GRAVITY

Would you care to listen to some all-instrumental Rush for about 65 minutes? (That's a rhetorical question, by the way.) Wow! These guys are entertaining. 4Front is Joe Bergamini on drums, Frank LaPlaca on bass, and Zak Rizvi on guitars and keyboards (along with the occasional guest keyboardist, etc.). They used to tour as a group called Power Windows doing mostly Rush covers...and it certainly shows up in the first half of this cd especially. Neal Peart is probably better on drums (he IS one of the best!), but Bergamini is dynamite too. Rizvi uses a lot of Lifeson's signature chords (arpeggiated ninths?) and some high distortion, but he also sounds like Steve Morse at times. LaPlaca has a couple of bass highlights that suggest he's even better than Geddy Lee, though his bass isn't as trebly as Lee's.

"Gravity" is a great cd - I can't hold the obvious Rush similitudes against them (though they did lose half a star for originality). Fourteen songs mostly in the 4 to 5 minute range - good songwriting, primarily from Rizvi. The last few songs of the cd evolve a little bit more into the kind of eclectic, cinematic music that their next cd "Radio Waves Goodbye" would feature more extensively. But this whole cd is very energetic and satisfying. Recommended.