Red Star: A Tribute To Rush

1) Anthem (Engrave Speed Death) 2) Working Man (Killing Field) 3) Bastille Day (Shallows Of The Mundane) 4) Subdivisions (Hostile Intent) 5) What You're Doing (Hate Theory) 6) Tears (Capital 2) 7) Passage To Bangkok (Scary German Guy) 8) Tom Sawyer (Disarray) 9)  10) Freewill (Mythiasin) 11) Red Barchetta (Prototype) 12) The Spirit Of The Radio (Premonition)

Regardless of what you may say of them, Rush are probably one of the most influential progressive rock groups of all time. Yeah, I do mean this. They weren’t the first band to intermix high technicality and complex time-signatures into hard rock, but they were among the most popular, and by doing so, they helped add the influence of classical music into the development of heavy metal. If Rush had never existed, it’d be hard for me to imagine what Metallica, Iron Madien, and Megadeth would sound like, since amidst all their thrashing about lies sharp, complex, and progressive arrangements that are reminiscent of Rush’s style.

But then, in 1999, a collection of obscure artists decided to create a tribute album dedicated around Rush's music. The basic idea is that twelve different bands cover twelve different Rush songs, putting emphasis on the heavy and rock aspect on their music by re-stylizing them as hardcore thrash music. Does it work? Here's what I thought of each and every track.

Anthem - Engrave Speed Death: No. You aren’t improving the sound by just acting a low, raspy heavy metal growl instead of Geddy Lee’s heilum level signing. In fact, you are only making it worse! And that’s all they add to the song! Literary, there’s almost nothing is different from the original, other than the horrendous singing. And the production is really muddy, and I should mention that this can be said for every single song here. 1/10. Off on a good start!

Working Man - Killing Field: Awful. It sounds like Metallica, but not Ride The Lightning-era Metallica, but Load-era Metallica. And, here we go again with the vocals, as the guy sounds like he’s trying to throw up. There is a decent guitar solo though, and it ends with the most hilarious AARLLLIGHHHTTTTTTTTTTTT I’ve ever heard. 2/10

Bastille Day - Shallows Of Mundane: Nooo. Shallows of the Mundane, why? They try to make the song speedier and more hardcore, but it just fails. The singer is just shouting his lyrics, and the band is just trashing about. I don’t really know what else to say. I’ll just give it a 1/10

Subdivisions - Hostile Intent: This is kind of interesting. I mean, this song is getting the typical metal treatment, but they seem to play the song straightforward otherwise, resulting in a mixture of 80s pop and death metal that doesn't gel well at all, yet comes off as strangely intriguing. So yeah, an unintentional 4/10

What You’re Doing - Hate Theory: You know, this actually could have worked, since this song comes from Rush’s first release which is the most basic hard rock album they made, and it actually starts out sounding like it’s going to be a decent metal rocker. But then, dear god, those bleeding vocals come in and just puke on the entire song. Plus, if I am correct (the vocalists growling makes it really hard to hear the lyrics), it sounds like they making the song needlessly vulgar, adding in “Motherfucker!!!!!!” at different points in the lyrics. Nice job! 3/10

Tears - Capital 2: Hey! This one is pretty alright! I mean, to be honest, I have not heard the original song, but there’s nothing that this cover does to make me believe it was anything other than great. It sounds like a power ballad, with there being a soft acoustic melody mixed with loud, antithetic guitars. It still sounds like a great song nevertheless, so yeah, not bad Capital 2! 6/10

Passage Of Bangkok - Scary German Guy: God damnit, what's up with these renditions??? This is yet another thrash rendition, but in this case, the singer doesn’t seem to be gurgling his throat, but rather screaming them as if he is having a melodramatic breakdown or something. The drums seem to be electronically processed or something, resulting in a really thin sound. I do admit some steam is picked up in middle, and I still find the song catchy even through the irritating vocals. Jonathan also commented that the bands name is worth some points on its own, but I’ll give it a 2/10

Tom Sawyer - Disarray: Oh. My. God. Stop with those obnoxious vocals. This style does not fit Rush’s music. I have nothing else to say, other than it's poorly made hardcore metal, just like everything else. 1/10

Temples Of Syrinx - Blood Coven: Oh joy, now there are two people rasping their throats at the same time, resulting in vocals that sound like they are coming from a mutant beast. Again, it’s done in the same thrash hardcore style, and I don’t really have much else to add other than the guitar solo is pretty okay. 2/10

Freewill - Mythiasin: Hey, this is a straightforward cover of the song! Unfortunately, it still sucks. The best way to describe this is that it sounds like a high school garage band rendition of the song, although the singer does a decent Geddy Lee impression. That takes some talent. 2/10

Red Barchetta - Prototype: This one actually comes close to actually being more than decent. I mean, the production on the most part is actually alright, though still a bit dirty, but the actual band covering is REALLY TIGHT. Unlike most everything else here, it sounds like these guys actually put work into this, and they seem to ingrain the heavy elements very well into the piece, rather than restructure it to sound metal. It still sounds like a standard cover of the song, but it still manages to capture the good elements of the original while toning the “rock” aspect up a notch. I mean, the original Red Barchetta wasn’t that hard rock to begin with, but Prototype seems to successfully put emphasis on that characteristic of the piece, thereby making it close to being great. However, the lead singers voice strikes it down from being fantastic to just merely good. See, the vocalist doesn’t do any ear piercing shrieking or disgusting gurgling, nor does he even try to imitate Geddy Lee’s voice. He just…sings. This guy’s got the most average, ordinary singing voice I’ve ever heard, and amidst the hard rocking backing music, it just doesn’t gel well. Oh well. Still gonna give them high points for putting in effort. 7/10

Spirit Of The Radio - Premonition: What’s up the last three covers being so straightforward? Like, everything else seemed to be so radically different from the originals, but these songs almost seem TOO close to the originals. But, oh my god, this guy’s voice is hilarious! Whereas Freewill had someone trying too hard to imitate Giddy Lee, and Red Barchetta just had someone not really giving a damn about making his voice sound different, this guy sings so low that it almost reaches operatic. Aside from that, I can’t say much else about this cover. It’s not really doing anything to the original version, but while Red Barchetta was exciting from it's tight and sharp playing, these guys, much like the band that covered Freewill, run through the song sloppily. Still, 5/10 for not being as horrible as everything else.

So, in conclusion, does Rush’s music still sound good when rearranged as hardcore thrash music?

The answer is no.

Why not? Well, despite that one could make the claim that Rush had an profound influence on heavy metal, they were never quite metal themselves. There was always element of whimsy and softness in their music, and these artists seem to completely disregard that. In fact, I think Rush are one the least ballsy hard rock bands I can think. They weren’t singing about death, or gore, or really anything hardcore, but instead were on the total opposite end of the spectrum, singing about science fiction and philosophy. Although they had a huge impact on heavy metal, at the end of the day, Rush were far more prog than metal. Hell, they were closer to pop than metal. So, almost nothing on this album works, because it often seems like many of the artists are trying to make Rush's music sound "evil" and "satanic", when those adjectives never applied to them in the first place.

However, at the same time, these people obviously weren’t even trying to make this a good tribute album, and I get the feeling that basically these bands just liked Rush and wanted to cover their music. There’s nothing wrong with that, and although I still I don’t think it’s very good, I don’t think they were trying to make it so. These guys sound like they were just having fun, and none of this is taken too seriously. Among all that, as horrifying as many of these renditions are, it’s never boring, and there are golden moments of unintentional hilarity. For this reason, I can say that this album is worth at least one listen, as a curious novelty.