The Necromancer

A three-part fantasy epic continuing the By-Tor storyline from Fly by Night. Peart described it as "the mythological sequel to 'By-Tor and the Snow Dog.'" Part I ("Into the Darkness") features a narrated prologue — the voice belongs to producer Terry Brown, who adopted a deep, ominous tone for the role. Part II ("Under the Shadow") builds tension with atmospheric passages and some of Rush's darkest, heaviest music to that point. Part III ("Return of the Prince") brings back By-Tor as the hero in a climactic battle, and was actually released as a single in Canada, though it didn't chart.

The piece was heavily influenced by Tolkien's depictions of battles between good and evil, and the overall atmosphere has a genuinely eerie quality. The guitar tones Lifeson achieves in the middle section are massive — one reviewer noted that parts of it could give Black Sabbath a run for their money.

While ambitious, it wasn't as fully realized as later Rush epics, though it served as an important stepping stone in their progressive development. The narration approach would be largely abandoned in future works, with the band preferring to convey narrative through music and lyrics alone. Without keyboards in their arsenal yet, much of the progressive texture comes from Lifeson's wide range of guitar tones and techniques, pushing him to fill the sonic space that a keyboardist would normally occupy.