OUT OF MYSELF

I may be stepping out a bit early, but this is one of the best recordings I've heard this year. A new band with a sound and quality not found on the third or fourth release from more well-known bands. Terrific. A bit of something for everyone. Influnces range from Pink Floyd to King Crimson, Dream Theater (w/o the horrid vocals) to Porcupine Tree. Muscular and hard driven to pyschedelic and subtle. Touches of Opeth and POS also shine through. I'm not a metal fan, but the harder sections seem to grow on you rather then push you away.

I was captured right off the mark, The Same River is a wonderfully mesmeric opener. The vocals, more Steve Wilsonesque than anyone else, are dreamlike and impossible not to appreciate. Mariusz Duda even dips into the Hogarth style vocal, but pulls it off better. There are a few "cookie monster" moments, but they are brief and carry a certain element of angst which wouldn't be as poignant if delivered more subtly. Whispers and screams from In Two Minds to the title track. Engaging.

Two instrumentals, Reality Dream I and II, open the keyboard guitar duels that sound fresh and inspired. Jacek Melnicki and Piotr Grudzinski trade off over the power drumming of Piotr Kozieradzki. (The names remind me of my high school days...) Bassist/Singer Mariuz Duda holds down the bottom and occasionally moves to the front of the mix.

A concept album, the lyrics tend to embrace the mind, a man who suffers an emotional collapse and reenters the outside world and fight through failures, but refuses to quit trying. Dark, but inspiring.

This is a band to watch, er listen, for in the future. They have plenty of talent to build on and have enough vesatility to capture listeners of other genres.

It has been very quiet in the Polish progressive rock circuit, but be prepared for the new sensation, called RIVERSIDE. This 'Out of Myself' will be a big surprise in many musical environments, a cd that will let you dream away in a world, balancing between a grey, lonely existence and a colourful future, filled with emotions and carried away with thrilling songs, played by four excellent musicians. You get the feeling having heard this music already in the past, naturally it's full of references, but the compositions are so tight, really impressive for a debut album. And I've said it before, it becomes a trend to make a transition from playing death metal or metal to atmospheric art rock. But, it was never performed in such an original way as the group RIVERSIDE.

The intro of 'The same river' sets your teeth on edge, an intriguing voice, the swelling music, a Floydian guitar passing to aggressive progmetal and later on in typical neoprog style. The melancholy is really everywhere, mainly by the intense voice of Mariusz Duda. This is one of the nicest compositions, that I've heard this year.

Some tracks are more in the vein of progressive metal, like the short but heavy "Out of Myself". And apparently the guys much appreciate sound effects, because most of the songs have some weird introduction. After the beautiful, sad acoustic 'I Believe' all stops are pulled out with whirling synthesizers and a pumping bass guitar in the first part of "Reality Dream".

Don't listen to this cd when you are in a depressive mood, because you will not get any happier after hearing it. 'Loose heart' is completely drown in a mood of dark melancholy, as you can hear very often on OPETH's 'Damnation' : beautiful mellotron varied with 'Gilmouresque' guitar solos. And you even can hear the metal-roots of the guys in a very short but not disturbing grunt voice.

To keep this review relatively short, I will let you discover all the other tracks, anyway it has no sense, because each track is so diversified and has so many tempo and mood changes and technical highlights. The entire cd keeps constantly that high level, the dark side of ANATHEMA, OPETH and GREEN CARNATION, the song structures of PORCUPINE TREE and the symphonic fragments of PINK FLOYD or MARILLION.

Travis Smith being chosen to make the artwork is not really a coincidence, as the man has already made a lot of nice covers for bands like OPETH, ANATHEMA, DEAD SOUL TRIBE and other PSYCHOTIC WALTZ.

2004 has proven to be a fantastic year for progressive rock and metal, but I'm sure that 'Out of Myself' will never disappear from my Top 3. And I have not the slightest idea, how they can equal or even improve this performance. You should be in the store already!!

RIVERSIDE music is a blend of space, psychedelic and symphonic with some influence of progressive metal. Band-wise it's a sort of influences from PINK FLOYD, PORCUPINE TREE, OZRIC TENTACLES, MARILLION (early) and DREAM THEATER / PAIN OF SLAVATION. Quite a lot of influences, composed in an excellent harmony with catchy melody in many segments. Vast majority of the music style is symphonic in the vein of space psychedelic music (50%) with some neo prog (35%) and progressive metal (15%). This is an excellent debut album.

"The Same River" starts off with an ambient intro dominated by electric guitar work in the vein of Gilmour backed with symphonic keys and soft bass line at the background. It reminds me to the beginning part of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" of Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" album. Superb opening! The music then flows naturally with drum stools come into way in a soft entry and brings the music into "beats". The keyboard sound is still maintained at the background to deliver the nuance. It reminds me to Ozric Tentacles' music. The guitar riffs then come in the music followed by stunning solo guitar in the vein of neo prog music. Oh boy . this is really COOOOOL ..!!!! The first half is purely instrumental. The vocal line is also nice. Excellent track!

"Out Of Myself" kicks off with dynamic bass line followed with voice and soaring keyboard in space style (reminds me to AYREON). The music turns slowly to faster tempo but still maintaining the space and psychedelic nuance.

"I Believe" starts with voices in the crowd followed by powerful vocal. The acoustic guitar brings the music in a rather ballad style at the opening and moves to a continuous music. It ends up with an acoustic guitar fills. With some quiter transition the music turns to a kind of prog met style with heavier guitar riffs and faster tempo, accompanied by dazzling bass and symphonic keys as part of next track "Reality Dream I". The influence of Ozric music is obvious. Electric guitar solo is backed with excellent percussion sounds at background.

The music flows to 5th track "Loose Heart" which is in medium tempo neo prog style with nice electric guitar (performed softly). It continues with short solo drum to start with next track "Reality Dream II" through soft guitar solo. At some transitions the guitar turns to heavier style with some riffs to accentuate the transition. If you know Dutch band FLAMBOROUGH HEAD, this part reminds me to the band. Some guitar solo is FLOYDian. Excellent track. Superb.

