Liquid Tension Experiment 3

Liquid Tension Experiment 3 is the third studio album by the American instrumental progressive metal super group Liquid Tension Experiment. Released on April 16, 2021,[1] it is their first studio effort since 1999's Liquid Tension Experiment 2.[7]

Liquid Tension Experiment 3
Studio album by
Liquid Tension Experiment
ReleasedApril 16, 2021 (2021-04-16)
RecordedJuly-August 2020
StudioDTHQ (Long Island)
GenreInstrumental rock, progressive metal[1]
Length117:31
LabelInside Out Music
ProducerLiquid Tension Experiment
Liquid Tension Experiment chronology
When the Keyboard Breaks: Live in Chicago
(2009)		 Liquid Tension Experiment 3
(2021)
Singles from Liquid Tension Experiment 3
  1. "The Passage of Time"
    Released: January 22, 2021
  2. "Beating the Odds"
    Released: February 26, 2021
  3. "Hypersonic"
    Released: March 24, 2021
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Blabbermouth.net8/10[3]
Metal Hammer[4]
Metal Injection8/10[5]
Record Collector[6]

The regular edition of the album contains eight tracks, including two duets, one "on-the-fly jam" and one "meticulously arranged cover"; the bonus disc comes with almost one hour of improvisations. It was released in digital, CD, LP and Blu-ray formats, including a limited 2CD+Blu-ray artbook edition and a limited deluxe hot pink box set.[7]

A video for the song "The Passage of Time", their first composition in 22 years, was released on January 22, 2021.[7][8] This was followed up by a video for "Beating the Odds" on February 26, 2021,[9][10] and then by a video for "Hypersonic" on March 24, 2021.[11]

Background and writing

On December 14, 2020, band members Tony Levin (bass), John Petrucci (guitars), Jordan Rudess (keyboards) and Mike Portnoy (drums) released a series of posts on social media (pictures of themselves wearing surgical masks spelling out "LTE 3") teasing a third Liquid Tension Experiment album; a picture of the four of them together with the same masks was posted the following day.[12] On December 17, 2020, it was formally announced that Liquid Tension Experiment 3 would be released by Inside Out Music in the second quarter of 2021.[13] The date, later announced to be March 26, has since been delayed to April 16, 2021, due to printing errors by the manufacturer.[1]

The album had been recorded secretly in August 2020,[14] at the Dream Theater studio named DTHQ.[15] Portnoy had previously recorded drums for Petrucci's solo album Terminal Velocity at the studio, their first release together since 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings (with Dream Theater);[16] the band would re-use the studio for the LTE sessions. Portnoy and Rudess also had performed together during a Cruise to the Edge a few years before.[17] The drummer said that the "insanity of 2020" allowed them some time to reunite.[17]

Also according to Portnoy, all members plus two studio professionals quarantined and took tests before the album's sessions.[17]

Like Liquid Tension Experiment 2, each song is described by the band in detail within the liner notes.

The track "Chris & Kevin's Amazing Odyssey" is a follow-up to "Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure" (from Liquid Tension Experiment) and "Chris & Kevin's Bogus Journey" (from Spontaneous Combustion); Chris and Kevin is how a photographer mistakenly called Mike and Tony during photo sessions for the first album, and that has since remained a recurring internal joke and is used to title duets between the drummer and the bassist.[17] It is a drum-and-bass duet featuring Levin on the electric upright bass.[18]

"Rhapsody in Blue", composed by George Gershwin, was arranged and performed by the band during their 2008 tour; the band would record a studio version of the arrangement for the album.[18] The middle section of the band's 2008 arrangement was inspiration for the middle section of "The Count of Tuscany" off Black Clouds & Silver Linings; also, the standard clarinet introduction was played by Levin on the Chapman Stick.[19]

Track listing

All music is written and arranged by Liquid Tension Experiment (Tony Levin, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, and Jordan Rudess); except for "Rhapsody in Blue" written by George Gershwin, arrangement by Liquid Tension Experiment.[20]

CD 1: "LTE3"
No.TitleLength
1."Hypersonic"8:22
2."Beating the Odds"6:09
3."Liquid Evolution"3:23
4."The Passage of Time"7:32
5."Chris & Kevin's Amazing Odyssey"5:04
6."Rhapsody in Blue"13:16
7."Shades of Hope"4:42
8."Key to the Imagination"13:14
Total length:61:42[7][16]
CD 2: “A Night at the Improv”
No.TitleLength
1."Blink of an Eye"10:28
2."Solid Resolution Theory"10:02
3."View from the Mountaintop"5:24
4."Your Beard is Good"14:31
5."Ya Mon"15:24
Total length:55:49

