SNAKES & ARROWS

Good album, but that's all that can be said.The only songs that are quite up to the standards of the late 70's/early 80's album are insturmentals: "Main Monkey Business" and "Malignant Narcissism" (it's a shame that it's only 2 minutes long!). The vocal songs are weaker, because they simply lack good melodies. "Far Cry" is a nice opener, "Armond and Sword" is a fair follow up, but after some time the album starts to get more and more repetitive. We have some nice riffs here and there, one or two good solos, but nothing really that stays in your mind for a long time. I even say, that the best songs from T4E ("Driven", the title track) or "Vapor Trails" ("One Little Victory", "Ghost Rider") are better than anything from "Snakes & Arrows" apart from the instrumentals. Unfortunately Rush is not able to record progressive rock masterpieces anymore. Good albums, yes, but not masterpieces...