"In Two Minds" is a song heavily influenced by PORCUPINE TREE. Even if this song is played without knowing who the band is I would say this is PT! At the opening, the voice line is very similar with Steve Wilson. The song has great acoustic guitar rhythm and soft electric guitar solo. Another excellent track.

The intro of "The Curtain Falls" reminds me to ARENA "Immortal?" album. It is then followed with a catchy Floydian guitar. Really cool! This is a psychedelic song with sort of Steve Wilson singing style. The album is concluded with "OK" - a song performed mellow with clear voice of its singer.

Well, I admire the band despite the fact that it's their debut album. It's really an excellent album: beautifully composed and excellently performed. I tend to give FIVE star rating but I believe that this is too naïve as it's really new. So, overall I give a 4.5 / 5 rating with a potential upgrade (later, by passage of time) to a full five star rating. Highly recommended. GW, Indonesia.

Prompted by that ubiquitous enthusiast Danbo I managed to get my hands on a copy of Riverside's debut album and boy do I owe him thanks! This is a major achievement, it references several bands (Floyd, Porcupine Tree and Marillion spring to mind) but still manages to sound fresh and vital. The album opener;"The Same River" is absolutely breathtaking. It builds from an atmospheric,Floydian opening into a full-blown angst-ridden epic with all the right ingredients:plaintive guitar solos,pulsating bass, gyrating drums and melancholy vocals. Out Of Myself is next up and whilst it heavily references Porcupine Tree,not a bad thing in my book,it has enough going on to be fresh and enjoyable. I Believe with its acoustic moods sets just the right tone and the instrumentals Reality Dream I and II are a riotous joy of fretboard and keyboard jousts á la Colosseum II. Loose Heart and In Two Minds are more straightforward but are highly enjoyable nonetheless.The Curtain Falls is another mini-epic in the Pink Floyd tradition and has a wonderful psychedelic feel to it.The final track OK is "OK" with nice whispered vocals and dreamy synths. All in all a very good album with great performances throughout. Special mention must go to the vocalist Duda who by dint of his relatively accentless singing manages to give the whole package an international appeal. This lot will go far!

One of the prog revelations of 2004. Every prog fan must love this Out of myself. The Polish band Riverside did an amazing job in creating its own sound with their debut album. The sound has a great variety of influences, still it's highly original. On this album you'll get a mixture of metal, progressive and psychedelic rock. If I search for a name of a similar artist I must mention Anathema but only to give you a clue of the sound of Riverside. Unlike other new bands in the land of prog, Riverside uses modern atmospheric sounding keyboards which are a delight to listen to. It's hard to believe this is a first album when you listen to the way all of the instruments are played. The guitarist gave definitely a good listen to the guitar work of Steve Hackett. The vocalist has a beautiful voice but maybe the voice should be more dominant in the sound. Most of the time he sings delicate melodies but every now and then he turns his voice into a death grunt for a second. The bass lines are simply fantastic, especially on the title tracks which is one of the highlights for me. It's unusual for progressive rock but on several occasions the bass line seems to function like some kind of bridge between calm and more violent sections. You can notice this easily thanks to the fabulous production. In the calm sections Pink Floyd and Procupine Tree come to mind. When the sound is getting loud I notice some influences from Dream Theater and Marillion. The main theme in the lyrics of this albums is to cope with feelings of depression but don't worry. In the end there's hope. This album gives also hope for the future of progressive rock. It won't die alone.

Prog is dead? No young bands willing to create progressive music? No progression in prog today?

Well, I don't know how many brilliant debut albums I reviewed lately; definitely enough to notice a certain tendency: 2004 was the year of the debuts, at least seemingly. And now I will review another great debut album, for me the highlight of all debuts I rated.

I have to admit that I never cared for / didn't know any band from our neighbouring country poland. Due to Danbo (thx again chum!) I discovered "Out of Myself" and was totally enthused right away. And referring to the ratings I'm not alone. The four guys from Poland created an amazing piece of music, a mixture of different styles and influences with a very own touch. It sounds new and fresh, Riverside are far from being a clone of anybody, even though you can spot some touches of Opeth's Damnation, Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd or Forgotten Suns. But it's just a point of reference. Regarding all their facets, Riverside is quite incommensurable. Their music can be described as a compound of psychodelic, so called retroprog and some prog metal ingredients which immingle to a very nice mixture in this case. The atmosphere is kind of dark and full of suspense throughout the whole album.

After somebody adjusts a radio (you can hear "Hotel California" by the Eagles for short), a dark droning bass and melodic guitar take over. A long psychodelic, almost hypnotic intro commences, mellifluously, until finally vocals accrue. After 12 minutes it's official: "The same river" is an amazing opener. The title song affirms it, "Out of Myself" isn't a very blitheful album. Elegiac guitar, Gilmore- like solos and dark keyboard layers create the perfect atmosphere. "I Believe" is an atrabilious acoustic piece and can be descibed as the calm before the storm, because the following instrumental "Reality Dream Part I" shows why I mentioned prog metal trimmings. Keyboard and bass solos in the beginning, awesome, melodic guitar solos in the middle section and the end. I have to mention the great bass, Mariusz Duda did a great job here. "Loose Heart" is a dreamy, quite psychodelic song with a devilish emotional ending, some would describe it as "cookie monster vocals" and contemn it, all I have to say is: simply amazing! It fits so good. "Reality Dream Part II" features great bass again. In the beginning it's one long guitar solo but the instrumental commences just like Part I ended. Watch out, some really terrific guitar solos will cross your way here. "In two minds" begins mellow and acoustic and stays it apart from short solos on electric guitar. "The courtain falls" is a highlight and one of my favorite songs lately. Very amtospherical, superb bass and even better vocals, Mariusz Duda in top form. It's remarkable how this song builds up a feeling of eagerness, an enthralling song. "OK", featuring trombone, marks the punch line of a great debut.

