Liquid Tension Experiment

Liquid Tension Experiment's debut marked several firsts: for one it marked the first collaboration between keyboard guru Jordan Rudess with Petrucci/Portnoy and it marked the first real time that the main Dream Theater songwriting core of Petrucci/Portnoy were free to write a full album of instrumental music without having to make structure for vocals. The result is a stunning album that sounds like a hybrid of insane jazz/fusion and DT's brand of bombastic, melody-drench, and ultra-technical prog-metal.

The songs are excellently crafted, especially when one considers that the album was written AND recorded in a mere 2-3 weeks. The opener 'Paradigm Shift' sets the tone for the album right from the get-go, exploding out of your speakers with a lightning-speed shred lick and exploding into a melodic progression of most excellent riffage. Excellent. Luckily there are tons of highlights here other than Paradigm, including the gorgeous 'State of Grace', the powerful and driving 'Freedom of Speech', the jam-fest/prog-fest 'Universal Mind' (the second half of which, starting with the solo piano in the middle, is one of the greatest streches of music I've ever heard), and the wholly-improvised 30-minute 'Three Minute Warning'. There's no way you can go wrong on this album no matter what track you pick.

Any fan of prog, metal, fusion, jazz, or music in general needs to pick up this disc as well as the arguably superior LTE2. Essential.

Vinyl On Magna Carta


Help us plan our vinyl release schedule for 2008. Vinyl releases on Magna Carta
will be issued as:
Double LP sets; 180 gram virgin vinyl; Gatefold Sleeves; Limited to 1,000 copies Worldwide (in some cases only 500 copies)

Let us know what release would you like to see on vinyl next from Magna Carta:

Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2
Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome
Working Man (Rush Tribute)

LTE is what happens when you put 3 members of progressive metal masters Dream Theater with bassist extraordinaire Tony Levin. The album is basically an hours worth of instrumental fireworks that is a prog metal heads wet dream. The musicianship is exactly what you would expect from these guys. Lightning fast guitar, bass, keys and drums that pound the listener into submission. The band also showcase a more mellow side on the 7th track "State Of Grace", but for the most part this is all out progressive metal. The final track on the disc is a half hour long improvisation called "Three Minute Warning". The fact that these guys can put together such a cohesive piece of work in what is for all practical purposes a jam session is a testament to the incredible talent these guys posses. Fans of Dream Theater should love this and fans of heavy progressive rock in general should enjoy it as well.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. This jam session absolutely shreds! I bet someone in the studio just hit the red light and said 'play'. This is madness, absolute madness! A prog-metalhead's dream come true.

A great buy for any lover of this band

Every once in a while geniuses meet and proceed to prepare a masterpiece. Such is this case. Unquestionably, it is a labor of love. For all proggers it is a must buy!!!!! Enjoy.

Liquid Tension Experiment's second outing is another classic outing into the unlikely marriage of prog metal, jazz fusion, improv, and a smorgasbord of other styles. 'Acid Rain' starts the disc off on a fast and furious note which blows my mind everytime I hear it and rockets by so fast that before you know it the whole 6 minutes is past. It also features one of the hardest-to-play licks I've ever attempted to learn, before the guitar-keyboard unison section with the fusion-y free drums. As a guitarist I've been learning this track for the past month and it's this lick that continues to frustrate me in its difficulty. 'Biaxident' and 'Another Dimension' are excellent as well: the former being a sort of ballad, with its piano intro that for some reason reminds me of water (the cover perhaps?) and the latter being another exercise in bombastic soul-smashing prog-metal-fusion. '914' is a short but sweet improv piece, 'When the Water Breaks' and 'Chewbacca' sound almost completely improvised and have yet to grow on me but are impressive in their own right. The disc concludes with the slow and beautiful acoustic piece 'Hourglass' which proves once and for all to Petrucci haters who claim he's "all about flash" that this man is just as amazing when he plays slow and clean. The best track here, however, is the stunning 'When the Water Breaks', an epic ballad somewhat analogous to LTE1's 'Freedom of Speech', though much longer, more epic, and containing arguably more emotional and soul-melting melodies. Just stunning.

I'm not exactly sure if LTE1 or this disc is superior, but does it matter? I think not. In short, essential.

Best Tracks: When The Water Breaks, Acid Rain, Biaxident, Another Dimension

Item received as described. Excellent seller. Quick shipping. Would buy from this seller again.

This is basically a Dream Theater album without vocals in my mind. The song "914" is obviously a Tony Levin song in which he shines brightly. The rest of the disc sounds like the band I know from New York without the Dream Theater vocalist. Amen. I prefer Dream Theater when they not encombered by vocals although I do enjoy some of their lyrics and their older albums. This is great stuff here though and I must give credit where it is due. John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, Mike Portnoy and Tony Levin rock and prove themselves as masters of their individual instruments. Well worth the price. - Ciao

If You LOVE LTE 1; you are a confessed gear freak, guitarist that does not wince when people know you Love Prog??? This a must purchase. It is a shame that it seems like maybe scheduling prevented these guys from putting together a continuation or extension of this project that lives and breathes as well as the first...buy it cause nothing else like this exists.

