1. Caravan - 5:402. BU2B - 5:10
3. Clockwork Angels - 7:31
4. The Anarchist - 6:52
5. Carnies - 4:52
6. Halo Effect - 3:14
7. Seven Cities of Gold - 6:32
8. The Wreckers - 5:01
9. Headlong Flight - 7:20
10. BU2B2 - 1:28
11. Wish Them Well - 5:25
12. The Garden - 6:59
While Rush's music has always retained elements of progressive rock, it has been a long time since they brought forth a full-fledged concept album, replete with musical ambition, unmasked chops, and a storyline. True, there are elements of their 80's-90's middle-of-the-road songs in this album, but each song is challenging in its own way and contributes to the whole.
The album is based on an original story by drummer/lyricist Neal Peart that owes a lot to Voltaire's Candide. A young man leaves home to search for adventure, believing he lives in the best of all possible worlds, which is managed by the Watchmaker. He meets with misadventures in the capitol city, catches momentary religious fervor, gets mixed up with terrorists, works in a carnival, pursues a woman who rejects him, searches for a lost land, and loses everything. At the end of his life, like Candide, he decides that, Watchmaker or not, the best thing to do is to is to tend your garden, nurturing love and respect from the others around you and letting go of grudges.
Musically, the Canadian trio are firing on all cylinders. Loud, heavy rock riffs abound, with knotty guitar, growling bass, and a unique barrage of percussives. Highlights include the soaring title track, the muscular arpeggios of "The Anarchist", or the driving guitar chords of "Wish Them Well." Some echos are heard from Rush songs past, but even familiar riffs have new life breathed into them in this setting. Geddy's voice is a little more warbly than usual, but there are great vocal moments, and most of the melody is carried by guitar and bass anyway. Clockwork Angels is a welcome return to form for progressive rock's best power trio.
Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 muscular arpeggios
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