Grace Under Pressure

Grace Under Pressure is the tenth album on which Rush, while further raising the weight of synthesizers, honed even more the sharp ensemble the three alone create. Geddy Lee’s bass and keyboards, Alex Lifeson’s guitar sharply cutting space and Neil Peart’s precise drums draw an extremely tense, cold scenery. As the title suggests, it is a record themed on nobility under pressure. From the urgency of the opener “Distant Early Warning” to “Red Sector A,” with its heavy, sunken shadow evoking Cold War fear and the Holocaust, the songs turn the unease drifting through early-1980s society directly into sound, while the drama of “The Body Electric” and the lyricism of “Afterimage” give it deep shading. Its appeal is leaving a deep afterglow in the listener’s heart through precise choices of timbre and worked-out song construction, rather than relying on technical showcases. Boldly taking in new wave and electronic elements, its intelligent, Rush-like tension is intact. Strongly reflecting the band’s darker, more introspective side, it is an ambitious, weighty record.