VAPOR TRAILS

Wow, what a comeback. Rush came from one of their worst albums, then a terrible hiatus (sorry Mr. Peart) and then this! Though the production gets in the way heavily, I still can manage to get this album a decent review because the music overall is very good. The guys are playing better than ever, Geddy singing really well wtih some nice vocal harmonies with himself, great bass playing by the bass god, and some amazing guitar playing. Neil, as always, steals the show because of his force being so strong in songs.

"One little Victory" is amazing. It brings some proggy elements with the extreme playing by all members of the band, especially Geddy with his awesome bassline, and has some really good lyrics despite rocking harder than anything I have ever heard. It has such an odd tempo which makes this song so cool. "Ceiling Unlimited" is another personal favorite, and probably has the best bassline because Geddy goes really high on the fretboard for this one. The lyrics are pretty good, and the drumming is excellent. Alex plays fairly well, with his own style, and it makes this song feel unified. "Ghost Rider" is pretty good musically, though not the best from the album by far. The vocals are excellent, Geddy singing very well. The guitar sound is just kind of annoying to me to make this song slightly wrong sounding, out of place. The lyrics are not great for the album, as the first two songs had some stunning lyrics for the most part. "Peaceable Kingdom" is great, definatly a favorite. It sounds alot like "Half the World" from the previous album, but is executed much more accuratly than the last time. The bassline is a standout, and the lyrics are catchy to me. This sounds really fresh to my ears, and everything seems to work for them in this song. "The Stars Look Down" isn't great, it just seems to be a little boring. The riff dosen't make me feel good when i'm listening to it, but the bassline is appreciated, definatly. The drumming is very good, uptempo for Rush. "How it is" has some good acoustic guitar in this song, and it kind of feels like i'm flying when Geddy starts singing "oh, ho, oh." After that, it gets much harder and much more rocking and features some distorted vocals by Geddy that scream a little bit of "21st Century Schizord Man" to me at least. Geddy's vocals, to say are awesome, and so is the bassline. This song is definatly one of my favorites. "Vapor Trail" has an odd intro, but its okay. Not good, but not terrible. The guitar is good, but nothing else really stands out to me, but Geddy's bass tone is very nice. The lyrics aren't very good compared to the other tracks. "Secret Touch" is very sexy sounding, but has some aewsome lyrics. The bassline is perfect, and the overall music is just near perfection, to me. The drumming is definatly awesome, this track has to be one, if not, my favorite track from the album because of how up beat it is when it really gets into the song. "Earthshine" is also another excellent track, and one of the more popular ones from the album. The lyrics are definatly a standout and Geddys vocals performing the words just make is sound great. The vocal harmonies are killer with Geddy and himself, which he dosen't do too often unless its the same note, but in the past couple albums, hes been playing with octaves and overal harmonies, and I appreciate it. "Sweet Miracle" isn't great at all, its just not very good to me. The riff is alright, but not very exciting over time, and the bassline just dosen't catch me. The lyrics are one of Neil's worst that I have heard, nothing good can come from this song. "Nocture" is pretty good, the opening chord sounds a little bit like 1980s power metal, but I like the overdrive on the guitar. The vocals are great, though the lyrics are a little wierd to me. "Freeze" dosen't really scare me that much, but its great. The bassline is very nice and is very fast, the drumming is excellent of course, but the guitar seems a little sloppy considering the song. The lyrics are pretty good, considering the last song being a disaster from the lyrical standpoint, of course. This song just sounds great. "Out of Cradle" only really has a good bassline, and thats about it, the music is just very uninteresting to me. The lyrics arent very good, though I still do appreciate the basslines for the song, thats about it.

Though the production is a little distorted and hot sounding, and some of the lyrics are subpar for the course, everything is great on the album. The overall music is to die for, and is one of Rush's best of the 2000's and I highly recommend getting this album in your prog rock collection, because you will need it. Thats why I gave it 4 stars.