Snakes And Arrows
You’ve surely heard “Tom Sawyer” on your local rock station a thousand times before, or you may have tried to master “YYZ” in the latest installment of Guitar Hero. But if you happen to be just a casual listener, Snakes and Arrows doesn’t have much in store for you. On the other hand, if you’re a fan, I’m sure you have already been eating this one up. “Far Cry” is both the lead single and lead-off track and gets things moving nicely with a strong hook. The artwork that accompanies the lyrics is a lightning bolt striking a baby carriage at the end of a pier. It may not make much sense, but it looks cool. After this first track, things get a bit dull. “Armor and Sword” is a mid-tempo acoustic track with not much going for it, and “Workin’ Them Angels” is prodding, and Neil Peart’s drum fills are the only interesting thing about it.
The production on the album is crisp and captures each instrument very well, but the songwriting is lacking for the most part. “Spindrift” is notable mostly for the dark, foreboding riff that propels the song. “The Way the Wind Blows” is clearly about the Iraq War and the Bush administration with lines like, “From the Middle East to the Middle West/ Like crusaders in holy alliance”. The song winds up being more positive than one would expect with the assurance that “We can only grow the way the wind blows.” There are three instrumentals, two of which are good (“The Main Monkey Business” and “Malignant Narcissism”). “Good News First” features vocal effects that give Geddy Lee an echo sort of like Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight”. “We Hold On” closes the album with a solid groove. Nothing else has been this unabashedly catchy and rocking since the opening track, and that’s a shame. In essence: Don’t rush out to buy the
new Rush album. Now let me hang myself for that awful pun.
