I’m always in a rush when these Canadian heroes release a new album. Because in their almost 40 year spanning career Rush have never released a disappointing album. Well, as far as the songs go, because sound wise I do have a few complaints. Their 2002’s Vapor Trails has quite a fuzzy sound. Their Feedback cover album is also quite murky. I know that was deliberate, but I sure hoped that Snakes & Arrows would be graced with a better sound.

 

I guess Rush didn’t want to repeat history, as they let Nick Raskulinecz handle producer duties this time. Writing these new songs began with Geddy and Alex jamming with each other. Drummer Neil Peart wrote preliminary lyrics for the songs. This method of creating new material is what they mostly used on their earlier works. And oh boy did they make the right decision. Not only is the great sound a treat, song wise it does remind you of a bygone era. It was hard to curb my enthusiasm when in ‘Far Cry’ I heard a few chords that are very reminiscent of 1978’s ‘Hemispheres’. Without further listening I wanted to hand out the maximum score. But hey, even as a big fan you should first listen to the rest of the album before you make your final judgement.

 

As usual Peart’s lyrics are inimitable. This line from ‘Armor and Sword’ for example ‘By the flashes of artillery light, no one gets to their heaven without a fight’ shows once again that he has a way with words. So it is a little strange that this Rush album has so many instrumental songs. No less than three creations are found on Snakes & Arrows. They're good, but none of them come even close to the brilliant ‘YYZ’ or ‘La Villa Strangiato’. Especially on ‘Malignant Narcissism’ I miss vocals.

 

But basically I have very few complaints about the album. The songs are just great. You should just listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Geddy, Neil and Alex. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument thanks to the great sound. A big thumbs up for the snakes!