RUSH

If you're in the mood for a little time travel, back when the heavy shadows of a certain ZEPPELIN crept over the earth into the cold North, this is the RUSH you're looking for. Mind you, I initially resisted the comparison -- it smacked of lazy criticism -- but ALEX LIFESON's guitar work sounds just like a PAGE ripped from ZEP's history, and GEDDY LEE's impassioned vocals are rooted (PLANTED?) in the same idolatry. (An exception is the monumental "Working Man", from which the sulfuric pall of SABBATH emerges.) In other words, despite showing signs of the musical elasticity that would become a RUSH hallmark, the band's debut doesn't step lightly. The trio instead takes their place in the first line of soldiers behind Ares himself, prepared to live and die by the hammer and the axe. Some fans (myself included) place their debut on the periphery because NEIL PEART and his fantasickal imagery had yet to arrive. Original drummer JOHN RUTSEY is no shirker, though, generating his share of mayhem in the final assault. The album doesn't lack for standout songs either: "Working Man" and "In The Mood" hold their ground, "Finding My Way" and "What You're Doing" rock out respectably. RUSH even steps back from the battle to reflect on "Before And After" before flying back into the fray, the first glimpse of an approach they would refine for "In The End." RUSH the artful assassins would come with time; here, the analogy might be a band of youthful beserkers with big designs in store. I'd stop short of calling this debut a diamond in the rough, but even the PEARTless RUSH proves capable of producing a few pearls.