SECOND LIFE SYNDROME

Riverside have become one of the greatest hopes and realities in the european progressive movement for the last years. Their second album is my favourite and it establish the passional landmarks that have made them famous and loved. They are masters combining ambients and dynamic riffing on quite dark, melancholic, even ghostly moods. They are tagged as prog metal but I find their music quite symphonic in classic terms.

The keyboards offer a soft pillow to the contundent and dynamic drums, being the guitar sound by Piotr Grudzinski the real identity from the beginning to the end. All in all, the vocals by Mariusz Duda are the highlight in their work, so passional, so warm, they really remind me to Vincent Cavanagh from Anathema (also the guitar sound has something to do with it).

Here we fin real classics as the haunting Conceiving You, I Turned You Down or the miniepic Second Life Syndrome. I was very lucky to see them performing live in Granada on the Systematic Chaos tour with Dream Theater and it was a marvellous experience.

Peace!