2112

Rush

Heavy Prog

4.11 | 2418 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

2112 is where they finally got their prog sound right. Their previous albums definitely had some proggy moments, but this is a much more focused and honed sound.

The title track is obviously the star of this album, as it is arguably Rush's single greatest creation. Musically, the song is still in the realm of the harder rocking sound of their previous albums, often relying on heavy riffs from Lifeson and a strong and driving rhythm section in Lee and Peart. No doubt the musicianship is very strong on this one. But amidst all the madness the band is still comfortable in slowing it down a bit for some rather ethereal acoustic parts. Though this is really just seven songs mashed together to form a 20-minute song, it is done appropriately, and much better than the previous epic The Fountains of Lamneth. Usually I don't pay attention to lyrics, but the story here is phenomenal. What Peart lacks in the songwriting department he certainly makes up with his lyrics.

The remaining songs are not bad by any means, though they obviously not at the same level as the epic. 'A Passage to Bangkok' is a heavy riff based song with some energetic solos from Alex.

'The Twilight Zone' and 'Tears' are rather untouched territory by the band. The former has a slightly spooky vibe, as the name implies. The latter is noticeably downbeat and melancholic compared to everything they've done up to this point. This is also one of the few songs to showcase the beautiful mellotron.

'Lessons' is a fun, upbeat song that interchanges between some tastefully played acoustic parts and harder rocking electric guitar riffs. Something For Nothing' closes the album, and is probably the best song on side two.

Overall, 2112 is truly the first album that plunged Rush into the prog scene, and consequently is the first album to represent the classic Rush sound. This album is worth it if only for the title track, though the other songs are perfectly fine rock.

8/10

Mr. Mustard | 4/5 | 2012-6-15

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