Review: Rush - Clockwork Angels

Finally.  This is the album that old-time Rush fans have been waiting for.  Let's see:
- Concept album with Neil Peart's signature lyrics?  Check!
- More guitars than synthesizers?   Check!
- Alex Lifeson turned loose with loads of solos?  Check!
- Geddy Lee laying down some of his tastiest bass grooves since 'Hemispheres'?  Check!
- A return to the heavy prog that Rush pioneered in the seventies and early eighties?  Check!
Overall, this album is (in my opinion) their best since 'Moving Pictures'.  'Headlong Flight' is the standout track on the album, but there really isn't a clunker in the bunch.  My suggestion is to break out the booklet that comes with the album, sit down and listen to the entire thing from start to finish.  You'll be treated to truly outstanding musicianship and writing throughout. 
I do have a couple of minor complaints.  As many Rush fans know, Neil went back prior to the release of 'Vapor Trails' and completely changed his approach to the drums.  He's still great, but I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the drum parts he has written since he's made that change.  I couldn't help but think as I listened to the album 'What would this have sounded like if Neil was writing the parts prior to his philosophy change'.   My other complaint is with the mixing and mastering of the album.  Unfortunately, this album is mixed and mastered like a modern metal album.  What that means is that they compressed the hell out of it.  When you compress music in order to increase the overall volume, the first things you lose are fidelity and dynamics.  If you take a look at this thing in a wave editor, you can quickly see how squashed the music is.  This is by no means a problem with just this album - unfortunately it has quickly become the standard for mastering houses to apply compression at every stage.  The resulting mix sounds dull, and almost as if it was optimized for AM radio.  There is in fact a huge debate in the musical community on what is the best way to handle this.  My thoughts have always been that I'd rather the music not be compressed.  This allows it to breathe and actually have some dynamic change between the quiet and loud parts. In addition, if you've got a good stereo you can turn it up and hear things you didn't hear before.  So, the moral of the story is don't compress, just turn up the volume!