Personnel

All credits sourced from liner notes.[20]

Band

Additional personnel
  • James "Jimmy T" Meslin – recording
  • Rich Mouser – mixing, mastering
  • Bouchra Azizy – additional digital editing
  • Matthew "Maddi" Schieferstein – band and studio coordinator
  • Sean M. Smith / Echodesignlab – design

Charts
Chart performance for Liquid Tension Experiment 3
Chart (2021) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[21] 10
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22] 82
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[23] 53
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[24] 15
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[25] 5
French Albums (SNEP)[26] 82
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[27] 7
Italian Albums (FIMI)[28] 21
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[29] 9
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[30] 30
Scottish Albums (OCC)[31] 7
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[32] 25
Swedish Physical Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[33] 3
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[34] 8
UK Albums (OCC)[35] 88
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[36] 5
US Billboard 200[37] 109

References
  1. Stenzel, Friedrich (April 1, 2021). "Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3 (Album Review)". Sonic Perspectives. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  2. Jurek, Thom. "LTE3 - Liquid Tension Experiment". AllMusic. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  3. Roche, Jason. "CD Reviews - Liquid Tension Experiment 3 Liquid Tension Experiment". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  4. Dome, Malcolm (March 22, 2021). "Liquid Tension Experiment's LTE3: instrumental prog metal masturbation – and proud of it". Metal Hammer. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  5. Blum, Jordan (April 14, 2021). "Album Review: LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT Liquid Tension Experiment 3". Metal Injection. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  6. Tucker, John (April 2021). "Progressive supergroup reunite for third album". Record Collector. No. 517. p. 125.
  7. "Watch LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT Video for Epic First Single 'The Passage of Time' From Upcoming Studio Album "LTE3"". Sonic Perspectives. January 22, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  8. Ewing, Jerry (January 11, 2021). "Liquid Tension Experiment reveal artwork and tracklisting for new album". Louder Sound.
  9. Maxwell, Jackson (February 26, 2021). "Liquid Tension Experiment, John Petrucci's Prog Supergroup, Premiere New Song, "Beating The Odds"". Guitar Player. Future US. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  10. Maxwell, Jackson (February 26, 2021). "Liquid Tension Experiment, featuring John Petrucci, release new song, Beating The Odds". Guitar World. Future US. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  11. Ewing, Jerry (March 24, 2021). "Liquid Tension Experiment release new video for breakneck Hypersonic". Prog. Future plc. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  12. Rosenberg, Axl. "Liquid Tension Experiment Working on First New Album Since 1999". Metal Sucks. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  13. Maxwell, Jackson (March 31, 2021). "John Petrucci's Prog Supergroup, Liquid Tension Experiment, Have Reunited". Guitar Player. Future US. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  14. "Liquid Tension Experiment". INSIDE OUT MUSIC. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  15. "John Petrucci Reacts to Mike Portnoy Wanting to Hire Dimebag Darrell Over Him for LTE, Reflects on Meeting King Crimson Legend". Ultimate Guitar. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  16. Divita, Joe (January 11, 2021). "Liquid Tension Experiment Announce First New Album in 22 Years 'LTE3′". Loudwire. Townsquare Media. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  17. Bienstock, Richard (February 9, 2021). "Liquid Tension Experiment: How COVID "Insanity" Led Supergroup to Prog-Metal Gold". Revolver. Project M Group LLC. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  18. Burgess, Mick. "TONY LEVIN ( LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT): "["Rhapsody In Blue"] is the gateway drug to use to slowly draw people into the band"". Metal Express Radio. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  19. Portnoy, Mike. "Two facts about RiB that people keep incorrectly commenting on". Twitter. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  20. Liquid Tension Experiment 3 (CD booklet). Liquid Tension Experiment. Inside Out Music. 2021. 19439837732.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. "Austriancharts.at – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  22. "Ultratop.be – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  23. "Ultratop.be – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  24. "Dutchcharts.nl – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  25. "Albumit 16/2021" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  26. "Top Albums (Week 16, 2021)". SNEP. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  27. "Offiziellecharts.de – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  28. "Italiancharts.com – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  29. "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2021-04-26" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  30. "Portuguesecharts.com – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  31. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  32. "Spanishcharts.com – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  33. "Veckolista Album Fysiskt, vecka 16" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  34. "Swisscharts.com – Liquid Tension Experiment – LTE3". Hung Medien. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  35. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  36. "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  37. @billboardcharts (April 26, 2021). "Debuts on this week's #Billboard200 (2/2)..." (Tweet). Retrieved April 27, 2021 – via Twitter.
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