GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

If "Signals" implied for Rush a clear evolution towards musical metrics more related to currents such as new wave and even ska in the eighties, with "Grace Under Pressure" experimentation along those paths gained even more strength. It is worth noting as an interesting fact that Peter Gabriel's album IV (later renamed "Security") is considered by Geddy Lee to be one of their inspiring sources.

With the change of roles of the intense guitars of Alex Lifeson and the remarkable percussion of Neil Peart, less protagonists in both cases in favor of more simplified and less intricate harmonies, the synthesizers and their infinite variants became the musical backbone of the album. . Shorter and more direct songs, such as the dynamic "Distant Early Warning", the very interesting fusion with ska of "The Enemy Whitin", the dizzying "Kid Gloves", or the painful and dark "Red Sector A" are clear samples of this, all within the packaging of a disturbingly bleak theme regarding the existential concerns of that time such as the cold war or the nuclear threat.

"Grace Under Pressure" drew a larger contingent of supporters, but without losing many of the followers of their more rabid early days. And this is due, in my opinion, to the fact that the musical evolution was not perceived as a derailment of the road, but rather as the process of developing a proactive band that respected its roots and transformed them without losing its essence.

Without being outstanding, "Grace Under Pressure" is a good album that kept Rush solid in the consideration of rock fans in general and progressive rock fans in particular.

3/3.5 stars