So just like all others I really recommend "Out of Myself". It's an exceptional debut by a very talented band. They raised the bar to vertiginous heights, I'm really excited about the second album because it's very difficult to maintain such a high level. Check out Riveside if you don't believe in contemporary Prog, because it will prove that black is white.

Buy this and you'll automatically get maybe the best release of 2004. It's big words for a small band but don't you just love when a total no-name steals the show!? 4 guys, totally out of nowhere (no offense Poland) slapping silly the face of all the great prog princes of the new millenium.

Since the late 90's, progressive metal really kicked in gear. Seems like there's a buzz around making darker, gloomy music. Double pedal bass drum, razor sharp riffs and a good amout of screaming seems to satisfy the new millenium proggers. But with Riverside, the whole concept of metal is so well balanced that you're forced to admit that Out of Myself is simply one of the best easy listening record around. I said this album is balanced and how. The album is relatively quiet and gets meaner as the song progresses. Riverside is inspired by the Gilmour type of guitar playing, but thank god they don't use it often. They also seems to apply themselves not making it too complex. The caliber of the musicians is obviously high, but it's like they kept it simple on purpose. The results? Songs easy to get into and a sound that share a lot of similarities with today's FM productions. Especially the singer's voice could be easily mistaken for bands like 3 Days Grace. The signer is REALLY good. He's not the Labrie's type....thank you so much!! Man am I tired of the same old opera/castrate vocals a la Dream Theater or Symphony X. Riverside sings softly and the singer's range is way better that way. The music could be more aggressive, but the voice is soothy it all and keeps the mood to relax. The best to understand is to listen to it.

Apart from the FM shape of many songs, the approach is based often on a rather complex but tasty, dirty bass line. Then a solid and rapid drum line's joining it. The keyboard is mainly there to embellish by giving a spacey feeling rather than being rythmic. The guitars are not giving the melodies all by themselves. The're more to support the major bass line by being razor sharp bar chords. More bands should follow that logistic because it's keeping the tune accessible but also leaves space to more atmosphere.

Any Nickelback/Incubus/3 Doors Down kid could get into this, no problem. It feels good to have such an refreshing record without being innovative. It could sound paradoxal but that's exactly what this record is....something to get you out of yourself.

Honestly I really can't follow that much the hype going on about this album expecially in the prog scene. In my view it's only a quite good record, but masterly only with regard to the perfect blend of elements reminiscent of multiple bands.

The Same River, the best song without any doubts sounds almost like a rip-off of GREEN CARNATION mixed with some floydian guitar. Out Of Myself reminds very much to an alternative hard rock band called FILTER, not very much prog-ish in my view. As one co-reviewer mentioned already, one has the impression, that one had heard every song already before. Yes indeed, I fully agree, because there is really nothing new on here, but why is that a reason to rate this album with 4 or 5 stars? Next song I believe is as well a standard quiet and dark one done in similar way by numerous bands, mainly in the Alternative Rock genre. The instrumental track Reality Dream is the second good one with very good guitar lines and rhythm, a bit reminiscent of ANATHEMA, but actually not very intricate and versatile as well. Loose Heart reminds as well to that band, Mariusz Duda's vocs even reinforce this impression. A nice song, although not very original. The second part of "Reality Dream" is as good as part one and in some way a little bit reminiscent of DREAM THEATER. In Two Minds could again be a song on an album by ANATHEMA or maybe PORCUPINE TREE, quite nice but not very exciting. The Curtain Falls has some nice gilmour-ish guitar lines mixed with some riffing typical for GREEN CARNATION later on. Nice to listen and the third highlight of the album. OK is a slow and atmospheric song, quite nice but nothing special in fact.

As a SUMMARY I'd like to say that OUT OF MYSELF is a quite good album having three highlights with "The Same River", "Reality Dream Pt. 1 +2" and "In Two Minds" all of them being rather reminiscent of one or several of the mentioned bands and therefore I would call it more a derivative than a real innovative one. Although I like to listen sometimes such bands, especially if I need some good, but not too difficult music to run in the back, it is not my top favorite one. It's a perfect blend of multiple influences and I really appreciate the effort of the musicians. Well done,guys! Nevertheless in my view this albums seams to be overrated on here, IMHO an average rating of 3.5 would be adequate, since the lack of innovation is really quite obvious. So I'm giving three stars, which means GOOD!

When I learned that this prog rock band is from Poland, after having noticed some similitudes with Polish band Collage's sophisticated drums, punchy & complex bottom bass and floating keyboards, I verified if some members were not from Collage before: NONE of them!

The lead singer has a voice between the Pearl Jam singer (Ten album) and the ultra known French ballad singer of the 60's & 70's Joe Dassin. The overall sound is very powerful, floating, VERY atmospheric and it may make you feel a bit melancholic. The bass is very bottom, the drums are very elaborated, especially the cymbals patterns. The dramatic keyboards are very modern, the VERY powerful and saturated floating ones reminding me the Jean Michel Jarre's work on the Zoolook's Ethnicolor track; the overall genre is on the border of neo prog, with just a slight dose of alternative rock. It is not a very joyful album, and the singer seems to express his discomfort. The electric rhythmic guitar sound is more metal than alternative, being not bad, like on "Reality dream". The sustained guitar solos notes, sometimes slightly bluesy, like on "Curtain falls", are decent and full of echo. There are some good rhythmic acoustic guitar, often played with a whining clean voice. ALL the tracks are excellent!

Rating: 4.5 stars

Riverside - Out of Myself

This Polish progressive metal band has released an amazing debut album in late 2003/early 2004. It is indeed, as the sticker on the front of the cd says, "a mixture of PORCUPINE TREE, PINK FLOYD and ANATHEMA". I think they missed out on forgetting to mention OPETH, but that is just my own opinion...

