RUSH — Hold Your Fire (review)

RUSH — Hold Your Fire album cover Album · 1987 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Warthur
The whole of Rush's synth period took a good while to grow on me, and whilst Signals and Grace Under Pressure were able to win me over comparatively quickly, it's only lately that I've really warmed to Power Windows and Hold Your Fire, and Hold Your Fire is certainly the one I've warmed to least.

Power Windows was at the end of a day a solid album where it felt like they were beginning to repeat themselves as far as their post-Signals sound went, but they were still able to pull out a few more tricks here and there to keep things fresh. By comparison, Hold Your Fire comes across as a formulaic Rush-by-numbers album from their mid-1980s synthesiser era - and the fact that any Rush album could be called "formulaic" illustrates the magnitude of the problem.

It's still an entertaining enough release, but for the most part what's good about it is also what was good about the three previous studio albums - it's not bringing much new to the table which we haven't heard before. Some sections of Time Stand Still are downright repetitive - a word I'd never have applied to any prior Rush song.

At its best, Hold Your Fire manages to attain this chilly, cybernetic 1980s sheen, a combination of futuristic production methods and deft composition creating an icy, spacey aesthetic which feels very much of its era (in a good way). Then again, even that is something which they did better on Grace Under Pressure. It's good if you like Rush's synth phase - and I do - but probably the least of the studio albums from this era.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Lysergic Ritual Sludge Metal
SUNDOWNER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Terra Preta Sludge Metal
TITANOBOA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Endless Suffering Sludge Metal
LØV
Buy this album from MMA partners
Beyond The Shed Sludge Metal
SINICYST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Being & Nothing EP Sludge Metal
CEREBRAL TOMB
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 22 hours ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed