SNAKES & ARROWS

Vapor Trails could have been tough for people to sallow because of the heaviness but with this one they took out the acoustic instruments and made a progressive album. Other albums you could argue that like this one but I believe this is a progressive album. Far Cry is a great opener that even has a Hemispheres tribute in it which is pretty cool. Armor & Sword is a fantastic song that goes in a few directions before it chooses to end on one and is the longest song Rush has made since Moving Pictures. Workin' Them Angels is another great song with some great lyrics by Neil. The Main Monkey Business, Hope and Malignant Narcissism are the 3 instrumental tracks on this album (A first for Rush). Hope is just an acoustic jam from Alex that goes for 2 mins but works. Malignant Narcissism is a drum and bass jam similar to YYZ and is just as good . The Main Monkey Business is a full on instrumental piece that is beautiful and goes far in just 6 mins. The rest of the songs are kinda forgettable but We Hold On is a great ending track. Overall, this is another great album that showed that Rush may be ready to go progressive one more time. 4 and a half stars. Highlights: Far Cry, Armor & Sword, Workin' Them Angels, The Main Monkey Business, Malignant Narcissism and We Hold On.