Liquid Tension Experiment
Liquid Tension Experiment 2

Liquid Tension Experiment is a typically progressive group formed by 4 truly exceptional artists in composing and playing music. After a first album with decent success, in 1999, they created their second work, still completely instrumental. Before listening to it, I would say that one needs to have a lot of experience with the progressive style of Dream Theater (3 of them are part of it..) or something similar, otherwise, it's just boring.

The album begins with "Acid rain": powerful from the first notes. It's charged and full of rhythm..the first 4 - 5 minutes are a pleasure to listen to, but in the central part, even though the rhythm remains unchanged, the sound of the track is somewhat lost, and consequently the attention. Fortunately, this interval lasts only a few minutes, the final part gives depth back to the track. The following track "Biaxident" is this CD's little masterpiece: delicate notes are intertwined throughout, but beware, it's not the usual ballad with soft rhythms, here sweet sounds intertwine with more "hard" pieces without losing the thread or becoming boring. In the middle part, Rudess offers us his solo accompanied by Portnoy and Levin, in the finale a recall of the main melody with a stylish closing by Petrucci. Well.. what can I say... Beautiful. Sweet but at the same time fast and aggressive. "914" starts slowly with drums and bass setting the pace, then Rudess adds a bit of sound, but nothing more. Oriental sounds mix in, and they even seem from the '80s, frankly, it's a bit complicated to define it in two words... anyway, the fact is that this track is a rude awakening from the dreamlike atmospheres the 4 had previously given. "Another Dimension" starts well and continues even better, an excellent sound with Petrucci’s magic gives this track an extra gear, let's say it's closer to the late '90s Dream Theater style with the typical progressive metal (or rock, as you want) guitar and keyboard duets. Everything changes halfway through the song where you can even hear an accordion (nobody would expect that!!!), then turns to a classical guitar, and finally returns to their typical style to close it all. One more point.
The following "When The Water Breaks" initially resembles "Biaxident" in rhythm and composition, indeed it remains in a dreamlike atmosphere with strong presences of both Petrucci and Rudess. Typically Progressive! After about 10 minutes, the sound changes with the guitarist delighting the audience (not much, me) with fantastic riffs, but on the other hand, it's also true that you can easily get confused among the thousand notes played! The whole song goes smoothly apart from some superfluous solos, but this is typical of them, but then, not satisfied, in the last 5 seconds Portnoy & co. shoot us a horrendous skit taken I don't know where that kills the mood. WHY??? Anyway, it is followed by "Chewbacca": the strange backgrounds are annoying, not to mention the rest, I'm very sorry but this track is really bad, it has nothing, neither soul nor sense. Only a few minutes are decent. They could have spared it. "Liquid Dreams" is slow and rhythmic, Petrucci does not exist, it's boring and not exciting. Another point less. "Hourglass" is the last track, the beginning doesn't give much hope, it continues slowly, and you drag yourself to the end.

Eh, to recap, this work combines very well-done songs with real junk. I know that creating a completely instrumental CD is not easy, but I don't accept some tracks from artists of this kind. However, on the whole, it might be boring but if "taken" in the right doses, it's enjoyable. The only score I can give is 3, a middle ground let's say.