COUNTERPARTS

It took a long time to hear a really good Rush album. The last one that gave me enthusiasm when hearing it was Grace Underpressure; and between them we have three average ones and a miss, which is Presto.

Animate is not only an opener, it is a killer one. It is better than Dreamline and Force Ten, two good ones, and pairs with Distant Early Warning as a terrific way of opening a heavy prog album. All over the album, many other songs presents themselves as as very good compositions; best of them can be identified in Nobody´s Hero, Double Agent and the instrumental Leave That Thing Alone, which is even better than the very good Where Is My Thing from previous album.

Other songs are just good, exceptions made to Stick It Out and Cold Fire, which sounds to me like being removed from a second line heavy band´s album to be put here decrease overall value. They would prevent me from giving a high rating for Counterparts, but the good ones here and the clear advance related to prior albums makes my three and a half stars to be rounded to four stars.