GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

Easily my favorite Rush Synth Era album. This has darker lyrics and themes, great guitar tones, great synths, and great drums. I read that before this album that Rush was considering breaking up, how lucky we were that they did not! At this time, Geddy had evolved into an acceptable keyboardist, offering more to that table in the synth department. Lifeson had been working with delicate guitar tones on the last album, and on this one, he uses ever more delicate ones. This is the first album in which we hear Peart with electric drums.

The album begins with Distant Early Warning, not the best song on the album, but a great one. With some great playing on Geddy's part, and great rhythym guitar from Lifeson, the song is played with such precision and ease, using organs to add texture to the already complex melodies. The next track is Afterimage, which has some very emotional Peart lyrics (Ironic really how later they would come to happen in his life). This track features some more great synths and great guitar. The next song is Red Sector A, featuring some of Peart's darkest lyrics. This is one of the first songs to feature Geddy entirely on Synths. The next 4 tracks are also very enjoyable. In those, you hear some great playing on everyone's part, and some of Peart's best lyrics. The finale to this great album is one of my personal favorite Rush tracks. Beginning with a haunting synth riff, and Lifeson playing some powerful guitar (the first time he uses different tuning if I'm not mistaken). With some Peart's best lyrics, and some of the best overall playing from Rush, the album ends.

Again, I recommend this highly to anyone who wants to listen to 80's Rush, and progressive Rock in general. 4.5/5.