10 Legendary Concept Records Of The 2010's

10. Clockwork Angels - Rush

It almost feels like a missed opportunity for Rush to not make a concept album throughout their glory years. They were known for making epic tracks that had a strong narrative premise (some of which could have made entire albums in themselves), but they made the full commitment to one overarching story on one album. On their final album though, they finally took the deep dive into conceptual rock...by going full on steam punk.

Going through Clockwork Angels, this was the moment where the power trio pulled out all the stops for something grandiose and epic. Bringing together different kinds of orchestral instruments into the mix, the story of this album revolves around a young rebel trying to find his way to something better, as the song Caravan slowly pulls us into the station and gets us set up on this journey.

Even after years of delivering quality progressive rock, Rush still knew how to mix it up on this album, bringing in string sections on the road for the title track, going back to the more aggressive side of their sound on Headlong Flight, and tying things up beautifully at the end with the subtle sounds of the song The Garden. As if the album wasn't enough, Neil Peart even made a graphic novel detailing the story of the album in book form. Considering the multi media experience of this whole thing, this might be the one prog rock album that might actually lend itself well to a movie adaptation.