Rush have now confirmed the full details for their latest album. It's called Clockwork Angels and is the band's first studio release since signed to Roadrunner Records. Moreover, this will be available in an exclusive Classic Rock deluxe Fan Pack.
The full track listing is: Caravan, BU2B, Clockwork Angels, The Anarchist, Carnies, Halo Effect, Seven Cities Of Gold, The Wreckers, Headlong Flight, BU2B2, Wish Them Well, The Garden.
The 12-track concept album was co-produced by Nick Raskulinecz, who worked with the band on 2007's Snakes & Arrows. And on this new album, Neil Peart got inspiration for his lyrics from a variety of authors, including Voltaire, Cormac McCarthy, Michael Ondaatje, Joseph Conrad and Daphne Du Maurier.
Peart also got ideas from steampunk author Kevin J. Anderson, who's a close friend of his – and Anderson has been busy writing a novel based on the storyline behind Clockwork Angels.
In addition, Peart became fascinated with ancient traditions, which also had an impact on the album.
"I learned about an entire set of runic hieroglyphs for elements and processes," says Peart. "As the lyrical 'chapters' came together, I chose one symbol to represent each of them."
You can see these symbols in the clockface on the album cover, which has been painted by Hugh Syme.
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson worked on the music in a basement studio, with Lifeson sometimes giving Peart two demos for specific tunes. One of these would feature a drum machine to outline certain rhythmic ideas, while the other had just a click track. And on one song, The Wreckers, Lee and Lifeson swapped over instruments during the writing sessions.
Two of the songs on the album will already be familiar to Rush fans, namely first single Caravan and its B-side BU2B. These were among the first songs written and released digitally in June 2010.
To mark the release of Clockwork Angels, Classic Rock will publish an exclusive Fan Pack on June 11. This includes a full copy of the album, a unique keyring and poster, plus a deluxe magazine dedicated to Rush featuring in-depth interviews with each band member, contributions from famous fans and much more.
To pre-order your copy of the Fan Pack, go to My Favourite Magazines.