I'm actually starting to like this album and it may end up being one of my favorites from them the last twenty-years (Counterparts another favorite.) I think I was at first looking at it with a more than necessary critical eye being a fan and all and any new style they incorporated was tough to swallow.
This CD seems much more guitar oriented to me and I feel it's heavier than most of their recent stuff. It sounds to me like a cross between Counterparts and Test For Echo, which makes sense being that those are recent albums. One thing I didn't notice right off the bat is that there are no keyboards. Yep, as I type this I looked at the credits and it reads: "Geddy Lee: bass guitar, vocals" and that's it. However, in place of some of the melody lines keyboard sequencing might cover Geddy overdubs his voice doing "ooohie oooohs" and "la la las" and stuff, which was a hard pill to swallow but I'm getting comfortable with it now. (Rush does Enya?)
I think Rush is afraid of an empty sound being a 3-piece band and there is a lot of overdubbing of voices and guitar which does give a full sound, though I don't think it's always needed. It'll be interesting how it sounds live. Though I said I feel this album is more guitar oriented, what's odd is there are none of your standard leads like you get in most rock songs. Being a fan since 1978, I'd have to rate this album above such things as Power Windows (ick, ick, ick), Hold Your Fire, Presto and Roll The Bones. But the days of Moving Pictures, 2112, Permanent Waves and A Farewell To Kings are gone and maybe that's a good thing...that was all more than 20 years ago. There are some very strong melodies and choruses on this album and I am enjoying it. It sure beats my wife's Madonna, Matchbox20 and other stuff.
One Little Victory will make a great opening or even a song coming out of a drum solo, but it's not my favorite.
