Review Summary: A 10th anniversary look back at Rush's final album, a flawless record that sees the trio go out on the top of their game
Time moves fast for a lot of people. Over the past few years especially, time has seemed to lose all meaning, leaping by from day to day. You blink, and suddenly it’s next year. Or maybe the show you’ve loved for so long has aired its final episode. Or maybe an anniversary that felt so far away was now here. About a week or so ago as of writing this, I had a moment of clarity that matches that description almost to the letter. When a playlist is set to shuffle, you can rediscover a song that you had come close to forgetting about. And when the opening bells of “Caravan” rang in, I realized that Rush’s 20th and final studio effort,
Clockwork Angels had hit its 10th anniversary a few days back. Nostalgia flooded me, and I just had to give it a review in honor of Rush’s swan song.
I think a lot of bands that have gone on for as long as Rush did risk the possibility of running off the rails, their work slowly declining in quality as they limp onwards towards the inevitable end of their career. Rush, on the other hand, went out on top. If any album had to be the final one from them, I’m glad it was
Clockwork Angels. It’s passionate, it’s heavy, it’s lyrically gorgeous, throw in other similar adjectives and positive appraisals of the sort. And it all represents Rush blending their hard rock, almost metal sound of the album with the grand sci-fi stories that made them popular way back in the 70s, a wonderfully crafted steampunk story about the balance between chaotic freedom and rigid order, told in the way that only Neil Peart could.
What shocks me the most about this album is how well it holds up tracklist-wise. 1 hour and 6 minutes, and none of it feels like filler. From the explosive intro track “Caravan”, to grand spectacles like the title track, to regretful reflection on “Halo Effect”, every track feels like it has its place, and no track is truly skippable. It’s an album experience like no other, backed up by a mix that is undeniably loud like 2002’s
Vapor Trails, but is much clearer this time around, giving room for each individual member to shine, whether it be Geddy Lee’s sublime bass opening to “Seven Cities of Gold”, Alex Lifeson’s incredible guitar that rings in “BU2B”’s opening moments, or Neil’s powerful drumwork on tracks like “The Anarchist”.
Special mention needs to be given to the final track, “The Garden,” a beautiful closer not just to the album, but to Rush’s career as a whole. It’s insanely poetic, in a way, that Rush’s final song is one of reflection, a song that reflects on the measure of one’s life being about love and respect, growing and nurturing a beautiful garden. After all, is that not what Rush did throughout their 40+ year career? Through love and respect, for their music and their fans, they created one of the most lasting legacies in progressive rock. It’s almost eerie how fitting this song is as a look back on not just the protagonist’s journey, but the band’s journey as well.
Clockwork Angels is the culmination of 19 previous studio recordings, 44 years of creating music, and 3 guys giving us some of the most powerful, emotional, and thought-provoking tunes one may hear in their lifetime. It is the perfect exclamation mark to a storied career, one that I hope will always be remembered as one of Rush’s finest albums.
