Originally published in Classic Rock magazine (Italy) 101 · April 2021
Liquid Tension Experiment 3 review
ReviewTranslated2 min read
Translated from the original language with DeepL, so the wording may differ from what was actually said.
Liquid Tension Experiment
LTE3 (InsideOut)
Watch out for those 4!
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Very Good)
Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, and Tony Levin are back together after twenty years, giving birth to the third child of the progressive metal supergroup that was born in 1997 and ‘died’ when Rudess joined Dream Theater. With the lockdown, the four were able to meet last July in New York and in two weeks they recorded the eight tracks of LTE3. The chemistry remains unchanged, they put themselves on autopilot, jammed on each other's ideas and churned out an hour of music that begins with the adrenaline-fueled ‘Hypersonic’, a sort of declaration of intent for an uncompromising album that contains three other tracks of pure virtuosity, two duets (Portnoy/Levin in ‘Chris & Kevin's Amazing Odyssey’ and Petrucci/Rudess in the avant-garde ‘Shades Of Hope’), a studio cover of Gershwin's ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ arrangement made in 2008, and a long jam that closes the album, reminiscent of Dream Theater tracks such as Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. Keep an eye out for the editions: the one with the bonus disc will contain over an hour of jams and improvisations.
—Luca Fassina
Original text
Liquid Tension Experiment
LTE3 (InsideOut)
Attenti a quei 4!
Valutazione: 8 su 10 (Ottimo)
Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess e Tony Levin tornano assieme dopo vent'anni, dando il terzo pargolo al supergruppo progressive metal nato nel 1997 e 'morto' con l'entrata di Rudess nei Dream Theater. Con il lockdown, i quattro hanno potuto trovarsi lo scorso luglio a New York e in due settimane realizzare gli otto brani di LTE3. La chimica non si cambia, hanno messo il pilota automatico, jammato sulle idee di ognuno e sfornato un'ora di musica che inizia con l'adrenalinica ‘Hypersonic’, sorta di dichiarazione d'intenti per un disco senza mezzi termini che contiene altri tre brani di puro virtuosismo, due duetti (Portnoy/Levin in ‘Chris & Kevin’s Amazing Odyssey’ e Petrucci/Rudess nell'avant-garde di ‘Shades Of Hope’), una 'cover' da studio dell'arrangiamento di ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ di Gershwin fatto nel 2008 e una lunga jam che chiude il disco, ricordando brani dei Dream Theater come Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. Occhio alle edizioni: quella col disco bonus conterrà più di un'ora di jam e improvvisazioni.
—Luca Fassina