A true Gem with Petrucci/Rudess is the Solo Piano/Guitar disc that is on Vai's "Favored Nations" Label...absolutely worth the effort and every penny.

Every once in a while geniuses meet and proceed to prepare a masterpiece. Such is this case. Unquestionably, it is a labor of love. For all proggers it is a must buy!!!!! Enjoy.

Liquid Tension Experiment's second outing is another classic outing into the unlikely marriage of prog metal, jazz fusion, improv, and a smorgasbord of other styles. 'Acid Rain' starts the disc off on a fast and furious note which blows my mind everytime I hear it and rockets by so fast that before you know it the whole 6 minutes is past. It also features one of the hardest-to-play licks I've ever attempted to learn, before the guitar-keyboard unison section with the fusion-y free drums. As a guitarist I've been learning this track for the past month and it's this lick that continues to frustrate me in its difficulty. 'Biaxident' and 'Another Dimension' are excellent as well: the former being a sort of ballad, with its piano intro that for some reason reminds me of water (the cover perhaps?) and the latter being another exercise in bombastic soul-smashing prog-metal-fusion. '914' is a short but sweet improv piece, 'When the Water Breaks' and 'Chewbacca' sound almost completely improvised and have yet to grow on me but are impressive in their own right. The disc concludes with the slow and beautiful acoustic piece 'Hourglass' which proves once and for all to Petrucci haters who claim he's "all about flash" that this man is just as amazing when he plays slow and clean. The best track here, however, is the stunning 'When the Water Breaks', an epic ballad somewhat analogous to LTE1's 'Freedom of Speech', though much longer, more epic, and containing arguably more emotional and soul-melting melodies. Just stunning.

I'm not exactly sure if LTE1 or this disc is superior, but does it matter? I think not. In short, essential.

Best Tracks: When The Water Breaks, Acid Rain, Biaxident, Another Dimension

Item received as described. Excellent seller. Quick shipping. Would buy from this seller again.

This is basically a Dream Theater album without vocals in my mind. The song "914" is obviously a Tony Levin song in which he shines brightly. The rest of the disc sounds like the band I know from New York without the Dream Theater vocalist. Amen. I prefer Dream Theater when they not encombered by vocals although I do enjoy some of their lyrics and their older albums. This is great stuff here though and I must give credit where it is due. John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, Mike Portnoy and Tony Levin rock and prove themselves as masters of their individual instruments. Well worth the price. - Ciao

If You LOVE LTE 1; you are a confessed gear freak, guitarist that does not wince when people know you Love Prog??? This a must purchase. It is a shame that it seems like maybe scheduling prevented these guys from putting together a continuation or extension of this project that lives and breathes as well as the first...buy it cause nothing else like this exists.

A true Gem with Petrucci/Rudess is the Solo Piano/Guitar disc that is on Vai's "Favored Nations" Label...absolutely worth the effort and every penny.

Liquid Tension Experiment's debut marked several firsts: for one it marked the first collaboration between keyboard guru Jordan Rudess with Petrucci/Portnoy and it marked the first real time that the main Dream Theater songwriting core of Petrucci/Portnoy were free to write a full album of instrumental music without having to make structure for vocals. The result is a stunning album that sounds like a hybrid of insane jazz/fusion and DT's brand of bombastic, melody-drench, and ultra-technical prog-metal.

The songs are excellently crafted, especially when one considers that the album was written AND recorded in a mere 2-3 weeks. The opener 'Paradigm Shift' sets the tone for the album right from the get-go, exploding out of your speakers with a lightning-speed shred lick and exploding into a melodic progression of most excellent riffage. Excellent. Luckily there are tons of highlights here other than Paradigm, including the gorgeous 'State of Grace', the powerful and driving 'Freedom of Speech', the jam-fest/prog-fest 'Universal Mind' (the second half of which, starting with the solo piano in the middle, is one of the greatest streches of music I've ever heard), and the wholly-improvised 30-minute 'Three Minute Warning'. There's no way you can go wrong on this album no matter what track you pick.

Any fan of prog, metal, fusion, jazz, or music in general needs to pick up this disc as well as the arguably superior LTE2. Essential.

Vinyl On Magna Carta


Help us plan our vinyl release schedule for 2008. Vinyl releases on Magna Carta
will be issued as:
Double LP sets; 180 gram virgin vinyl; Gatefold Sleeves; Limited to 1,000 copies Worldwide (in some cases only 500 copies)

Let us know what release would you like to see on vinyl next from Magna Carta:

Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2
Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome
Working Man (Rush Tribute)

LTE is what happens when you put 3 members of progressive metal masters Dream Theater with bassist extraordinaire Tony Levin. The album is basically an hours worth of instrumental fireworks that is a prog metal heads wet dream. The musicianship is exactly what you would expect from these guys. Lightning fast guitar, bass, keys and drums that pound the listener into submission. The band also showcase a more mellow side on the 7th track "State Of Grace", but for the most part this is all out progressive metal. The final track on the disc is a half hour long improvisation called "Three Minute Warning". The fact that these guys can put together such a cohesive piece of work in what is for all practical purposes a jam session is a testament to the incredible talent these guys posses. Fans of Dream Theater should love this and fans of heavy progressive rock in general should enjoy it as well.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. This jam session absolutely shreds! I bet someone in the studio just hit the red light and said 'play'. This is madness, absolute madness! A prog-metalhead's dream come true.

