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I think this is a great album and always preferred it to Fly By Night. The Necromancer is their second best song behind Cygnus X-1 and is just as heavy. I've always liked The Fountain of Lamenth. It was written as parts and then put together so it sounds that way for a reason. It just works for me. The only song I don't like is I Think I'm Going Bald. It's insanity to say that song is good and The Necromancer is a mess.

Everyone cites this as Rush's weakest. Should probably still get around to hearing it eventually though.

This was one Rush album that at first I had a hard time accepting as a whole, probably because of the progressive territory they were starting to venture into. This album definately has some strange parts and the flow is somewhat inconsistent. However, over time it really grows on you and I like this album more than most of their later releases after Signals.

This was the first Rush album I liestened to after the retro cd's. I always thought it was extremely under appreciated. I never understood why when bands like Yes do a 20 minute long song it is considered artistic and grand, but more often than not, it is flat out boring. When Rush went that route it was always interesting and worth your time.

There is a hell of a lot to like about this album. I think they learned from by-tor how NOT to do a long song and made the necromancer that much more enjoyable.

I think tis album more than any other in Prog really helped build a guideline on how to make a great prog epic much more so than some of the more orchestral bands did.

For instance ACOS has a lot in common structurely with TFOL (epic length, different movements sound quite different), while less successful songs like "Octavarium" drew a bit more from bands like Yes, who prefered for a long song to have a few great moments in between all the fluff and filler.

It is a good thing this album was not successful at the time because it would inspire Rush to stick to their guns and do things their way, resulting in 2112. If this album would have been successful, I think they would have turned into a more pop-oriented version of Yes. 2112 gave them their freedom. COS really helped the band in that regard.

Sadly, Rush don't look so fondly on albums like this one. That is a shame, but they have done better

It is actually ok to criticise your favourite bands, you know. Here, we have Rush in proto-Prog format and f(l)ailing badly compared to what they would later achieve. The long songs here are more the work of a technically-accomplished band failing at writing long songs than anything else - yes, listen enough and you'll find something to like, but saying this is better than 2112 is ridiculous. Maybe they did need a Caress to get there, and if so I'm glad, but in comparison to their other albums CoS is poor, and pointedly so.

Well, two great songs, Bastille day and Lakeside park, one very bad, I think I'm going bald, and two long messes, full of great fragments but failed as a whole.

This album is a failure, of course it's very good technically, but it lacks consistency. There's a lot to like in it, there's a lot to like in every Rush album, and it settled the base to their masterpiece 2112, but it's not a good album. 55/100.

I did not say it was better than 2112.

Hmm, I am surprised about fairly low scores people are giving this album. Personally, I think it is among their three best along with Fly By Night and 2112, and I also find the Necromancer to be my favorite Rush song. Lifeson is incredible in this song. Just my opinion though.