Year: 2021
Total Time: 1:01:12
Label: InsideOut Music
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT, attempt number three. 22 years after their last album, the American super-band returns and certainly picks up on all levels from where they left off in the ‘90s, letting the distance of time work for them and in favor of ours as well.
It was December 2020 when Mike Portnoy (SONS OF APOLLO, TRANSATLANTIC), Tony Levin (KING KRIMSON, PETER GABRIEL), Jordan Rudess (DREAM THEATER) and John Petrucci (DREAM THEATER) shared with us the big news. And, of course, all of us who are into Progressive Metal music have been eagerly awaiting the outcome of this reunion.
4 musical geniuses, 60 years of average age and countless releases for the “great old guys” who know better than anyone else what to play, and how to play it. Last January, the video for “Passage Of Time” took us by (positive) surprise and from then on until the official release, time started counting down (slowly and torturously I must admit for me).
The new album starts straight with “Hypersonic”, and from the first notes the band seems to be in great shape. Technical to a superlative degree, furious, sometimes heavy and slow, sometimes fast and quite entertaining, the opening track is simply stunning, and it naturally takes us back several years. And you can definitely enjoy it whether you’re a Progressive fan and (most probably) a musician, or a “commoner”, with equal pleasure and interest.
In “Beating The Odds” LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT step up the pace, the track has a very nice flow and corresponding tempo, and is accompanied by strong melodies. The song closes with the rhythm dropping, the atmosphere is getting heavy and the influence of the melody is becoming even more noticeable… Awesome. Then “Liquid Evolution” comes and we take a breath, with Levin at the forefront, passing the baton to light guitar melodies that caress our ears, in this three-minute (that’s kind of rare for LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT) track.
Next one is my favorite one… “Passage Of Time”, a track that took me back to the years of their amazing debut album and “Paradigm Shift”, “Freedom Of Speech” and “Universal Mind”. A trademark track of the new album, which was the first one the band completed. Great opening riff, amazing bridges and undoubtedly exemplary instrumental partnership between Petrucci and Rudess. The track is very reminiscent of DREAM THEATER (I really expected …LaBrie to pop up somewhere), perhaps more than any other LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT track.
“Chris & Kevin’s Amazing Odyssey” and another interlude follows, where Levin and Portnoy form a nice avant-guard duo, characterized by bass distortions, phasers, flangers and other industrial-type sounds and corresponding effects. The only track that doesn’t give you the something over and above, although I completely understand the obsession and the desire for such a “break”.
Going through the second half of the album, “Rhapsody In Blue” is a cover of George Gershwin’s title track, which the band transforms, keeping the basic melody, evolving it into a thirteen-minute progressive epic piece of art. Jazz, Funk (listen to the solo), Pop, Prog Rock, Metal, this track evolved into a synthesis of many sounds and genres of music and is truly enjoyable.
“Shades Of Hope” is so similar to “State Of Grace” from their debut album! Same position in the album, duration, similar atmosphere, structure and that unique nostalgic tone of guitar and piano… Here I have to admit that the listening started to touch me quite a lot on a personal level, because of my love for these light melancholic tracks of the band throughout their discography.
Closing with “Key To The Imagination”, a thirteen minute song where you can find everything. LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT get us used to such epilogues, and here they start with melancholic melodies from Petrucci and Levin, while Rudess stands also quite dominant. The track lends itself to endless changes, with the guitar lines at the forefront, while harmonizing beautifully with the keyboards throughout the song. As we could all expect, the ending is epic, triumphant and closes the listen in the best possible way.
In conclusion, this is a great return of LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT. Obviously their sound is hardly digestible, especially considering the fact that they remain a purely instrumental band and Progressive as well. However, we are dealing here, as on their two previous albums, with a fascinating creation of “third-age guys”, playing with the frenzy of twenty-somethings and they are definitely sweeping everything in their wake. Everything remains in place: talent, musical training, compositional prowess, “bonding” between them… Truly impeccable. Please enjoy responsibly…
Rating: 8/10
Editor: Kostas Kafritsas
Related Link: LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT – Facebook Page
