Snakes and Arrows
By Rush
The Music
In this explosive new album Rush shows that they can still make powerful, worthwhile music that leans toward the cutting
edge bands of the modern decade. The album can be considered the most lyrically
meaningful and musically strongest effort to come from Rush since the early eighties.
It’s also Rush’s longest album, clocking in at one hour and two minutes. The songs all follow the same theme which is based around faith and religion. A Middle Eastern tone stands out in the guitar sound and lyrics but this new style makes for a new and
very satisfying experience. The humming by Geddy Lee
in multiple songs and some of the melodic riffs by Lifeson represent this new atmosphere. The tone can be best described as “rage against the machine-like” but just not as heavy. The whole album theme itself can be described as a commentary on religion and its
effect on people. The album explores the concepts of war, fanaticism and pacifism.
There are three instrumental tracks throughout
the album and they all serve to reinforce the rest of the music on the album. “The
Main Monkey Business” is the longest instrumental that contains some strong but basic guitar riffs characteristic of
modern rock. The track does emphasize Peart’s
drumming and the final result is one of Rush’s best instrumentals even if it does deviate from the classic instrumental
style that they are so well known for. “Hope” is the second instrumental
which is an exclusively acoustic track where Lifeson is able to showcase his skill on the classical
guitar. “Hope” is actually enhanced by its placement right after
“The Way the Wind Blows”. Basically, the acoustic/electric interplay
from “The Way the Wind Blows” is all brought to a relaxing conclusion in “Hope”. The last instrumental, “Malignant Narcissism”, is my favorite of the three on the album because
of the classic bass/guitar interplay. The main “chorus” bass and
the little bass riffs by Geddy Lee really make the song. My
only gripe is that it could have exceeded the 2:17
track time.
The astonishing thing about this album is the
strength of all the tracks as a whole. The main reason for the power of Snakes
and Arrows is the fact that the middle of the album contains a backbone of solid songs.
The album builds up with the vague songs “Far Cry’ and “Armor and Sword”. But the charged end of “Armor and Sword” shows you the direction that the album is going to
take. The first three songs start the album off in a crucial way and the sequence
of songs, starting at “Workin’ Them Angels” and ending after “Faithless”,
are also imperative to the success of the album.
While this album cannot be considered a real
“concept album”, it still is brimming with deep and meaningful concepts.
Diehard fans may turn away from this album because of the obvious attempt by Rush to align themselves with the modern
rock style. Rush successfully does this and adds their own personal touch in
the process. I would recommend this album to younger Rush fans first and foremost
but also to fans who don’t mind the occasional progressive (in this case, modern) twist in their music. After all, the soul of “progressive rock” consists of experimentation and the drive for an
ever changing sound.
Track Listing
(Relative
to other songs on the album)
1. Far Cry-(7)
2. Armor and Sword-(8)
3. Workin’ Them Angels-(10)
4. The Larger Bowl-(9)
5. Spindrift-(8)
6. The Main Monkey Business-(9)
7. The Way the Wind Blows-(8)
8. Hope-(8)
9. Faithless-(8)
10. Bravest
Face-(6)
11. Good
News First-(8)
12. Malignant
Narcissism-(9)
13. We Hold
On-(7)
Presentation and Extras
(Coming Soon!)
Final Rating
(Draws from
track ratings, presentation score and the overall album)
8.6/10
