''Symmetry'' is the twenty-second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Canadian rock band

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

. It was released on March 12, 2021. It contains acoustic versions of previously released songs, some in the form of medleys or augmented with new interludes. The idea originated on the 40th anniversary tour in 2017, where the band would perform acoustically as their own support band "Pockets". Initially, the band considered releasing a live album from this tour, but decided against it and settled for new studio recordings instead. The individual parts were recorded remotely during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the arrangements were mostly worked out by Jim Crichton, who had retired from live performances in 2017. Several songs had already been played in similar versions on the aforementioned tour ("Time to Go", "The Perfectionist", "Images", "No Regrets" and the medley of songs from ''

Trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit * Trust (bu ...

''). It was also on this tour when drummer Mike Thorne first used kitchen utensils for percussion sounds in the acoustic set. The piano interlude "La foret harmonieuse" includes a few lines from the song " Book of Lies". The artwork has its roots in the 2017 tour, too, where a similar image (featuring a tree in the middle of a library, overlooked by the band's insect mascot) was used as a large backdrop for the acoustic section of the shows. According to Michael Sadler, the tree symbolizes the organic element of the album. "Tired World" was released on streaming platforms on 4 December 2020, accompanied by an animated video clip. This was followed by "Wind Him Up" (again with an animated video) and "Always There". For the latter, the fans were asked to send in video material, which was then assembled into a video clip.

Reception

Symmetry was met with surprise and praise from reviewers.

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

lauded the surprising arrangements and interesting medleys and pointed out the folksy vibe of many songs. The Prog Report notes that despite its acoustic nature, the album "crackles with energy, intensity and inventiveness", the medleys are described as "the real showstoppers" and passages likened to

Gentle Giant Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. They were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of the members. All of the band members were multi-instrument ...

. Michael Sadler's voice gets a special mention for its "ageless" quality. The review is summarized with "Most tracks are loyal enough to the originals to satisfy longtime fans, while also sparkling with fresh musical ideas." Oliver Kube of the German

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

gave the album 8 out of 10 points, lauding the fact that Saga completely re-invented their tunes for the album. The only criticism is the fact that the amount of actual new music is confined to the interludes. Steven Reid of ''Sea of Tranquility'' (3 ½ stars of 5) was somewhat less impressed, liking that "no easy options retaken and no quick fixes accepted" but winding up with the statement "I’m left more impressed than I am involved with this release." John Aizlewood of

LouderSound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 196 ...

also gave the album 3 ½ stars, stating " at in lesser, less-thoughtful hands could have been an anaemic re-treading is now – acoustic or not – more intriguingly complex." A positive review was also published by the German website ''My Revelations'', giving the album 10/15 points. Another German site, Metal.de, gave the album 8 out of 10 points, summarizing the album as "the better type of acoustic album" which has a "natural flow".

Charts

The album went to #18 on the German iTunes Chart and achieved a top position of #11 on the official German Album Chart, which makes it the highest charting Saga album in Germany since 1985's ''

Behaviour Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions of Individual, individuals, organisms, systems or Artificial intelligence, artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or or ...

''. (Previously, the best charting Saga album since the 1980s had been 2012's

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of visual perception, vision, but technically rates an animal's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity depends on optical and neural factors. Optical factors of the eye ...

with a top position of #13.) On the

Swiss Albums Chart The Swiss Hitparade () is Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland. The Swiss charts include: * Singles Top 75 (released since 1968) * Singles T ...

, it reached #20, the best chart showing of a Saga album since 1987's ''

Wildest Dreams "Wildest Dreams" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It is the fifth single from her fifth studio album, ''1989'' (2014). Swift wrote the song with its producers Max Martin and Shellback. "Wildest Dreams" has an atmosphe ...

''. In Denmark, it entered the physical album charts at #6 and the vinyl charts at #31.

Track listing

Personnel

*Michael Sadler – lead vocals *Ian Crichton –

guitars The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

*Jim Gilmour –

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and "No Regrets" *Jim Crichton –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, project custodian *Mike Thorne –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(

kick drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The hea ...

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

, kitchen

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

), backing vocals *Shane Cook –

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

*Stefany Seki –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

*Beth Silver – cello *Seren Sadler – backing vocals

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saga 2021 albums Saga (band) albums