Jordan Rudess is best known as the current keyboard player for progressive metal giants Dream Theater, who he joined over 20 years ago. During this time he has contributed significantly to their ever evolving sound, mainly because of his development company that produces new technologies for musicians.
Jordan is certainly an intelligent and articulate musician who is always pushing the boundaries in some way or another but he is also a solo artist in his own right. This new album, ‘Permission To Fly’, sees him joining forces with a hand picked collection of musicians to make a classic prog rock album. His choice of musical compatriots throws up some interesting choices, Steve Dadaian, by trade a highly acclaimed cosmetic dentist who is also a keen shredder (guitarist), along with Devin Townsend’s drummer Darby Todd. For the vocals, Jordan turned to Joe Payne (formerly of The Enid) who also works for the likes of John Holden, amongst others, while also maintaining his own solo career. Jordan was highly impressed by Joe and reached out to him for this album.
The album opens with The Final Threshold which features a stunning opening keyboard segment full of bombast (very ELP!) which then fades to a gentle piano before Joe begins singing softly but with his very expressive and wide vocal range. The album has just nine tracks (two extra on the initial CD release) and has a mixture of styles from ballads to all out prog rock tracks. Into The Lair is something of an epic track with a very strong vocal from Joe and you can see why Jordan chose him for this project. There is also a great bass solo in this track and a fiery guitar solo by Chilean guitarist Bastian Martinez. This track has it all, storming keyboards, brilliant guitar playing and above it all soars Joe’s sterling vocal performance. Haunted Reverie has discordant and eerie keyboards setting the scene. With its supernatural theme, this is a slightly unsettling track but very well delivered. All the lyrics for this album come from Jordan’s daughter Ariana.
The Alchemist is another longer track initially driven by keyboards. There’s a rather unusual mid-section vocal part which is very different from what you heard before and it’s possibly unhinged or mad, it certainly makes you take notice! The song has a sad ending when the Alchemist realises his life’s work is futile and has accomplished nothing of any worth and he is, after all, just a man. Embers is far more normal sounding and has an excellent piano motif that runs throughout (just like on Bowie’s Life On Mars) and an epic guitar solo that plays out the track superbly. Shadow Of The Moon opens with a very gothic sounding piano and drums. The song is about space exploration and the possibilities that this offers to the world but also of the potential risks we. The track ends with an extended keyboard outworking in conjunction with the superb bass.
Eternal is very much like Dream Theater in places, certainly more familiar territory for Jordan, the opening eventually gets to the vocals at the 2.40 mark! This is another good track, albeit it a tad Andrew Lloyd-Webber in style at times. There is a definite operatic or musical theatre leaning tot he song, albeit with a very prog style musical backing making it most impressive really. For what is a love song, this has some excellent keyboard parts from Jordan. Footsteps In The Snow is a more even tempo track with great lyrics. This track appears to be about the brevity of life and about the memories that remain behind, a rather philosophical track overall. The album concludes with an instrumental entitled Dreamer, full of deep chords and swirls of keyboard voices It is all very ethereal sounding and very stately and a great ending.
‘Permission To Fly’ is a real roller-coaster ride of an album, from bombastic thunder to gentle melodies and all points in between. This is a highly impressive album and one that befits the highly acclaimed Jordan Rudess. Whether this is a one off remains to be seen so, for now, dig in. In places it is totally weird but most enjoyable with it! Highly recommended indeed.
Released 6th September, 2024.
Order from this link:
https://jordanrudess.lnk.to/PermissionToFly