Riverside comes from Poland. After a promo which came out in 2003 they released their first effort "Out Of Myself" in 2004, and this is probably the best progressive album that has been released in a long time. On this album you’ll get a mixture of metal, progressive and psychedelic rock. "Out Of Myself" was an enormous surprise when I first listened to it.

As you're listening to the album it makes you dream away. You will experience yourself in different environments from a sad and grey existence to something more bright and coloured. The whole album is filled with soft and stronger emotions, every song is a thrilling piece and very well executed by the four talented musicians, Mariusz Duda on vocals, bass and accoustic guitar, Piotr Grudzinski on guitar, Piotr Kozieradski on drums and Jacek Melnicki on keyboards. The compositions are so tight, that it makes it hard to believe and very impressive, that this is their debut album.

The album starts with a 12 minutes track. The intro leads us to 'The Same River', an intriguing voice, the music slowly grows, the guitar is getting more and more intense and the keyboards melodies and bass line lift it all to something magic. This is a huge composition and the intense voice of Mariusz Duda is incredible on this beautiful first track.

'Out of Myself' follows, a bass intro, impressive keyboards sound, really nice guitars, the whole song is much heavier and also shorter than the first one, but just as great. 'I Believe' is an accoustic guitar track, sad in a way but poignant.

'Reality Dream' is an instrumental track, this is part one, with whirling synthesizers and a tight funky bass line and really emotional guitar playing. 'Loose Heart' is dark and melancholic, the guitar solos make me think of Pink Floyd and the voice is calm and deep at the beginning and ends with more aggressive feelings.

The instrumental 'Reality Dream' part II follows and opens a keyboard/guitar duel so fresh and inspiring. On 'In Two Minds' there is some elements of Porcupine Tree, the vocal has delicate melodies and reminds me of Steven Wilson. Then 'The Curtain Falls', some of the music makes me think of my Swiss friends of Twilight Birds, it sounds almost like a jam at the end of this huge track, and what a bass! Mesmerizing guitar and impressive drumming, a real highlight! The Album ends with the calm and relaxing 'Ok', a nice piece of music that introduces trombone as well.

This album is dark and inspiring and have some scents of a concept, the lyrics are deep and interesting, each track is diversified and have many tempo and mood changes and technical highlights, so if you like bands like Anathema, Opeth, Marillion, and if you're open minded be sure to check out Riverside. The nice artwork has been made by Travis Smith.

Riverside website

Distributed in Denmark and kindly supplied by VME