The CD starts with muted radio sounds, before the twelve minutes lasting epic opener The same River really takes of, wandering through spacey synthesizer spheres accompanied by some very subtle guitar licks and bass lines. This song is mostly instrumental and can somehow been described as bringing tribute to the British psychedelic/space rock band PINK FLOYD, but not sounding like a copy of them at all! Perhaps this is the sound of a modern day Pink Floyd? The song features some very weird effected/sampled vocal lines. The song features many changes in direction. It has a space rock side to it as well as a (progressive) metal side. After about seven (!) minutes in the vocals start. These vocals are very warm and gentle. The best part of the song I think is the last couple of minutes. It features a very melancholic part with some nice laidback guitar work, which is followed by an amazing one minute long guitar solo, which ends the song. This song is worth buying the album by itself!

What I noticed right from the start is that this album is well produced. I have never heard all the individual instruments this clear before on ANY CD. Even the bass guitar is well present, in a pleasant way. Normally this instrument is hardly noticeable; here it is featured as a 'leading' instrument on itself.

Track 2 Out of myself features a variety of vocals. The warm voice is omnipresent and again nice to listen to, but even the rare scream that comes to attention is enjoyable. It totally fits the song. The synthesizer is worth a special mention here. It makes some techno-like sounds throughout the whole song! It gives the song this little extra touch and it worked out for me. It is a highly unusual sound for this type of music. The instrumental metal parts between the sung verses are extremely well done!

The next song is called I believe. It starts with the sound of a bunch of people talking before the acoustic guitar comes in to play. This song is very mellow and relaxing. A lovely ballad that has the same kind of atmosphere as any of the songs on OPETH's 2003 album "Damnation". The vocals are very warm and gentle. A lovely ballad and I just know anyone will instantly like it.

The first one of two instrumentals is called Reality Dream. The song starts with the ticking of a clock and some weird synthesizers. Than the metal begins. Aggressive guitars begin to play assisted by a very spacey synthesizer solo. The bass is very well present on this song (throughout the whole album actually) and it's very well played. About halfway through there's this nice guitar solo. This is one of the album's highlights. All the band members are present and are showing the listener how good they are (not in a DREAM THEATER way, thus meaning they're NOT playing more than four different melodies on EACH of the instruments at the SAME time, just to show off, they simply, well. ARE brilliant musicians).

Loose Heart was the first song I ever heard by Riverside. I heard it through the ProgArchives.com website and instantly loved it. It is a very well thought out musical idea. The first ¾ of the song consists of sophisticated mainstream-orientated pop/rock with warm synthesizer sounds. Not aggressive by far, until the last minute then the metal part comes in, with shouting by the vocalist. The vocals on this track are very nice and gentle even the screaming is fitting the song. It's a very well thought out part of the song. The song features some nice guitar solos.

A drum solo kicks of the start of the album's second instrumental song, Reality Dream II. The song contains samples of a telephone. I could easily copy-past the description of Reality Dream I for this one, because they're both well-played instrumentals, the only major difference being that part II is a bit quieter than part I.

In two Minds starts with effected vocals, accompanied by a relative simple, but good acoustic guitar. The chorus is very nice and shows again what kind of variety of vocals this album features. The electric guitar is again well present and gives us a very nice solo halfway through the song.

The song starts with some laidback sounds, until the electric guitar begins to shine. This is the intro to The Curtain falls, probably the best intro on the whole album... I absolutely love it. The song features some nice solos by each instrument. The vocals sound a lot like OPETH's Mikael Äkerfelt's. That is definitely a major compliment. The instrumental parts in this song are pretty heavy but still maintain that laidback feeling I had while listening throughout the whole album.

The closing track OK is very laidback. It's a very melancholic and dark ballad. The drum is very cool and groovy but not fast or heavy at all. This song is like the opposite of all the other tracks on the album. It features a trombone, which is a very nice addition to the whole package. The vocals are very nice to listen to and can calm a man down. The chorus is very nice and dark. There could not be a better way to close the album, than with this marvellous track.

Overall I would not consider this album to be progressive metal, for the same reasons that make PORCUPINE TREE no progressive metal. The album has its heavier parts, but the atmospheric space rock side is more present and the majority of the album is mellow and softer.

This album was in my top 3 of 2004 releases and I can really recommend it to all of you that like: Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and Opeth.

(I might even have detected a couple of PAIN OF SALVATION influences throughout the whole album.)

Mix 50 grammes of PORCUPINE TREE, 25 grammes of PINK FLOYD and 25 grammes of OPETH in a large bowl. Add a teaspoon of IQ (but don't overdo it, or the result will be saccharine) and a heaped tablespoon of psychedelic powder, and stir well. Wait for the frothy tunes to float to the top, skim off and discard. Roll the mixture into a wafer-thin disc and cook at 100 degrees C for 53 minutes.

Not bad if you want to chill out and break a bottle of wine or maybe put one down, but is it to my taste? I was piqued when I first tried it a few months ago, but have to say that, although I think there are some tasty axe parts, ultimately I find it unmemorable and prefer the raw ingredients. But still some good parts, so 3 stars from me (Good, but not essential).

Riverside is another of those heavy modern prog bands (I don't know if I'd call this group prog-metal since less half the songs on this debut album have metallic touches) that make some of the right noises yet leave me cold. Riverside's influences range from anyone from Marillion and Pink Floyd to Dream Theater and Eloy but I'm not a fan of the end product.

My frustrations when listening to Riverside can be summed up by the first track The Same River. After taking an age to really get going, it is anchored by a nice rumbling bass riff (in fact I found Mariusz Duda's bass playing to be the highlight of Riverside's music) but despite some nice synth touches and highly capable drumming, the unconvincing guitar work (in terms of melody, not skill) and meandering song structure left me bored. The title track too, has a good opening bass run and some powerful guitar riffing and yet I don't rate the song.

There are all kinds of tantalising yet ultimately fruitless moments on this album. I Believe and In two Minds are lovely acoustic numbers ... the former sounds particularly good once the whole band kicks in (oh so delicately) but it's hardly what I look for in a progressive rock band. Reality Dream begins with a spectacular keyboard lead that had me drooling and then descended into another bass heavy number that Dream Theater could do in their sleep ... despite a nice outro melody too much of the piece has been done before. Loose Heart has a lot of passion, I liked some of the zany fills in the Floyd-style stoner ballad OK and the metal instrumental Reality Dream II also contained some excellent playing.

