LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT

Liquid Tension Experiment is really a side project for most of the personnel inside this band, which is also called Liquid Tension Experiment, a truly super group. At that time (when LTE was made), Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci work together in Dream Theater, which for me is a super group as well. Toni Levin was working with Terry Bozzio Crimson. The other personnel was Jordan Rudess, which at that time was working with Rod Morgenstein. In the end, after the success of Liquid Tension Experiment 2, Jordan Rudess were invited to be a keyboardist in Dream Theater, replacing Derek Sherenian.

What makes this album is really amazing is the production of the songs, which you can read on the cover of the album (if you have the CD! so buy it now!!). Amazingly, the songs are produced in just less than a week, yes, less than one week, to be exact, 5 days. In 5 days, four virtuosos could create 13 tracks of songs, and each track is really a masterpiece.

Well let's look at each song.

Paradigm Shift A really progressive metal song, cool and heavy guitar riff at the beginning of the song, continued with metal intro. It is my favorite song in this album, combination of progressive metal, virtuosity and feeling of the notes. The guitar riff itself for me is almost the same as Joe Satriani's Crystal Planet, but both of the songs were made in the same year, 1997.

Osmosis A cool song after a metal song, Osmosis has very soft elements of music, just some simple riff from guitar, keyboard, bass and drum. But once again, still has a great feeling when we listen to it.

Kindred Spirits Another progressive metal song, with odd time signature and odd drum section. The best part for me is the guitar solo at exactly minute 2.35. I, personally, prefer a song that has deep meaning rather than has crazy shredding. However, it would be great if the song has both elements. The guitar solo is then continued with also a deep feeling keyboard solo, exactly at minute 3.44.

The Stretch A more fusion song for me and it is very short, just 2 minutes in length.

Freedom Of Speech The most beautiful song in the album, a true great combination of feeling and great technique. The keyboard part in the intro explains everything, that the song is very beautiful. This part is then continued with also nice tones from guitar, simple yet profound. Moreover, then the guitar hits the high notes, it is like feel in heaven for me. The song changes in the middle of the song, where it is truly a progressive metal song.

Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure The song has a very-amazing-great bass line from Tony Levin and also a great drum section from Mike Portnoy. Mike Portnoy himself wrote on the cover album, that this song is really a duet featuring Mike Pornoy and Tony Levin.

State Of Grace Another beautiful song in the album, the characteristic is pretty much the same with Freedom Of Speech, simple yet profound. The song is just consists of simple guitar and keyboard lines, but the selection of notes was really amazing that I cried when I listened to it for the first time.

Universal Mind The song is like Paradigm Shift, metal, heavy progressive song, with sick (positive sick!) arpeggios from John Petrucci in the beginning of the song. John Petrucci said on one interview that this song and Paradigm Shift are his favorite songs to play in a concert.

Three Minute Warning "Caution: "Three Minute Warning" is not for the musically faint-hearted, impatient, or critics of self-indulgence. If you fall into any of the above categories, please hit the stop button on yout CD player after track #8". These sentences were taken from the back cover of the CD. When I read that words, I jumped to my CD player and turned the volume up, rather than stop the player, because I want to know what it is all about. Actually, it is 28 minutes of crazy jamming from four of them, without any neither edited nor mastered tracks. And notice at 27.12 minute, the sound changes, it is not your CD player problem, because Mike Portnoy said it was because they were running out of tape!

I give 5 stars for this amazing CD because it is an essential addition to your collection and is truly a masterpiece. Also, I recommend, if you don't like progressive metal, don't buy this album, since it is very progressive.

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