User Page: Kestrel

I admit... I'm not a Tool fan. However, I figured I would give this album a shot and some of the songs did impress me. Vicarious, Jambi, 10,000 Days, The Pot and Right in Two are pretty good songs. Some of the songs are just plain boring and aren't worth listening to: Wings for Marie and Intension. They make me like this album a lot less. The rest of the tracks (Lipan Conjuring, Lost Keys and Viginti Tres) aren't really spectacular but serve their purpose and also aren't significant enough to really affect the rating I'm ending up giving the album. So all in all, a decent effort but nothing spectacular. If you're a fan of lyrics though, check this album out. I'm going to give their other albums a shot as well, perhaps I'll like them...

It's a shame that the album with what in my opinion is Rush's best song, also has songs that detract from it. The opening track is definitely my favorite song by everyone and has been since I heard it for the first time maybe 6 or 7 years ago (around age 10 or so). With the exception of "2112" and "Something for Nothing", the tracks aren't all that special. Not until their next album would they release a record that was strong throughout. If I were to buy this album already knowing the songs, I'd only be buying it for the title track.

Oh man, this is what made prog rock great. You would never hear anything like this coming from MTV (I hope I have to change that statement!). Great musicianship, brilliant composition and insightful lyrics. Even though the tracks are about 20 minutes a piece, they never get boring (aside from one patch in part 2). Everyone must hear this.

A great debut for an amazing band. Although Pain of Salvation has somewhat shifted their style since this album and produced great, if not better works, some songs on here remain among their best, such as "Winning a War" and "Revival". Just a sweet album.

BE is perhaps the best album to come out in years. Daniel Gildenlow brings forth a very intriguing concept of God and why things are the way they are. The album is full of insightful lyrics, further showing that Gildelow is one of the best lyricists today. Also, shifting from albums such as Entropia and Remedy Lane, Pain of Salvation has help from a small orchestra, which makes the album far more interesting than previous efforts. The album also contains dramatic shifts from tracks consisting solely of speech to tracks with acoustic guitars to tracks with heavy metal riffs. This album isn't the same as many other greats in that it isn't full of great, independent songs. Many of the tracks which could be considered weaker, are indeed weaker when listened to by themselves. However, once each track is put into its place, it contributes to the work as a whole. Take for example, "Vocari Dei". Even though it has some nice music, it is comprised entirely of messages left on an answering machine. Who wants to listen to that as an individual track? It wouldn't work on its own but when included in BE, it adds to the concept. BE definitely isn't a collection of tracks, but truly, an album and what every album should aspire to be.

One of the best albums ever recorded. Simple as that. It features some of their best songs such as the title track and "Xanadu". The album goes from pretty ballads like to straight-out rockin' musicwhile showing off each member's skills. One of the few albums I can listen to without wanting to skip to the next song because of a boring patch. It's just an amazing piece of work.