At the point at which Riverside made this album, they must have known that there were dozens of bands out there who were doing the same thing, and had been doing so for nearly a decade. As such, this album feels like a wasted opportunity to me. ... 24% on the MPV scale

After reading the largely positive reviews on here, I found this album to be a bit of a disappointment. It's a very assured debut with some excellent playing but overall it's a bit uneven and unfocussed.

Things get off to a good start with the 12 minute opener The Same River, which is built around some lush keyboard sounds and some very Floydian guitar - Porcupine Tree are an obvious point of comparison here, but there are also hints of Ozrics and Radio Gnome era Gong in the interplay between guitar and synths. The vocals are well down in the mix, being used more as another texture than as the focal point. Atmospheric and beguiling, it's a fine slice of contemporary prog.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album never quite fulfills the promise of the opening track, although the instumentals Reality Dream amd Reality II come close ( the sampled telephone noises on Reality II get a bit annoying after the first few listens). What really lets the album down is the occasional descent into plodding prog metal riffing - it sounds like the real band have taken a break and the poodle haired, spandex clad road crew have picked up the instruments. The acoustic interludes are also not so inspired - if they want people to start waving lighters over their heads they'll have to try harder than this.

Out Of Myself is a promising debut from a band with an excellent sound, but the writing slips too frequently into neo prog/prog metal cliches. If they follow the direction indicated by The Same River there may be great things to come from them.

This album started off promisingly, with the brief sound of The Eagles on the radio. It sounded like the beginning of a great concept album or something. I was quite impressed by some of the playing on this album, especially the guitar work. Although after listening to a whole album of this it became boring very quickly. Riverside have both prog metal cliche style musicianship and a bit of this album that sounds fresh but both of these felt weak and boring. The album was a real drag to listen to and I didn't enjoy it as much as I would enjoy Dream Theater.

"Out of Myself" has some good ideas, themes and lyrics, plus a lot of talent, but it really doesn't hit the spot for me and comes across as just another prog metal release for me. I still see some potential in this band and will probably look out for any future releases, but this album is not so good.

3.9 stars Poland doing prog?? Wow, what a surprise. I'm happy that this prog album is very strong and is involved with Insideout Records. Wonderful album ... It Reaches the level of musical brilliance of the successful prog band "Porcupine Tree". I am making comparisons as this album is very derivative of other prog bands. The songs may make you think of Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Soft Opeth, Tool, and especially Porcupine Tree. Even if derivative, there are many things to love in this album. The sound quality is excellent, there is a lot of coherence, the musicianship is strong, and the songwriting is more than competent. All the music in this disc is strong and no tracks should be skipped as this is a concept album. The opener is a long space-rock trip with great atmospheres and layers and layers of sound! After the ambient intro, a cool bass line kicks in and the proper song starts. You'll realize that the guitar player is very talented, and the vocalist sounds almost like Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). Out of Myself is an effective rocker featuring another nice bass line. I Believe is an effective ballad with vocal harmonies that sound like they come from Porcupine Tree. Next song is the 1st part of Reality Dream ... a trio of instrumentals where the 3rd lies in their second album. The first part has a lot to offer and provides some synthesizers. A rocker with many tempo changes and yet another catchy bass line. Loose Heart is another ballad, but stronger than "I Believe" as the melodies are better, and it's much more interesting musically too. Reality Dream Pt2 comes again and blows you away with great musicianship and countless layers of atmospheric sounds. This instrumental is in my opinion the stronger of the two in this album. In Two Minds sounds like a Porcupine tree clone with the vocalist sounding a bit similar to Coldplay's singer at times. Not bad at all, but probably the least interesting track here. The Curtain Falls is both laidback and metal-like. An outstanding song that doesn't try to emulate another band. Definitively one of the highlights. OK is a mellow closer that finishes the album in a sad note. An excellent debut from an excellent band. Their next album is overall better done in every way and managed to be in the top 20 albums of the whole progressive rock genre. If you love Porcupine Tree (Especially Sky Moves Sideways and Deadwing), Im sure you'll find a lot to like about this album. Beautiful, but not very original. Highlights: Loose Heart, Reality Dream II, The Curtain Falls Let Downs: N/A My Grade : B

The first time I heard a song from RIVERSIDE was at Delicous Agony Internet Radio. They played 'The Same River' and I was out of myself and changing the riverside - enthusiastic about what I was listening to. A wonderful song. First of all the exciting intro makes you very curious what follows - powerful rhythm work, fine guitar playing, good melodies and great variety.

For me this is neoprog sometimes bordering to progmetal - for example the title track or the end of 'Loose Heart'. The other longer track 'The Curtain Falls' is also a highlight. An excellent debut!

Wonderful start to one of the few shining bands left today. This band plays well within itself, nothing too over the top, keeping the integrity of the song above all else.

The Same River is a favorite of mine, mostly because of its personal appeal to things in my life. Anywho, most of the songs hear are on the good to great status, but there's nothing "revolutionary" about any of it. It's just well done music. It's not groundbreaking, just some outstanding musicianship. Should break the stereotypes of "progressive metal", which is a poorly used term. This band is about substance and quality songwriting more than fitting into a niche. Much of the music has a very psychedelic vibe due to the role of the keys.

Highly recommended as a comfortable start for anyone looking to get into the "progressive metal" genre who is more used to traditional prog rock.

What could I possibly add to 135 reviews and an average rating of 4.14 out of 5.0?! Not much I guess. (Who's going to read the review no. 136 of this album anyhow???)

Let me keep it short and simple:

Riverside is probably my second still existing favorite band right now and my third favorite band of all times. Just after Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd. (Indeed Pink Floyd doesn't make studio albums anymore). Very proggy album in the style of Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd and Marillion that immediately made this band one of my favorites! Attended 2 live shows till now and life these guys are even better than on the studio albums!!!

