Never before have I had my hopes up this much, only to become so disappointed in the end.

I, along with the rest of the Rush fanbase, had been eagerly awaiting their latest album, the first studio album from the Canadian trio since 1996. After having heard the first single, and album-opener “One Little Victory” on the Internet a month or so before the true release, I was ready to proclaim this to be the best Rush work since Moving Pictures. I mean that song had it all, a great riff, great drumming (as always from Neil Peart, my favourite drummer of all time) and great bass playing. Heck, even Geddy Lee’s voice seemed to have the same spark as it had in the early eighties. Now this was going to be a comeback worthy of the kings of progressive rock!

And how wrong I was. After the initial impact of the first song, the rest of the album sounds mostly the same as the last release, “Test For Echo”. Sure, it is slightly heavier, the lyrics are slightly better (not as if that says very much, TFE is commonly regarded as the lyrical low water-mark of Rush), but they still sound like Tool-inspired alternative rock. While there’s nothing wrong with that per se, it’s not what you expect from this band. I mean, you’re allowed to have slightly higher expectations on a band that’s been kings of the progressive rock genre for several decades. And there is absolutely nothing progressive about this record. If you enjoy Tool, or just modern alternative rock in general, you might find this album amusing. Rush fans will only regard this as another piece of could-have-been-good-but-wasn’t type music.

Year Released: 2002
Label: Atlantic Records
Related Link: Rush Official Site
Date Reviewed: 2003-12-28
Author: Kristian Knutsson