Here fits virtually nothing, neither songs nor production

Five years you had to wait for a new album from RUSH. With BU2B and Caravan, there was already in advance two songs as official download. Caravan was bearable and had something like a catchy hook. But BU2B was once again, as so often in the past 20 years at an annoying RUSH Gitarrenriffgebolze. Therefore, you had to be forewarned about the new album.
The other new songs offer similar. Compositionally the band falls on Clockwork Angels a not much new. The predecessor Snakes And Arrows like it because a lot better.
In Clockwork Angels sting The Wreckers (almost pop), The Garden, Wish Them Well, The Anarchist (great catchy guitar riff) and Halo Effect (RUSH actually create a 3-minute song) produced. By this I do not mean that the songs are good. In the context of the album, they are just not quite as annoying. Best-Of-worthy is perhaps only The Garden.

Since then, the songs of RUSH almost exclusively to guitar, bass, drums are constructed, the music is lost some compositional diversity. This is not to say that RUSH again to reactivate the keyboard sounds of the 80s now. One can also herumbauen to piano or Hammond songs. It sounds like at least timeless.

A little bugs me here also Geddy Lee's vocals, which now has a few mannerisms. It is not even so bad that he sings a little deeper now. I feel compared to its cries in the 70s even as pleasant. No. But now he has when he's trying a little higher to sing, always as a gequäkten throaty Jammerton it, which I could do without.

The album is a concept album. But such a thing was I always matter. If the songs are no good, then good is also the best approach anything.

But the worst on the album are not even his most mediocre songs, but its production or rather the mix and mastering. Atrocious. All instruments are mixed, according to the front. The song is also difficult to hear. These indicators were in the mid to low sound range. A fairly undifferentiated mushy. After a few songs that acts pretty tiring for my ears and is simply inaudible after a maximum of 3 songs at a time.
I had in 1989 put together a CD with my favorite songs of RUSH with the versions of the new box set and as draufgepackt also The Wreckers by Clockwork Angels and pressed my player to shuffle. It was followed by Animate Counterparts and The Wreckers another chance. The differences from the Sound were startling. Could I use the instruments and vocals on Animate all still clearly hear, I could not do that with The Wreckers. The music sounded there as I would have put pace in his ears and turned the system louder. This is music for the hearing impaired. In MP3 player or during a drive that is perhaps more bearable. About a stereo part (I've got no high-end system) but the borders of an attack on one's health.
RUSH can do better, as the albums show up including Counterparts and also the remix of Vapor Trails. Therefore, it is a complete mystery to me how (is Snakes & Arrows as a similar catastrophe, but at least better songs) the mix of Clockwork Angels could fail so.

Conclusion:
Poor production, mixing and mastering, many poor and a few mediocre songs. More than 2 stars are for this album in the evaluation it. I hope the next time you drive improvement.