LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT 2

The second and last in the LTE catalog, this album is a swan song for this particular lineup. With Rudess joining Portnoy and Petrucci in Dream Theater, and Levin working various solo projects and eventually rejoining King Crimson, it's doubtful we'll ever see LTE again.

For fans of the first album, the second offering won't disappoint. The same musical exuberance, the same virtuoso soloing, the same jazz-metal song structures prevail on this album. If I could make any criticisms, it's that the high points of this album aren't as high as the first album's, but then this album is a bit tighter and less prone to technical excess. The best songs are the hardest: "Acid Rain," "When the Water Breaks," and the most metallic of the album, "Chewbacca," will rip your roof off.

Simply stated, if you liked the first album, you'll want this one, too. If you thought the first album was a sloppy mess of technical self-indulgence, you won't want this one, either. I'm betting that most prog fans, and the metal fans who have more appreciation for musical brilliance and less interest in mere pounding, will embrace both albums and wish there were more.