A great buy for any lover of this band

The best of prog-rock crank out the most impressive instrumental album I've ever heard. And that's saying a lot. Dream Theater fans will have no problem enjoying this CD, as well as newcomers. I'm a huge DT fan, and I find the Liquid Tension experiments to be even more accessible. I would have to agree about James' vocal style for DT - I don't think it matches the intensity of the band. He's a great vocalist, one of the best. But he is certainly not missed, in my opinion. Dream Theater is all about the music, and Liquid Tension Experiment 2 brings out the absolute best. A must have for any music fan.

The other reviewer of the CD said everything correct except for one thing. He said that James LaBrie is an annoying singer. Now I know that this has nothing to do with the Liquid Tension CD, but I want everyone who reads this review to know that James LaBrie is an excellent vocalist with incredible range. He's not for everyone, but please don't let the other reviewer spoil Dream Theater for you because they are the greatest band in the world!

A friend of mine bought this cd for me and I thought, great just another more cd of Dream Theater with another name on it but I figured I'd hear the annoying yelling of James LaBrie anyway. Was I in for a surprise! The lack of vocals is just what Dream Theater needs to be the best. Petrucci is as fast as it gets in guitars, and if you thought that in the album When Dreams and Day Unite he was good by playing really fast, then you should listen to Acid Rain it shows that he can play even faster while still being melodic. While Tony Levin is in no way the Bass virtuoso Myung is, he keeps a great rythm overall and keeps his pace with Petrucci. Mike Pornoy is argueably the best drummer and he shows in When the Water Breaks, which is a song made by solo after jam after solo... Jordan Rudess was a surprise for me, I thought all keyboardists where of prog bands where at best barily "good", he is simply incredible. What about the songs? well most of them are fast jams. But there are exceptions tho, and they are worthy to be told about. Liquid Dreams is a weird jam for prog bands in that it is slow yet I loved it, reminded me of Transatlantic Jams. Hourglass is a beutiful duet of Petrucci and Rudess that even your mother will like, it's soft and melodious. Over all I say it's worth every dime, as I heard once if you can only buy 5 cds of prog, two of them should definetely be Liquid Tension Experiment 1 and 2. And if you can only buy 20 cds of all genres then I say this would be the ones of prog.

Liquid Tension Experiment's debut marked several firsts: for one it marked the first collaboration between keyboard guru Jordan Rudess with Petrucci/Portnoy and it marked the first real time that the main Dream Theater songwriting core of Petrucci/Portnoy were free to write a full album of instrumental music without having to make structure for vocals. The result is a stunning album that sounds like a hybrid of insane jazz/fusion and DT's brand of bombastic, melody-drench, and ultra-technical prog-metal.

The songs are excellently crafted, especially when one considers that the album was written AND recorded in a mere 2-3 weeks. The opener 'Paradigm Shift' sets the tone for the album right from the get-go, exploding out of your speakers with a lightning-speed shred lick and exploding into a melodic progression of most excellent riffage. Excellent. Luckily there are tons of highlights here other than Paradigm, including the gorgeous 'State of Grace', the powerful and driving 'Freedom of Speech', the jam-fest/prog-fest 'Universal Mind' (the second half of which, starting with the solo piano in the middle, is one of the greatest streches of music I've ever heard), and the wholly-improvised 30-minute 'Three Minute Warning'. There's no way you can go wrong on this album no matter what track you pick.

Any fan of prog, metal, fusion, jazz, or music in general needs to pick up this disc as well as the arguably superior LTE2. Essential.

Vinyl On Magna Carta


Help us plan our vinyl release schedule for 2008. Vinyl releases on Magna Carta
will be issued as:
Double LP sets; 180 gram virgin vinyl; Gatefold Sleeves; Limited to 1,000 copies Worldwide (in some cases only 500 copies)

Let us know what release would you like to see on vinyl next from Magna Carta:

Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2
Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome
Working Man (Rush Tribute)

LTE is what happens when you put 3 members of progressive metal masters Dream Theater with bassist extraordinaire Tony Levin. The album is basically an hours worth of instrumental fireworks that is a prog metal heads wet dream. The musicianship is exactly what you would expect from these guys. Lightning fast guitar, bass, keys and drums that pound the listener into submission. The band also showcase a more mellow side on the 7th track "State Of Grace", but for the most part this is all out progressive metal. The final track on the disc is a half hour long improvisation called "Three Minute Warning". The fact that these guys can put together such a cohesive piece of work in what is for all practical purposes a jam session is a testament to the incredible talent these guys posses. Fans of Dream Theater should love this and fans of heavy progressive rock in general should enjoy it as well.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. This jam session absolutely shreds! I bet someone in the studio just hit the red light and said 'play'. This is madness, absolute madness! A prog-metalhead's dream come true.

A great buy for any lover of this band