Great guitar work by Piotr Grudzinski (love his playing style) Great bass and vocals (and even a growl now and then) by Mariusz Duda (he plays the bass kind of like a guitar, you actually hear it as an instrument!) Very good drums & percussion by Piotr "Meatloaf" Kozieradzki Very atmospheric Keyboards lifting the whole to a higher surface by Jacek Melnicki

5 star album all the way!

4.5 stars This band just pushes all the right buttons for me. Duda's vocals are warm and soothing to aggressive and angry. Grudzinski's plays a style of guitar I love, from the tone to the way he makes it soar. And besides he thanks the great ANATHEMA "for their music" in the liner notes. What a debut record though.

The first song "The Same River" is my favourite, the way it builds and all that atmosphere just blows me away. The louder the better ! The guitar 9 1/2 minutes in reminds me of PORCUPINE TREE, and I love the warm vocals that follow. Speaking of vocals, check out the great vocals on "Voices In My Head", and the aggressive, violent "Let me get this straight, let me get this right !" section 2 1/2 minutes in. Just an intense tune. "I Believe" is a mellow song that makes me feel warm all over (must be the vocals) .It opens with the sounds of a party going on as spoken vocals come in with lots of atmosphere. Gentle guitar and vocals follow. Beautiful and meaningful words as the sound of the party return.

"Reality Dream" and "Reality Dream II" are both instrumentals that have atmospheric keyboards, both scorching and soaring guitars with some killer riffs. "Loose Heart" has this cool intro as those wondrous vocals come in with synths. The guitar before 1 1/2 minutes and 3 minutes in are fantastic ! The song turns violent 4 minutes in as he screams over and over "Raise me up" !!! "In Two Minds" is actually a song that is both beautiful and emotional (maybe that was just me...the emotional part of course) haha ! Some nice guitar 3 minutes in. "The Curtain Falls" just builds and builds to a powerful soundscape, great song. "Ok" features some guest trombone before 1 1/2 minutes.This one also reminds me of PORCUPINE TREE with the reserved vocals, keys and percussion.

Thanks Ken Golden for bringing these guys to the world and especially to my home. Amazing music !

I discovered this Polish band about three years ago thanks to PA. I went to see them playing live during a great prog conference together with "La Maschera" and "Knight Area" in 2005. What a day ! Three great bands in three different prog categories.

The absolute highlight of this album is the brilliant opening number : "The Same River". It is incredibely catchy, oppressing, repetitive. The vocals come quite late and bring some lightness in all this complexity. It is a sublime song. Guitar and keys are so pleasant, so strong. The final guitar solo is truely emotive and each time that I listen to it, I am transborded with joy.

The title track flirts with the heavy sounds (DT is not far away). Again it is very pleasant and the melody is rather pleasant. A very good song as well while "I Believe" is using a theme from "The Same River". It is almost acoustic and offers a bit of rest while listening to this album.

The second highlight is "Reality Dream, Part I". A great instrumental piece of music. Half symphonic (during the guitar solo) half metal. I have to say that I particularly like the combination. "Riverside" mixes the genres in a great and appropriate manner to ensure that the listener is never let down. This album is varied and prevents boredom.

Of course, "Loose Heart" reminds "Out Of Myself" and sounds as if this album would be a concept one, with repeated parts throughout the work. Keyboards bring some nice symphonic tone and the screaming guitar is another added value for the whole. So far, this debut album is rather convincing.

Some Floydian mood to start the second part of "Reality". Wonderful and Gilmouresque guitar work (but since the mood was Floydian, I guess that it is all but normal). Again, the song will develop on the harder edge and the same feeling than during "Part I" can be experienced. Great moment of music, no doubt.

The most emotional song is without any doubt "In Two Minds". The mood is softer. Vocals very delicate. Like "I Believe", which breaks the hard sounds from this album and bring a diversified approach. The spacey tone of "The Curtain Falls" is also a nice moment (but actually, there are so many...). It is maybe a bit too long to be fully interesting but it is fully in-line with most of the songs featured on "Out of Myself". Another pleasant track.

The jazzy mood of the closing number is not a fave of mine. Probably the weakest osng of the whole. But only one weak number is not too bad, right ?

This album is not a masterpiece, but still it is a great work. This band will certainly do great things if they build up their catalogue on this good basis. Their music is not only metal since "Riverside" combines several source of inspirations. The keys alos add such a special flavour to their music.

Four stars.

Prog metal wanted some ''fresh meat'',tired of being full with DREAM THEATER and FATES WARNING clones.It was time for RIVERSIDE to introduce themselves to the prog metal audience.The result of their first album is simply outstanding! The closer band to them are PAIN OF SALVATION but they don't sound similar to them.They are skilled musicians but they have thrown a good measure of psychedelia in their prog metal style.Unique in one word!!Feed your ears with their music...

Splendid debut of one of the most interesting bands appeared in the last decade!

The music of this album is not strictly progressive metal. For me it's in the same vein of crossover prog bands like Porcupine Tree or Anathema, with a lot of experimentation and complex passages, being the influence of Pink Floyd also very obvious. The metal comes in some parts, but it's not the main aspect of their music. The experimentation is the keynote, with marvelous keyboard parts and hypnotic bass lines. Most of the songs are really catching thanks the amount of small details they have and the ascending instrumental parts they contain. The bass lines are the body of the songs, and the complex layers of guitars alongside with the great keyboards. Mariusz Duda vocals are dreamy, deep and sometimes even ripped... This man is the soul of the band, with his outstanding bass and good vocals abilities.

Both the long and shorts songs are good, but maybe the last two are not so great. The Courtain Falls is not bad, but not so catchy for me despite being a classic in live concerts of the band. And OK, the slow and ambiental last track, is not the perfect ending in my opinion. It lacks strength and emotion, despite being an interesting trip-hop experiment.

