Following Neil Peart’s demise in January 2020, surviving Rush members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson determined to not transfer on with out their longtime drummer. They did not rule out working collectively sooner or later, however so far as new Rush music, the door was closed.
It has been a comparatively quiet two years since then, with different initiatives – reissues, a pinball machine, craft beer – filling the areas normally reserved for brand spanking new music. Nonetheless, guitarist Lifeson discovered time to place collectively Envy of None, a band that includes Andy Curran (from ’80s Canadian hard-rockers Coney Hatch), Alfio Annibalini and singer Maiah Wynne. However true to Lifeson’s suggestion, the group’s self-titled debut album sounds little just like the arching prog-rock Rush performed for greater than 4 many years.
The foundational components of Envy of None are even totally different: pop-rock vs. prog, simple music buildings vs. swerving flights of instrumental fancy, feminine vocalist vs. high-voiced male singer. That offers the challenge a way of transferring on for Lifeson, a stressed artist who by no means needed to be pigeonholed as a prog or hard-rock guitarist. However that additionally means Envy of None seemingly will not join with most followers of the Canadian energy trio.
The outcomes are nearer to the early ’00s interval when rock bands threw somewhat little bit of every little thing at their music to see what sticks than any interval of Rush, however there’s not a lot right here that may excite the common Evanescence fan. Lifeson takes Envy of None on a collection of facet journeys – from the radio-friendly “By no means Stated I Love You” to the brooding “Look Inside” – with out ever touchdown at a vacation spot. After many years of arena-rock expectations, you may’t blame him.
The album is finest at tweaking these top-of-the-century benchmarks for contemporary occasions: “Liar” swims by means of sludgy synth murk like a less-menacing 9 Inch Nails. “Previous Strings,” Wynne’s most participating efficiency, simmers over a digital panorama whereas by no means dropping itself in dramatic overkill. Within the closing “Western Sundown,” Lifeson lastly will get round to his former group, honoring his late Rush bandmate with a reserved, principally acoustic instrumental. It is a grounding second on a quite groundless file.
Rush Albums Ranked
We study Rush’s 19 studio albums, from 1974’s muscular self-titled launch to a collection of outstanding late-career triumphs.
Rush’s Outsized Affect
