LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT 2

The only negative thing I can say about this recording is that it's too long. If they had gassed the final two tracks this could have been kept to an hour in length.This is jaw dropping instrumental music though with lots of variety. When you have both Pertucci and Portnoy letting it all hang out on the same album you know it's going to be spectacular.

"Acid Rain" is uptempo with a heavy undercurrent. The keys come and go. Check out Pertucci 2 minutes in. It's the Portnoy & Pertucci show 3 1/2 minutes in. Lots of synths 5 minutes in. Great track. As Tony Levin says "I came prepared to play some fast music, the chapman stick is ideal for blazing bass lines." This one's a shred-fest. "Biaxident" opens with some beautiful piano. Heaviness comes and goes. Solid drumming from Portnoy throughout. Soaring guitar after 5 1/2 minutes. The tempo picks up 7 minutes in with some ripping guitar to end it. Levin played his fretless bass in this one. Portnoy says "I love this tune...Jordan brought this one in to us in a kind of "latin-vibe" form. By the end of our working on it as a band, it somehow ended up sounding more like YES meets Steve Morse meets PHISH." "914" is an improvised jam with Levin,Portnoy and Rudess. The bass is great.

"Another Dimension" opens without a lot going on until the bass and riffs come in before a minute. The guitar plays over top. Nice heavy soundscape 4 1/2 minutes in. TOOL-like 6 minutes in. Nice. It then lightens as we get some accordion followed by flamenco guitar. It's heavy again ! Pertucci says "This is one of my favourites because it demonstrates the hybrid nature of LTE. The mixture of heavy sinister riffs, Latin feels and complex time signatures makes this a fun and challenging one for me." "When The Water Breaks" opens with Jordan complaining. Haha. Yes it's a baby crying to open. The title was inspired by the fact Pertucci's wife had a baby during this recording session. This is a 17 minute epic that features some fantastic work from Jordan. Check out the stampede of drums 16 1/2 minutes in and the crazy piano ending. Chunky bass 5 minutes in and some blistering guitar 7 minutes in. "Chewbacca" is another improvised piece and my favourite song on here. A nice heavy sound arrives after a minute. Portnoy is so impressive. Pertucci grinds it out and then rips it up. He's lights out on this one. An atmospheric calm 5 1/2 minutes in with this dark mood. Great section that starts to pick up before 10 minutes, then it's shredding time. Awesome sound 11 minutes in. It slows down like a train to end it. "Liquid Dreams" is another improv. This one doesn't do a lot for me though. Same with the final tack "Hourglass" which features piano and acoustic guitar throughout.

Easily 4 stars despite what I think about the final two songs.