GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

Rush, one of the most original and intelligent bands in rock history evolved from early hard rock influenced albums to some kind of art rock in 80's. Music is full of synthetizers, keyboards and with no more long compositions. Rush started this experiment with previous release Signals, but with this album song compositions, sound and using of new elements (synths, keys) became finally complete.

Everything starts with the album cover, which is nice, atmospheric and very deep. First song on album, Geddy Lee's favorite "Distant Early Warning" has typical trademark for Rush in 80's, that means energic, but balanced guitar production and sound almost based on keyboards, what helps to create original and fantastic atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, keys are not lead instrument here, but their role is still very important. Geddy's vocals became with previous albums more listenable, and they are no longer so high-pitched and agressive. You can hear that he tried to get more emotions and tone into his voice.

I said there's no more long compositions. Rush left their long progressive opuses and turned into more conventional song structures, the length of songs is always about 5 minutes. Band uses this standard music elements to create something new, strong and innovative. Their creativity was incredible in that time, because with using only typical rock instruments (vocals, guitar, bass, keys) they were able to create trends.

The sound is really nice and deep. Another thing are percussions... always very inconspicuous, but important for the sounding of songs, and if you will be attentive, you will find their technical excellence. I don't want to dissect songs here, because the thing, that this whole album is about, is lyrics hand in hand with atmosphere. A must-have for any Rush fan and although an excellent addition to a proghead's collection.

album rating: 8.5/10 points = 84 % on MPV scale = 4/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars