The title track is of course the highlight. With "2112", RUSH has at least completely emancipated from its initial British hard rock influences, and delivers their first major opus. It also marks the first appearance of synthesizers, played here by cover designer Hugh Syme, in the band's universe. This disc has inspired future prog metal bands such as DREAM THEATER, and maybe even IRON MAIDEN. Although not as sophisticated as YES' or GENESIS', the music is however more direct and catchy, as well as a bit ahead of its time in terms of aggressiveness. So what was the decision of our Canadians? The exact opposite!īy combining their punchy heavy / hard rock with the complexity of their rhythmical structures and their instrumental virtuosity, the Canadians simply possibly created the first prog metal album, and also delivered one of the most iconic record of the progressive world, all that in 1976. The record label Mercury urged the musicians to abandon the progressive approach and compose solely radio-friendly songs. A 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is deserved.Īfter the experiments and commercial failures of "Fly By Night" and "Caress Of Steel" - where the band still searched itself - and the disastrous tour that follows, RUSH was at the edge of bankruptcy. I´d even go as far as to say that the most hard edged and aggressive moments on the album feature heavy metal leanings. Sure that has always been a part of the band´s sound, also on subsequent releases, but this is the last album by Rush to feature the primal aggression of their early material. One of the things which makes "2112" stand out compared to the next couple of releases by the band, is that it still features quite a lot of hard rocking riffs, rhythms, and vocals. "2112" is in many ways an impressive release, and it´s obvious why it´s often mentioned among the highlights of the band´s discography. It´s powerful, warm, and organic, and especially the drums feature a great sound. "2112" is a very well produced album too, and the sound production is a great asset to the album. Their instrumental superiority, Geddy Lee´s incredible vocal range, Neil Peart´s adventurous lyrics (in this case set in a future sci-fi universe), and their songwriting skills.
The real attraction here is the title track though, which displays a lot of different sides of Rush.
None of them are overtly complex in structure, but they still feature a progressive edge, which makes them quite intriguing. The "regular" length tracks vary in style from hard progressive rockers, to more mellow progressive rock tracks. The album features one 20:33 minutes long progressive epic (the title track) and five shorter tracks. Stylistically "2112" is more or less the natural successor to "Caress of Steel (1975)". Had they not succeeded with "2112", who knows what the label would have done with them? In retrospect that was of course a great idea, but back then it was a major gamble, where they fortunately ended up collecting the reward. But Rush chose to ignore the advice and continued to write more progressive inclined material. They were actually asked by their label to write more mainstream material after the commercial failure of "Caress of Steel (1975)", which sold less than "Fly by Night (1975)" had done. "2112" was Rush first major commercial success. The album was released through Mercury Records in April 1976 (and through Anthem Records in Canada). "2112" is the 4th full-length studio album by Canadian progressive rock act Rush.
0 kommentar(er)
