LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT 2

The follow-up to the successful (by instrumental album standards) debut from Dream Theater side-project Liquid Tension Experiment, LTE2 finds DT guitarist John Petrucci and drummer Mike Portnoy, Rod Morgenstein (and future DT) keyboardist Jordan Rudess, and bass god Tony Levin pumping out more technical jazz metal. The technical skill displayed here could easily make your head explode à la Scanners, but fans of prog and metal should find a lot to love. Tony decides to forgo the bass guitar used on the debut for his trademark Chapman stick, which he can play faster with. The entire album takes the jazz- funk-neoclassical metal from LTE1 and makes it faster and heavier.

"Acid Rain" is an even better opener than Paradigm Shift. "Biaxident" shows Petrucci soloing while restraining himself from the excesses he has been known to divulge in. "914" is a better showcase for Tony's and mike's tightness than Chris and kevin's Ecellent Adventure from the debut. "Another Dimension" has a nice Latin bit in it. "When the Water Breaks" takes a bit to get going with its crib music intro contrasting the rest of the song. "Chewbacca" loses focus, but its a good improv. "Liquid Dreams" is another monster, but "Hourglass" manages to outshine it in less than half the time. Slightly out of place, its meoldicism is a great way to close the album.

This is a great album to use to get into prog metal, particularly if you are a Crimson fan. I recommend buying LTE 1 and 2, as they belong in any prog metal collection.

Grade: B+