LIQUID
TENSION EXPERIMENT
A sort of instrumental prog-rock/prog-metal supergroup,
Liquid Tension Experiment features Dream Theater's John Petrucci (guitar) and
Mike Portnoy (drums), keyboardist Jordan Rudess (who has worked with the Dixie
Dregs and has since joined Dream
Theater), and bassist extraordinaire Tony Levin (King
Crimson, Peter Gabriel, and
many others). The group issued its self-titled debut in 1998 on the Magna Carta
label and regrouped the following year for Liquid Tension Experiment 2.
Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (Magna Carta) 1999
1. "Acid Rain"
(6:35)
2. "Biaxident" (7:40)
3. "914" (4:01)
4. "Another Dimension" (9:50)
5. "When the Water Breaks" (16:58)
6. "Chewbacca" (13:35)
7. "Liquid Dreams" (10:48)
8. "Hourglass" (4:26)
Second instrumental side project from Dream Theater & Company. There are two epic length pieces on this disc; the 17-minute "When the Water Breaks," and the slightly shorter "Chewbacca." Both are well written, and do more than just show how proficient and skilled the musicians are. In other words, the band has successfully written real songs, as opposed to just writing rhythms for which to solo over. The music really does sound like Dream Theater-esque progressive metal without the vocals. Unfortunately for me, I find this type of thing more as background music, so this will not be a frequent player in my cd player although I am sure it will go nicely for some late night listens.