CLOCKWORK ANGELS

It is downright amazing that a band this old and with this many albums with the same three guys (this is the 18th studio album of original material with Lee/Lifeson/Peart) can still write and play music this good. Songs like Clockwork Angels, The Anarchist, Seven Cities of Gold, Headlong Flight and The Garden are some of the most ambitious and creative tunes they have done in quite some time, and they can still write catchy songs like The Wreckers and Wish Them Well. Overall, there are no weak spots on this record; every song is, at the very least, very good, and most of them are great.

The only real drawback to this album is the sound of it. No, it is't annoyingly loud like the audio disaster that was Vapor Trails, but it was definitely mastered a bit too hot, and the dynamic range is fairly limited as a result. Also, the bass is so overpowering in the mix that both the guitars and drums are sometimes drowned out a bit. But I guess this is the price the band pays for using a mainstream producer and mixer. It's just a small shame, as an album with music this good deserved a wonderful mix, but we had to settle for an average one instead. At least it sounds a hundred times better than Vapor Trails...

Ultimately, I can't say this is as good as any of the albums from Rush's all-time great 5-album run of 2112 through Moving Pictures, and I can't even say it is as good as their two best albums since then, Power Windows and Counterparts, but this is still a damn fine album, one certainly worthy of 4 out of 5 stars.