review by thomas

Second album by the Canadian trio and the first one with drummer Neil Peart. Slightly better than their first effort but this is still a weak album. It starts off good though, with the Rush classic "Anthem". A killer! Only "By-Tor and the Snowdog", a nine minute mini-epic, holds the same class. The drumming on these two songs are really amazing, this is how the drums should sound like all the time. "Beneath, Between and Behind" are a decent rocker. This album is still - like their first - primarily influenced by Led Zeppelin but Rush were beginning to carve out their own sound on "Anthem" and "By-Tor and the Snowdog", just listen to the bass work on the latter!

Not an essential album, but on the other hand "Anthem" and "By-Tor..." are worth the album on their own.