### Rush: Clockwork angels

#### 26/07/12 || InquisitorGeneralis

Rush kicks ass! I already know that, and so does this guy… That is not me. But I do own that shirt.

Here’s the sweet part, Rush is currently kicking ass with a modern sound and heavy material, not just kicking ass in a nostalgic, state fair kind of way. “Clockwork Angels” is the album I have been waiting for Rush to make since they returned with 2002’s “Vapor Trails”. Rush are heavier than they have ever been in fourty fucking years. “Snakes and Arrows” was a damn fine album, but it lost direction a few times. And, it’s heavier material stole the show. Well, good for “Clockwork Angels” because it takes the heavy best of “Snakes and Arrows” and “Vapor Trails”, mixes it with interesting conceptual themes, and tops it with a great production. Hooray Canada.

We all know how good “Caravan” is; it was released two years ago as a single and was performed on the band’s landmark Time Machine tour. Rush have some balls to release a good tune and tease the people with a new record to come sometime after. Thankfully, the payoff is real and “Clockwork Angels” is fucken legit. Standout tracks include “BU2B”, “Headlong flight”, “The Anarchist”, and “Seven cities of gold”. Not surprisingly, these are the darkest and/or heaviest tunes on the record. The musicianship of the band is still unmatched. Peart hammers away with the precision and energy of someone half his age. Lifeson lays down some of his thickest riffs ever, and Geddy Bear’s bass playing is still exceptional. His voice has definitely come down over the years, and I am not going to complain about it. It fits the darker tone of “Clockwork Angels” much better than his 70’s wails ever would. Really, it is incredible that these guys, almost forty years into their career, have made an album like this. It rocks.

Thematically, diehard Rush fans should be slobbering all over the dystopian premise that forms the concept behind “Clockwork Angels”. The album tells the story of an adventurer/wanderer in fantasy land of machines, alchemy, adventures, and an omniscient, oppressive “Watchmaker” who controls the world with immense precision…just like Lord K pounds his cock with immense precision everytime an Evanescent song comes up on his MP3 player. Its nerdy, cheesy, imaginative, and much fucking cooler than 99% of the cockpuke that makes up musical subject matter these days.

Besides Iron Maiden, I can not think of a single hard rock/heavy metal band who is just as good, if not better, than they were in their “glory days” of major success. I can say with pretty definitive certainty that “Clockwork Angels” is a much better album than “The Final Frontier”, but both groups still bring it live and can play the shit out of their old classics to boot. If you are a Rush fan, I dare say that “Cockwork Buttholes” is an essential item to add to your collection. If you have never really gotten into Rush (go fucking kill yourself) this might be a nice place to start. It’s heavy, interesting, and just plain fucking sounds great.

- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Roadrunner/Anthem
- Website: www.rush.com
- Band
- Geddy Lee: bass, vocals
- Alex Lifeson: guitars
- Neil Peart: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Caravan
- 02. BU2B
- 03. Clockwork Angels
- 04. The Anarchist
- 05. Carnies
- 06. Halo Effect
- 07. Seven Cities of Gold
- 08. The Wreckers
- 09. Headlong Flight
- 10. BU2B2
- 11. Wish Them Well
- 12. The Garden