Project Description
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LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT
‘LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT 3’
Album Review
(22nd February, 2021)
Reviewer – Chris Reid
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“What happens, when you put four of the most talented musicians on the planet in one room? LTE. We all have been waiting for this album to happen for a very long time and it makes us very proud to be releasing this album. This one is for the fans!” – Thomas Waber, InsideOutMusic Label Manager
“We’ve all known Thomas Waber for a very long time and Jordan and I recently discovered how great it was to finally get to work together when Dream Theater joined the Inside Out family a few years ago. There really is no better home for LTE and we all look forward to doing great things together!” – John Petrucci
“Myself, and John, have known Thomas Waber since we met on the very first Dream Theater European tour in 1993 … since then I have worked with him and Inside Out for the past 20 years with Transatlantic, The Neal Morse Band and Sons Of Apollo. When LTE finally reunited this summer, we knew there was no other label that we could call home” – Mike Portnoy
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Liquid Tension Experiment (LTE) is an progressive metal supergroup consisting of Mike Portnoy (Ex-Dream Theater, Transatlantic, Sons of Apollo), Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) & John Petrucci (Dream Theater). That’s a lot of references to Dream Theater in an opening sentence, but it wasn’t always that way. Liquid Tension Experiment was formed in 1997 prior to Rudess joining Dream Theater (1999), so when this group was conceived the idea of Portnoy & Petrucci playing alongside both Levin and Rudess was somewhat unique.
Fast forward a decade and Mike Portnoy did the unthinkable when choose to leave Dream Theater in 2010. The absence of Portnoy in Dream Theater has created a lot of interest in idea of LTE reforming. There is no doubt that seeing Portnoy play alongside Petrucci and Rudess once again has sentimental value.
Moving on another decade and the COVID-19 pandemic has essentially put international bands on an indefinite touring hiatus. This has provided a window of opportunity for LTE to write and record their 3rd release. LTE 3 is the long awaited 3rd album, due for release in March this year, some 22 years since LTE released their original 2 LP’s in 1998 and 1999.
The album itself is everything you’d want to hear from the reunited Liquid Tension Experiment. The ‘Big 3’ on this album are Hypersonic, The Passage of Time & Key to the Imagination – these are top class, virtuosic, instrumental tracks that will turn heads and satisfy long terms fans. Hearing Portnoy stretch out and play towards the top end of his capability will scratch the itch for many who may be missing him playing in Dream Theater.
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The band released a teaser trailer,
created by Christian Rios, which you can see here:
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Whilst not as compelx Beating the Odds is a fantastic track with a really strong lead melodies – it’s the sort of track that could easily be on one of Rudess or Petrucci’s solo albums. It has an almost Joe Satriani style vibe in terms of structure and hook.
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Liquid Evolution and Chris & Kevin’s Amazing Odyssey are essentially extended Jams centred around some interesting ideas which I’m assuming Tony Levin brought to the table. I must admit I find these tracks to be some of the more interesting on the release as they don’t sound at all like ideas I’ve heard Portnoy/Petrucci/Rudess explore before. They have an Experimental edge that I find quite satisfying.
George Gershwin’s classic number Rhapsody in Blue gets a run with an extended jam and elaboration – this feels a little bit like a bonus track to my ears but contains plenty of virtuosic moments. Shades Of Hope is a nice, concise ballad style track which shares a lot of harmonic similarities to some of the softer arrangements on Dream Theater’s The Astonishing album – it’s a well written piece and it breaks the shred up nicely.
No doubt the selling point of this release is hearing Portnoy play with his long-time friends and ex-Dream Theater bandmates. Portnoy still has the chops and the collective chemistry is strong, but I’d be lying if I said that there was much on this release that is overly unique or fresh sounding – whilst the album is impeccably created and executed, there is no doubt that the majority of the ideas and structures will be familiar to long standing Dream Theater fans. This isn’t a criticism, it’s just the reality of the situation as I see/hear it – Petrucci and Rudess have worked together for so long now that their compositional style is so heavily embedded into their musical DNA that you almost know what you’re going to get when you press play, whether they have Portnoy or Mangini alongside them on drums. Due to this I’m unsure how often I’ll feel compelled to revisit this release in full – after all if you wanted to hear Portnoy, Rudess and Petrucci at their most vital then you need to look no further than Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From a Memory. Never the less this is a very well executed release and is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the members involved.
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TONY LEVIN
FACEBOOK – TWITTER – INSTAGRAM
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JOHN PETRUCCI
FACEBOOK – TWITTER – INSTAGRAM
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MIKE PORTNOY
FACEBOOK – TWITTER – INSTAGRAM
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JORDAN RUDESS
FACEBOOK – TWITTER – INSTAGRAM
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Press Release 18th December, 2020 below HERE
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT
announce new album
to be released on
InsideOutMusic /
Sony Music Australia
TEASER TRAILER RELEASED!
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