COUNTERPARTS

RUSH basically continued the ideas from "Roll The Bones" on their 15th studio album COUNTERPARTS but while the previous album seemed awkward and the ideas presented were so weak that they stumbled all over themselves, on this album we get a more energized RUSH beefing up the hard rock sound with a strong alternative rock sound that sounds more in tune with what they were aiming for all along. Like many recent albums this one starts off with a very strong and instantly likable track in the form of "Animate." It displays the strong beefy bass sound of Geddy Lee, a return to the rock guitar sound of Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart delivering his drumming skills that we had been waiting for.

The lyrics as on the previous album are all very personal and dark. The track dealing with the death of a gay friend was definitely the surprise of the album. Subject matter that most rock bands wouldn't touch in a million years. I admire RUSH for taking such topics on. This album starts off fairly strong but like many of their 90s album just simply goes on too long with each track becoming increasingly irrelevant and boring. This album has some really good tracks and seems like a promising comeback but all you have to do is listen to this after one of the classics and it's apparent that the quality of this album is far from past glories but like many out there I can't seem to just write this band off and support even their mediocre efforts of which this is one of the stronger representations.