Rush album peaks at No3

Rush's 18th studio album, Snakes and Arrows, debuted at Number Three on the Billboard album chart yesterday with sales of 93,000 copies. The disc has been acclaimed as one of the Canadian trio's best efforts in years, and bassist/singer Geddy Lee said he thinks the band put out a much more energetic CD this time: "I think the performances are much more spirited. There's no cobwebs anywhere. It's, if something was stilted or something was sterile in any way, than we would change the way we approached. And I hear that. I hear that in the tracks. It feels like a band playing to me, and we're all on the same page in terms of that performance."

Snakes and Arrows is the first collection of all-new Rush material since 2002's Vapor Trails and the 27th Rush release to make the Billboard album chart. The band's chart peak was in 1993, when Counterparts debuted at Number Two.

An enhanced version of Snakes and Arrows will be released on MVI disc on June 5th. It will come with high-resolution audio, 5.1 Surround Sound, and a 43-minute documentary on the making of the album, titled Rush: The Game Of Snakes & Arrows.

Rush will begin a North American tour in support of Snakes and Arrows on June 13th in Atlanta, wrapping up on September 22nd in Toronto, Canada.