmithing, but in the context of such poor music they mean nothing. If every track on this album was as good as Driven and Resist, I would give this album four, perhaps five stars. They are not, however, and the eleven tracks of total drudgery drag this album all the way down to one star.