SNAKES & ARROWS

The new Rush release is not what fans of epic Progressive songs have been waiting for. It is not filled with those things we Prog Rock fans run to great with our pretentiously tainted musical "taste". If all you want is that type of music, this is not the album for you.

But don't be fooled by that introductory passage I provided. This is a very well put together set of songs by a band that is world renowned and still providing quality ear candy after 30 years. While many songs are not typical Progressive Rock, the album has quite a few moments of time signature changes and top notch musicianship. The music will not grab you at once, either. It took me about 6 listens to fully appreciate. And I appreciate it for what it is.

This album as a whole glares with the new creativity Alex Lifeson has found or adapted to based on meeting and conversing with David Gilmour. He heeded the advice to write all songs on acoustic then move them to electric. Adding to this, the lyrics may have cast a dark essence to the music, thus an overall anti-pop musical experience is generated. I would say only two or three of the song collection render themselves to immediate clicking to the non-Prog ear. The rest are not immediate hits, but the more you listen, the more you are glad they were recorded. While you hear hints of the more recent Rush sound, you also get a vibe of the old Rush, in it's early 70's sound, even though Neil pointed out that the band doesn't try to recreate the old, but move into the future. And that they have. In fact, on the song Malignant Narcissism, he plays a four piece drum kit. Who would have ever thought that would happen?

This album is a must have because it marks a new high for Rush. This is easily the best release since the mid-80's signatures. It is a pleasure to see an old Progressive giant keep writing great music after so many years. There are precious few of these bands left.

As a final note, it should be observed that I rate this album based on pure listening enjoyment and not for its progressiveness. The negative reviews thus far lack the understanding of what Rush was trying to accomplish. Any fool or anti-Rush listener can rate it low because it fails the Prog test, but in doing so, they provide a false low for other potential buyers to judge. As one person here on ProgArchives sarcastically said "I agree, you should assume the worst from this album without even listening to it. That would be the intelligent thing to do. In fact, we should all base our opinions of everything in the world on hearsay and stop experiencing things for ourselves. It would be a much simpler way to live." I couldn't have said that better myself.

4.5/5 stars