Artist: Riverside
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2005
Rating: 4/5
Eastern Europe has finally cracked it! Poland’s Riverside have been running like a truly well-oiled machine for the past three years, and that makes them one of the main prog rock attractions on the planet right now. I won’t be modest with my words. This is the real cream of the prog rock crop! Today’s prog rock! What drives Riverside forward is definitely their deep emotion, which comes through so genuinely in their music. No influences here, no textbook racing through the notes like Dream Theater or Shadow Gallery, this is a pure “feel, switch-off” album. “Second Life Syndrome” is the second part of the conceptual trilogy the guys kicked off with their debut “Out Of Myself” (2003). Compared to the debut, Riverside now sound even heavier. They’re now adding a good dose of genuine “progressive” metal elements to their sound. The album stands out for its incredible drama and depth! The atmospheres are grandiose. The whole record has a distinctly melancholic touch, but it’s far from depressive. Bassist Maruisz Duda’s vocals play a big part in that: he sings with incredible feeling, and his warm, deep voice carries a hint of sadness the whole way through.
“Second Life Syndrome” is generously dosed with more complex passages that weave fluidly into the simpler, more straightforwardly composed material. The title track is the high point of the record when it comes to stacking different atmospheres and the different levels of motif complexity I mentioned, while in the instrumental Reality Dream III the guys go the furthest in progressive complexity on the album. The keyboards in the production build an equal part of the sonic picture, and the guitar, which isn’t shy about that real metal chopping I mentioned, still doesn’t take top billing on the new record. Riverside don’t hide the rage, madness and pain, and Mariusz deliberately ends some verses with proper “death metal growls” that fit the picture brilliantly and lift the already towering ambient mood of the whole record even higher. Artificial Smile is a good example, a schizophrenic song where Riverside sound their heaviest on the record thanks to the prominent guitar riff.
The guys play coherently and the chemistry is top-notch! They’re not shy about oriental motifs either, laid over a properly progressively broken rhythm, for example in Dance With The Shadow. Expressive guitar melodies run through a compressor in places, alongside massive keyboard work, and they fleetingly pull toward the latest musical directions of the likes of Porcupine Tree. “Second Life Syndrome” is a record with extraordinary subtlety that develops in completely unexpected and spontaneous ways (I Turned You Down, Before). The sound is thick, with a massive wall of sound and incredible depth, and the rhythm section bites into it uncompromisingly, only amplifying the effect! Riverside carry a true modern “new age” sound, full of high-grade “groove”!
With their birth, Riverside are an outstanding addition to the prog rock scene. They’ve got a completely their own voice, built on a fantastic sense of expressing emotion through a musical sermon. Riverside are spontaneously unpredictable, with a fluid, rich diversity of motifs in their compositions. A true post-socialist syndrome of anger, despair and disappointment blows through the music, that feeling when you stop caring about anything in the world! And now we’re in turbo capitalism. Not much of a better option. Riverside are a completely convincing new musical moment in prog rock. There are no rational musical parallels or calculations in them, just plain, naked “feel” everywhere.
Lineup
Mariusz Duda – bass guitar, vocals
Piotr Grudziñski – guitar
Michal Lapaj – keyboards
Piotr Kozieradzki – drums
Production
Riverside
Track list
1. After (3:31)
2. Volte-Face (8:40)
3. Conceiving You (3:39)
4. Second Life Syndrome (15:40)
5. Artificial Smile (5:27)
6. I Turned You Down (4:34)
7. Reality Dream III (5:01)
8. Dance With The Shadow (11:38)
9. Before (5:23)
Album length: 62:33
