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I have already purchased LTE's first CD, which was wholly triumphant, and I decided to venture seventeen dollars towards getting their second album. From the super high intensity of Acid Rain to the smooth bass groove in 914 to the spacy, surreal tunes in Liquid Dreams, this is a very satisfactory CD. Their musicianship is completely off the chain, and I hope they get together again.
Even more indulgently epic than their last gleefully bombastic rock attack, LTE's second and final offering so far was again packed with fluid dynamics capable of wowing hardened virtuoso-minded listeners, but looses some of that tension because sonic grandstanding consumes the forefront.
Their music may be a bit much for casual listeners, but that is not to say that they are too wild and are just noise to the untrained ear or something. What the Flecktones do with their jazz backgrounds (shameless mixing of genres, and really stretching musical boundaries) I feel LTE does with its metal roots.
This one explores more into different genres and styles. I would say the better of their first 2 albums.
I sort of like to compare them (oddly enough) to another favorite band of mine, the Flecktones. As always their technical prowess is stunning, but I like how this one moves a little farther away from the near continuous wailing 80's guitar of the first album.
The music can get a bit cheesy at times perhaps but all in the name of playful exploration. The result, I feel, is stunningly similar with obvious stylistic differences.Regardless I would highly suggest this to any musicians, or people who like to listen to technical music.
Their songs are still very consonant and approachable, but some of the nuance may be lost on those who do not stop to think about their music.
Unquestionably, it is a labor of love. Every once in a while geniuses meet and proceed to prepare a masterpiece. Such is this case. For all proggers it is a must buy. Enjoy.
Liquid Tension Experiment's second outing is another classic outing into the unlikely marriage of prog metal, jazz fusion, improv, and a smorgasbord of other styles. '914' is a short but sweet improv piece, 'When the Water Breaks' and 'Chewbacca' sound almost completely improvised and have yet to grow on me but are impressive in their own right. The best track here, however, is the stunning 'When the Water Breaks', an epic ballad somewhat analogous to LTE1's 'Freedom of Speech', though much longer, more epic, and containing arguably more emotional and soul-melting melodies. It also features one of the hardest-to-play licks I've ever attempted to learn, before the guitar-keyboard unison section with the fusion-y free drums. I think not. As a guitarist I've been learning this track for the past month and it's this lick that continues to frustrate me in its difficulty. 'Acid Rain' starts the disc off on a fast and furious note which blows my mind everytime I hear it and rockets by so fast that before you know it the whole 6 minutes is past. The disc concludes with the slow and beautiful acoustic piece 'Hourglass' which proves once and for all to Petrucci haters who claim he's "all about flash" that this man is just as amazing when he plays slow and clean.
'Biaxident' and 'Another Dimension' are excellent as well: the former being a sort of ballad, with its piano intro that for some reason reminds me of water (the cover perhaps). and the latter being another exercise in bombastic soul-smashing prog-metal-fusion. Just stunning.I'm not exactly sure if LTE1 or this disc is superior, but does it matter. In short, essential.Best Tracks: When The Water Breaks, Acid Rain, Biaxident, Another Dimension
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