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Rush > 2112 > Reviews > StainedClass95
Rush - 2112

Masterstroke - 99%

StainedClass95, July 27th, 2014

For my money, this is Rush's greatest album. This was the beginning of their sparkling quintet and they begin it on the best foot possible. This is not their most consistent, complex or catchiest, but it has enough of all of it, plus it's probably their most emotive.

Before I get to some of the musical aspects, I would like to begin with a couple of the complaints I frequently hear. The first is that the softer parts of the epic aren't as good and that it's cheap or not done for the right reasons. I will freely admit that the first two parts are my favorites, but the rest is all very good to me. I see no real difference in quality past that. As to it being cheap or inferior to change tempos, there are a ton of prog-metal bands, Dream Theater for instance, who often do this same thing. In more aggressive forms of music, changing shades does more than in other forms. The band Yes, for example, never got very hard, so changing tempos didn't mean that much for the listener. Rush on the other hand could go from being one of the most intense bands around to pure acoustic and be excellent at both. That's rather impressive.

The other complaint is that their lyrics are only impressive if you're a teenager. I think this misses the boat entirely. No band's lyrics are really impressive. No song lyric can touch a Republic or Das Kapital for influence and meaning. What Rush had was that they often eschewed the standard blues tropes of sex, anger, and fun. They sang about some of the more unusual topics that meant something to Peart, or in the case of Bangkok was funny. I enjoy this aspect quite a bit. In comparison, Aerosmith's lyrics can get rather redundant and Yes' mediocre poetry is not that special or pretty without the music.

Now that my rant is over, the music on display is really excellent. Geddy is very audible and I much enjoy the sound of his bass. In general, I enjoy getting to hear bass at all, but his playing is really adding to the music, especially in terms of feel. On Passage, the drug lyrics work even better, almost stoner-ish, with his loud bass. Call me crazy, but I actually enjoy his banshee wails. I remember the first time I heard The Temples of Syrinx - I was blown away. I understand not enjoying his vocals, but frankly you're going to close off a ton of older music. Alex puts on one of his best rhythmic displays here. His soloing isn't outstanding, but it's still pretty good. This is probably as close to metal as the boys got. I honestly go back and forth myself, but this is more intense than Queensryche or Fates Warning ever got, and Dream Theater still make songs based off the Rush formula. Neil is a drumming god as always. There's not much to say; his fills are superb, his timing is good, and he's aggressive. His lyrics are more to his philosophical bent than they had been. He really leans on his respect for Ayn Rand in several songs. The only real stinker on here is Tears. It's an overly sappy ballad.

This album has massive influence and there's a reason this band still exists and is on Metallum. There is not a prog-metal band from Fates to D. Theater to Opeth that doesn't owe Rush a ton. As far as impact on metal goes, I'd say this probably tops Rainbow Rising and is just shy of Sad Wings. In terms of quality, I'd say it's right there with Sad Wings and a couple of cuts above Rising. Yes, Sad Wings has nothing as bad as Tears, but the better stuff on here is stratospheric. The slower parts of 2112 are just as evocative as Dreamer Deceiver and the faster stuff is very close to Tyrant in terms of aggression. Also, the atmosphere on here is quite excellent. It has this sense of optimism in the face of hopelessness during the epic and the slight uptick in happiness found throughout the shorter songs could be viewed as a fulfillment of said optimism. Sad Wings has this excellent morose, yet poetic feel throughout that can rival but not surpass this.

All of this taken into account, I almost feel that this should have a perfect score. I'm not sure that I could name ten albums in all of music that I enjoy more than this. This is the best album by the only band that rivals Priest for being my favorite. Everything comes together very well on here, the influence is tremendous, and the great songs are GREAT. The only problem is that Tears is such an obvious and weak song. It's not even that it's the weakest in a strong bunch, it's like a small tumor. I would of course still recommend this to any fan of early metal, hard-rock, prog metal, or even just classic prog.