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Liquid Tension Experiment > Liquid Tension Experiment 2 > 1999, CD, Avalon (Japan) > Reviews
Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2

The Liquid Tension Experience Part 2 - 88%

DawnoftheShred, November 7th, 2007

If there was anyone out there who thought that the first Liquid Tension Experiment album just wasn’t enough prog insanity to shatter their fragile minds, then it’s followup should do just that. Though it really isn’t much different from the original, the new set of songs fit perfectly into the band’s catalogue and the album as a whole serves as a fine complement to its predecessor.

John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, Mike Portnoy, and Tony Levin all return for this project and every one plays at their prime. Rudess flexes his jazz piano skills a bit more and Portnoy’s playing is even crazier, but for the most part, these guys are just doing what they do best. To say that this album really improves over the other is difficult to argue; these guys are established professionals,, so they don’t have any rookie debut flaws to overcome. But the albums are similar in execution. Everything is instrumental once again, the songs still incorporate elements of old prog and new with plenty of unexpected facets that are completely random, and again much of this is improvised. The songs are a bit longer than before, but more focused. There are no tracks that isolate any of the instruments (aside from the mellow closer “Hourglass”); rather, everyone participates fully in the madness. The dynamics of the songs are still insane as well, with transitions from heavy Dream Theater style prog metal to mellow jazzier passages to extended jams of all sorts; all of which are seamless. And once again, the music is still just as beautiful and immersive as ever before, not to mention just as well-produced.

A track by track analysis for this album is a bit unnecessary, as all of the songs are so multi-dimensional that it becomes difficult to generalize their differences. Suffice it to say, “Acid Rain” is one of the heavier, more outstanding tracks, “Chewbacca” is the most experimental and features long drawn-out King Crimson-style percussive transitions, and “914” has a bass-heavy funk to it. Expect LOTS of riff metamorphisms, exotic textures (specifically the many parts of this album that remind me of old video game music), and atmospheric effects in every track.

So altogether, LTE2 is a fine complement to both the first album and progressive music in general. It’s not accessible or groundbreaking enough to be a universal classic, but it perfectly executes what it set out to do.

This will knock your socks off - 98%

Glory_Hole_Freak, February 2nd, 2004

Blasting into Acid Rain just like the first LTE album blasts into paradigm shift Portnoy and the gang once again grab there audiences attention and show listeners they mean business within the first few seconds of this hour and fourteen minute long "musical adventure" Next up a very Rudess inspired track "Biaxident" with a great riff and very catchy Latin sorta thing going on. How Petrucci throws in one of the heaviest solo's on the album without screwing up this song's flow is unbelievable. Next up one of the only tracks I don’t care for "914" seems to be all over the place musically. I’m guessing it was a jam that they liked so they threw it on the CD. Sounds very Levin/Rudess inspired. "Another dimension" with the beat inspired from an old Beastie Boys song (Check the commentary on Portnoys Liquid Drum Theater DVD for more details on that) is a great tune that adds more and more to the album at 3:50 in Rudess busts out one hell of a solo that just sounds so great. Then at around 6:25 listeners take a trip to Italy for about 30 seconds, giving the track a nice touch. Now comes one of my favorite songs in the album "When the Water Breaks" Cheesy baby screaming in the beginning or not, this song rules. 17 minutes of pure musical heaven. The stuff on this song cant be explained in words. So bitchin. Look out for Petrucci's killer solo's at the 1:03 mark the 10:03 mark and 13:30 mark (there are more :-) "Chewbacca" is up next with a heavier guitar feel to it nothing to special in this song except for the soloing at around 9:00 to 12:00 everyone in the band gets a turn and its really great stuff. If it wasn’t obvious that Jordan Rudess was the man, he proves himself in the opening to "Liquid Dreams" A great little song clocking in a bit under 11 minutes. For the last track "hourglass" is a wonderful short song that ends the album off in style. I have to give this album a 98 because it is just so fuckin good. I have never heard anything like it, and I doubt I will again. I know 3 out of the 4 members are in Dream Theater now and they are pumping out some killer stuff. But add Levin and you got something magical going on. Pure Musical Genius.

Wow. - 97%

HealthySonicDiet, December 20th, 2003

The second album from the Dream Theater side project Liquid Tension Experiment is absolutely wonderful. I still prefer Dream Theater over any side project of theirs, but this has got to be their best side project. Over an hour of funky, jazzy, fast, progressive metal that is particularly indulgent without being incoherent. The absence of vocals bothered me quite a bit at first, but as with Gordian Knot, I came to appreciate it.

Basically this music is Dream Theater without sticks up their asses. Acid Rain is the opener and man is it ever awesome. Lightning-fast picking and and overwhelming groove will make you say "Whoa, what was that?"

Biaxident relies heavily on piano and jazz composition and it's very relaxing.

914 is a little segue that gives way to the wicked Another Dimension, and then to the dreamy ballad-turned-riff-fest When the Water Breaks, which is supposedly inspired by John Petrucci having to take some time off from his musical duties to concentrate on his wife and their new baby. This is sure to put you to sleep at first, but later on it picks up.

Chewbacca is very spacey, and thus, aptly titled due to the presence of Chewbacca in space. There is a very odd sound reminiscent of wind midpoint through the song and there's a series of dainty bass riffs. Quite a quirky song that Chewbacca is.

Liquid Dreams comes next and I must say I despise the title. I don't want to be reminded of O-Town!

Musically, I can't recall this song, but it's still quite good. Hourglass is last and it's another calm song. I can't remember much about it either, but it's still great. I recommend this album to fans of Dream Theater, Spiral Architect, Gordian Knot, Cynic, Aghora, Atheist, and other bands of that ilk.

Even more wanking around - 90%

OSheaman, July 14th, 2003

Liquid Tension Experiment 2, so named because it's the sequel to Liquid Tension Experiment, is more of Dream Theater (minus LaBrie and Myung) and Tony Levin making an album that basically says "Look at us! We're good at our instruments!"

As with the previous LTE, this album consists of a number of songs completely unrelated to each other except for the fact that you, personally, will never be able to play any of them. Nice songs on here, and the balance and solo time is pretty evenly distributed. Acid Rain is definitely the best song on here, with some great wankery by Petrucci and the fastest damn keyboard solo I've ever heard (and I've heard a lot of fast keyboard solos in my time) at 2:16. Biaxident sounds like nothing as much as a particularly difficult Phish song. 914 is a very cool song with some interesting keyboard sounds and a nice, throbbing bass, although I frankly have no clue what inspired them to write this. Another Dimension is a collection of solos that I have the sneaking feeling are improvised, while Hourglass is a particularly slow and melodic song. Liquid Dreams . . . I still can't figure out what that song's all about. It sounds like the background for a underground cavern level of a video game. When the Water Breaks is a strange little tribute to Portnoy's kid that starts out mid-paced but gets more frantic and exciting around the 8-minute mark. Finally, Chewbacca sounds like Mike Patton came into the studio and offered to sell them a spare Mr. Bungle recording without his vocals.

Overall, it's worth it. It's pretty cool to listen to on long road trips. You certainly won't be thrashing to it that often, so you'll probably need some other activity to be doing simultaneously, like driving or reading. It's great background music, and definitiely worth the money if only for the entertainment value alone.