But the rest of the album is really outstanding. The Same River shows what this band is able to do, with long instrumental parts, both peaceful and strong. Out of Myself is a short and powerful track. I Believe is a wonderful acoustic track, in the same vein as the later In Two Minds, one of the highlights of the album... In two Minds is really marvelous, a track in the same with strong Porcupine Tree but much more sentimental. I really love the lyrics of this song.

The instrumentals Reality Dream I and II are catchy and shows the band's skill and potential. And Loose Heart is another hit, a really catchy song, with beautiful lyrics and great tempo. If you want to know the true personality of this band, I think that Loose Heart is a perfect introduction to their sound.

Conclusion: if you are into experimental and progressive rock, you must hear this band. They have many influences, but they are able to translate them brilliantly into their music, making an original and exciting mixture.

If you like acts like Porcupine Tree, Green Carnation, Wolverire, Anathema... You must hear this band. And Out of Myself is perfect to start with them. Not so complex and cohesive like later albums, but with a very good songwriting and great musicianship from the best progressive rock band born in Poland since Collage.

Best Tracks: The Same River, I Believe, In Two Minds, Loose Heart.

My rating: ****

Riverside - Out of Myself 4.2 Stars

This unexpected release in 2003 was a breath of fresh air to the prog-metal scene.if you would call it prog-metal. The sound is very heavy and soft at times, but long ethereal keyboards remain throughout the album as well as quirky time signatures with some very 'gilmourish' solo's. All of the band members have had prior band experience before this project that was very distant from the sound that was brought out by Riverside. The band consists of Mariusz Duda on bass and vocals, Piotr Grudzinski on guitars, Piotr Kozieradzski on drums and Michal Lepaj on keyboards.

Marjusz was just originally recruited as a bassist.not for his vocal abilities, which were later discovered. The point I am trying to clarify is that they didn't just wanted the singer to play an instrument.cause this man's bass skill are enough justification for his inclusion. He is also just as good as a vocalist. His clean vocals are extremely similar to those in Anathema.a band that shares some of the flavor and has some grunty outbursts that aren't bad, but don't let it drive you away as there are very few moments of those. As a guitarist.right after I heard this album I immediately labeled Grudzinski as an influence. The man is not over the top with his solos at all. They are extremely spacey like the keyboard.he extends the notes for long durations with a lot of sustain and has an extreme sense of pitch. The beauty of his style is that he makes every single note count. He is the kind of guitar player where it is very hard to tell what direction he is going to take.very good player.

Musically speaking, this is an amazing album. The only flaw that has lowered my rating is that this band made it big with this release because of their new sound, yet they overused it just a little too much. The listener almost gets a sense that they might say 'haven't they played this already'. Other then the played out sound, this album is just about perfect. There are two acoustic ballad songs that are absolutely breathtaking, being 'I Believe' and 'In Two Minds'. There are also two instrumentals brought out in a series called 'Reality Dream'. This disc contains I and II, which are great jam tracks, certainly showing how tight this band is.

The opening track, 'The Same River' is a great introduction to the sound of Riverside. It is pretty lengthy, at 12 minutes and the opening at very atmospheric/psychedelic like Floyd. It really sums up what we are for as far as vocals, timing and guitar work goes. 'Out of Myself' is quite the angry one, as the guitar and drum dynamics are very hard and rampant with the vocals can only enhance the effect. 'Loose Heart' is probably my favorite track off the album. It is a much better version of 'The Same River' except much shorter and catchier verses and chorus. The end of the album was the part that held me back from 5 stars. 'The Curtain Falls' is more of the same from what we have already heard, but that track is certainly not worthy of the word 'bad' or 'lacking' but on the other hand, the track could be considered those two words is 'Ok'. This song is pretty bad by any prog standards. Especially since it is the last track, I feel kind of empty when the album is over. At least 7 of the tracks were stellar though.

This is recommended to just about any fan of prog. Do not be afraid to check it out because of the prog-metal label.it is far from the other contemporary acts. For any fans of Anathema, Pink Floyd, Pain of Salvation, Opeth, and Dream Theater, you shall not be disappointed. This is brilliant music.

sources: www.riverside.art.pl

One of the most powerfully creative, moody, emotive, and artistic debuts in recent years, showing off a perfect blend of subtle atmosphere and heavy aggression-- Out of Myself is a must have for fans across genres... so long as they like their music bleak and usually depressing.

If the slow build up to the heavy instrumental chorus of The Same River doesn't hook the listener, then Mariusz Duda's powerful bass and incredibly smooth vocals will. His deliveries range from quite whispers to a confident tenor crooning and, yes, harsh guttural roars as beautiful juxtaposed as one could hope for. This, combined with the sprawling, lush, dynamic songs and dark energy make for very, very enjoyable listening.

While comparisons and inspiration can be obviously extrapolated, none of them can deny the creative sound and style Riverside has created here, with only their first release. Highly recommended.

Songwriting: 5 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: 4 Style/Emotion/Replay: 5

I have already reviewed Second Life Syndrome and Rapid Eye Movement from Riverside so very unlike the way I usually review a bands discography I have done it backwards. It doesn´t matter much in the case of Riverside as all three of their albums are very similar in sound and style. This doesn´t mean that there hasn´t been a development in their style, it´s just not that significant. It doesn´t matter to me though as I think all of their albums are excellent pieces of prog rock with metal tendencies.

Out of Myself is no exception to that. The music changes from melodic metal inspired pieces to more mellow prog rock pieces. It´s a nice mix even though I feel their metal riffs are a bit generic. Mariusz Duda is a real treat of a vocalist. He has a very personal style and he means a lot to the sound of Riverside. The Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Tool and Dream Theater influences are very clear, but it doesn´t mean that Riverside are clones. They mix all their influences into their own style.

Even though I like Rapid Eye Movement the best of their three albums, this one is definitely also an excellent addition to your prog rock collection. Don´t be fooled by the fact that Riverside is in the progressive Metal catagory, they are generally a very soft prog rock band. The metal only shines through few places on the album. 4 stars is a fair judgement here.

