This next album is long – I wouldn’t have been ready to review it this soon except fate intervened when I forgot my access card at home. That extra commute time is just what Dr. Music ordered and…here we are.
Disc 1829 is…Clockwork Angels
Artist: Rush
Year of Release: 2012
What’s up with the Cover? What time is it? Why, two tines and quadricross past the tridentulon, as anyone can plainly see!
I could explain how this clock is floating in a red storm of chaos as well, but that would make even less sense than that previous sentence.
Despite the weirdness of it all, Rush fans know exactly what time it is. 9:12. In the evening. Which is…well, if you know, you know.
How I Came To Know It: I was already a Rush fan when this came out, so this was just me buying their latest record.
How It Stacks Up: I have 19 Rush albums, which I acknowledge is a lot of Rush albums. All of them, in fact. “Clockwork Angels” is in the middle of the pack – still awesome, but only able to land at #10 due to heavy competition at the top.
Ratings: 4 stars
“Clockwork Angels” would prove to be Rush’s last studio album. For a lot of bands the last record is the final whisper of talent before the doors of time lock them in and consign them to memories of their former greatness. Not so, Rush. With “Clockwork Angels” the trio demonstrated they still had plenty left in the tank, delivering yet another great record in an already impressive discography.
The first thing I noticed about “Clockwork Angels” was the crunch. Latter-days Rush tend toward a lot of complex explorations of sound, and while it is candy for the ears, it also sometimes loses a bit of the edge that makes rock and roll…rock and roll. I should note that even when Rush isn’t biting as hard, it is still awesome (to wit: the brilliance of the very synthy “Hold Your Fire” reviewed way back at Disc 410).
For all that, the thump of “Clockwork Angels” immediately establishes itself. This record has plenty of hair tossing riffs. This being Rush, don’t expect a song to dwell on any one riff for too long though – the boys are as committed as ever as switching things up multiple times within a single song, and dozens of times across a record. But within all that frenetic brilliance, this record hits harder than most.
As ever we are treated to the expansive mind of lyricist Neil Peart, who never found an intellectual concept he wasn’t willing to dive down to the bottom of, punch through that bottom, and come back up through a bizarro world that reflected whatever he discovered in a new and creative light. Here, Peart embraces a steampunk aesthetic. Many were doing this in 2012 (steampunk was a bit of a thing for a while there) but few did it in as interesting and unique way as Peart.
His drumming is also powerful, and he embraces the low end of this record, hitting hard but as technically brilliant as ever (love it all, but on this listen “Carnies” stood out in particular). There aren’t a lot of bands that you can just sit back and enjoy just the drumming, but Rush is one of them.
Peart died early in 2020, leaving a big hole in the music world with his passing. To read my tribute to Neil, click here.
Even when singing about nerdy sci fi/alternative reality stuff, Rush always find a way to reveal their sensitive side, and my favourite entry on “Clockwork Angels” is “Wish Them Well”. The older I get, the more inclined I am to pass on pointless conflict with random idiots. Life’s just too short to waste time on altercations. Rush embraces this strategy. Sample lyric:
“People
who judge without a measure of mercy
All the victims who will never learn
Even the lost ones, you can only give up on
Even the ones who make you burn
“Thank
your stars you're not that way
Turn your back and walk away
Don't even pause and ask them why
Turn around and say goodbye”
I like that they take the time to say ‘goodbye’ as they walk away. Even when giving someone the snub, Rush are polite about it.
I admit that despite my love for this record, it had been a while since I put it on. Rush is a band that infuses a lot of dense musical concepts into their work, and it doesn’t lend itself to a casual listen, or a party anthem. Nevertheless, revisiting “Clockwork Angels” was a joy and an overall reminder to revisit their music more often. There’s always something new to discover and even at their heaviest, this is a band that at its core is about being thoughtful and self-examined. Chicken soup for a complicated multiverse.
Best tracks: Caravan, Carnies, Halo Effect, Seven Cities of Gold, The Wreckers, Wish Them Well
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