HEMISPHERES

"Hemispheres" is a turning point in the long career of the Rush. Until today it is at least in my opinion their most progressive rock. The band spent around three months in Wales to record their sixth studio album. The result was an album with only four songs. Two of them were short and catchy but the two other became long epics with lot of signature changes and progressive structures. The title track "Hemispheres" is after the epic "2112" the longest studio track ever recorded by Rush with a duration of 18 minutes. The final instrumental "La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise in Self-Indulgence)" is the first instrumental and according to drummer Neil Peart, the band spent more time to record this ten minutes instrumental then the entire "Fly by Night" album.

Even though the fans, me included liked and still like this long epics the band decided to make some changes in their sound and that's the main reason why the following studio album "Permanent Waves" included shorter song with easier song structures, even though it was still a proggy record.

In my opinion "Hemispheres" is the album, where Rush brought their sound to perfection, even though it is "only" my second favourite studio record by them after the previous released "A Farewell to Kings". "Circumstances" is one of the catchiest Rush Songs of all time and showcases Geddy Lee as an excellent singer. "The Trees" is only a remarkable song and is in my opinion one of Neil Peart's best work as a songwriter.

The best track on the album is the title track "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres", which is probably the most complex work in the entire discography of Rush. Even though it has a running time of 18 minutes; there are no boring parts.

Also the final instrumental is an impressive track and it showcases single members of the band on their instrument.

All in all "Hemispheres" is a perfect album by the Canadian progressive Rock institution Rush. It took me some time to get into the album, because it is progressive as hell, but when you listened to the album around 10 times or more you recognize that it's really a masterpiece in so many ways.