The truth be told, I’ve never really enjoyed John Petrucci’s
\nwork that much. I always found Dream Theater rather boring, the way
\nthey drag out their songs. However, I had heard some good things
\nabout this band, and when my friend was selling it for $10, I
\ndecided to take it off his hands and give it a spin. I was somewhat
\nexpecting another Dream Theater snooze-fest, but as soon as I slid
\nit into my CD tray and pressed play, I was blown off my feet by
\nPetrucci’s blazing tremolo riff in the opening track, “Paradigm
\nShift.” I knew I was in for one wild ride.<\/p>\n
Liquid Tension Experiment is really a paragon of a supergroup.
\nFeaturing Petrucci on guitar, Mike Portnoy on drums, Jordan Rudess
\non keyboards (all three played in Dream Theater) and Tony Levin (of
\nKing Crimson fame) on bass. And, much like their other bands, these
\nboys are very progressive. The listener is taken on a wild,
\nroller-coaster ride on this all-instrumental album. It takes you
\nfrom the spacey feel of the track “Universal Mind,” to the track
\nthat seems like it was recorded underwater, “Osmosis.”<\/p>\n
Some of the greatest guitar material ever is on this album.
\nAfter the blitzing intro of “Paradigm Shift,” and the emotional
\n“Osmosis,” we go to the truly prog track “Kindred Spirits.” All of
\nthese tracks are great, but much like an arc, its zenith is at the
\ntop. That is the fifth track, “Freedom of Speech.” Starting off
\nwith a beautiful keyboard piece, Petrucci builds upon it, with
\nmarvellous guitar leads. Portnoy’s drums are impeccable, and he
\nreally gets the rhythm section up. Then, as we near the 4:30 mark,
\nPetrucci and Rudess begin to build up the suspense, and then
\nunleash it all in one fabulous display of instrumental
\nflawlessness. Petrucci and Rudess continue to show off their
\ntalents by having a little duelling match. Such precision and
\nextreme skill in this “duelling,” as it’s often called, has not
\nbeen utilized so well since Murray and Smith. By the eight-minute
\nmark, they wind it down to its placid end, with the intro solo also
\nfinishing off the song. Of the many songs I have heard in my life,
\nthis is a head — nay, a whole body above most others.<\/p>\n
After that spectacle, we are given another beautiful track in
\n“State of Grace,” a slow, yet emotional track, and then we’re hit
\nwith another lightning intro riff in “Universal Mind,” which, to
\nme, helps summarize all the other tracks on the album.<\/p>\n
The only problem with this album is tracks four and six. Both
\nare short tracks, mostly starring Levin and his bass. Now, I’m a
\nbig fan of King Crimson and Levin, but I find these tracks (titled
\n“The Stretch” and “Chris and Kevin’s Excellent Adventure,”
\nrespectively) to be horribly boring, and a waste of time. It
\nreminds me of what Yes did on
\nFragile<\/i>, except they had reason to, and I don’t think LTE
\ndid.<\/p>\n
The last track on this album is titled “Three Minute Warning.”
\nFor people who haven’t ever seen this album or any of the songs on
\nit, don’t let the name throw you — the song actually clocks in at
\n28:31. The back of the case even comes with its own disclaimer,
\nwhich reads “Caution: ‘Three Minute Warning’ is not for the
\nmusically faint-hearted, impatient, or critics of the extreme
\nself-indulgence. If you fall into any of the above categories,
\nplease hit the stop button on your CD player after track #8.” (I
\nsuggest that Mr. Thelen stay away). Self-indulgent indeed, this
\ntrack plods along for awhile, with some odd little keyboard notes
\nover the rhythm section. Petrucci’s guitar finally kicks in at the
\nthree-minute mark (coincidence?) and things start getting
\ninteresting. Rudess’s keyboards pick up, and the rhythm section of
\nPortnoy and Levin sound better. For the rest of the song, it kind
\nof drags on, exciting sometimes, boring others. Portnoy’s drumming
\nreally sounds good on here, and Rudess’s keyboards are top-drawer
\n(like always). Petrucci sounds good as well. Levin shines for some
\nmoments, but is the least prominent of all. Overall, this track is
\npretty good, but definitely not the best on this album.<\/p>\n
I often find myself comparing this band to its contemporary,
\nPlanet X. Liquid Tension Experiment seem to be more\u2026.well,
\nexperimental, with their flying keyboards and guitars, yet sound
\nmore down-to-earth production-wise. If you are a fan of Planet X,
\nor King Crimson, or Dream Theater-hell, any prog rock\/metal group
\nfor that matter, check out this album (and their second release,
\ncreatively titled
\nLiquid Tension Experiment II<\/i>) and be captivated by their
\nmajesty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":24703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5942],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37857","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-liquid-tension-experiment","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37857"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}