Described as Progressive Metal, the Polish four-piece RIVERSIDE feel much more like a heavy space-rock band. This, their debut, establishes the band as a serious heavyweight on the progressive scene.

There is real depth to the music. The keyboards and guitar brush the space-rock canvas with broad strokes, but unlike many other bands of this type the bass and drums are also excellent and an essential part of the sound. Least convincing are the vocals, but I have to remind myself MARIUSZ DUDA is singing in a language other than his native tongue.

As might be expected, this debut is not without its obvious influences. You can hear PINK FLOYD, ANATHEMA, PORCUPINE TREE and DREAM THEATER, but that's no bad thing and can be tolerated in a first record.

The album begins with the outstanding 'The Same River', which over seven minutes sets out the band's stall, before the vocals emerge. Well-integrated sound fx, smooth, ethereal keyboards, the requisite soaring guitar, crushing distorted riffs and an excellent rhythm section. And the vocal hook ('I know I'll ... always ...love') to me marks the genius of this band: they know how to compose great music, saving something for the vocals.

The rest of the album does not quite reach these five-star heights again. Oddly, the title track is one of the weakest on the album, pure and formulaic prog metal a la ANATHEMA. 'I Believe' is a fair ballad, followed by the instrumental 'Reality Dream I', a DREAM THEATER-ish track with a haunting central section. It's counterpart, helpfully titled 'Reality Dream II', is a continuation. 'Loose Heart' is another, heavier ballad, as is 'In Two Minds'. The bass does a fair ROGER WATERS impersonation in 'Curtain Falls'. None of the remaining tracks are poor, but none have that wonderful spark of the opening track.

A promising debut, and that promise was to be realised on their next release.

When a debut album comes out of nowhere (not that Poland is nowhere but I mean the group) and creates an immediate worldwide buzz, you know that it's a rare occurrence and that it must be somehow deserving of all the praise from pretty much all us proggers. To put matters even more into perspective, when those first notes blasts through the speakers are excellent, it's like an Apollo rocket exploding into space. Riverside slickly begin their career with the slurred distortion of scanning the airwaves on your FM audio system, issuing newscast items, snippets of Hotel California, silly commercials and suddenly, out from the slime oozing from your set, the guitar screeches with ominous synth washes, the bass shuttles into position, cymbals rattle on the job, all emitting an electric buzz waiting for the relentless beat to grow in stature, inexorably gathering steam while elevating the doom- laden riff to heights of psychedelic pleasure. When the lead guitar soars majestically over the aural landscape, Riverside have in a matter of a few minutes made an indelible impression on any incredulous listener. Few albums in the history of Progressive music have kicked off a career quite as convincingly as on "The Same River"! Other reviewers have correctly dissected the Floydian influences, as well as the occasional Opeth winks, particularly when the overall tone veers into rage and harder edged substance. Piotr Grudzinski has certainly digested his Pink collection but truthfully, he possesses a bulkier style and a rawer tone than Mister Gilmour, sounding at times more like Inquire's Dieter Cromen, both fondly preferring a "bleeding" sustain when soloing. The keyboards are essentially massed synthesized back grounds full of lush symphonics, giving the entire production a fuller sound and the drums are certainly way more propulsive that anything Mister Mason would come up with. Vocalist, bassist and main songwriter Mariusz Duda is obviously the musical direction motivator, a mood conductor capable on so many different fronts, from gentle ballad crooning to out right metallic grunting and growling as well as letting his reptilian bass sort of reconnoiter the road ahead. All the tracks are of exceptional quality, well-balanced between the softer moments and the outright volatile blowouts, with the 2 part "Reality Dream" instrumental sequences raising a few eyebrows and some superb songs such as the imperial "I Believe", the simply gorgeous "Loose Heart" and the dreamily majestic "In Two Minds". The overall sound and the production are rarely a weakness from Polish or Hungarian prog bands and this is no exception. One other atypical compliment is that this is some of the best drive-in-your-car music you will ever slide into your auto's system. Definitely autobahn material, Vroom-Vroom, so try it out on the highway. Riverside offer pristine art of the very highest caliber that has really nothing much in common with Division Bell, simply a young progressive rock band with the right philosophy, out to conquer the Prog World and leave a legacy of quality music that transcends styles and really searches out new frontiers. The artwork from Travis Smith at Seempieces is well worth the hype. A definite 21st Century prog must have. Can this be bettered? 4.5 dudas (car horns in Hungarian).

An explosive start from out of nowhere.

If you're looking for a debut album to blow you away from a band that comes out of nowhere, this is a great place to look. Sure, Poland isn't the first place you're going to go looking for progressive rock, but these guys may very well have put their country on the map of modern progressive rock. While they're considered a progressive metal band, I think that this album is more of a psychedelic progressive rock offering with some bits and pieces of heavy metal. The doses of metal will become bigger and more obvious on later albums.

Riverside's debut, like I mentioned, is more focused on creating psychedelic soundscapes while adding traces of metal to some songs. One of the things that originally surprised me was how prominent the bass is on this album. Some of Duda's licks get very interesting to hear, and he also provides acoustic guitar on some tracks as well as serves as the band's vocalist. His singing is slightly hypnotic and very beautiful, which fits the music very well. The keyboards are very atmospheric and help to set the feeling of all the songs. The guitar and drummer are also both very excellent. I remember first hearing the praise this band was getting and decided to check them out, while hoping this wouldn't be a Dream Theater clone. And they certainly were anything but that. If you want a band that's beginning to develop a progressive metal sound with a strong progressive rock influence and sounds very, very original and refreshing, this is an album you should consider checking out. My only real complaint is that I wish there had been more of a clear metal influence on this album. Some of the highlights for me are The Same River, the title track, Reality Dream, and Loose Heart. I also think that the album loses some of its punch on the last two songs. For those two weaknesses, I can give this album 4 stars, as it is still incredibly enjoyable. This is something anyone who enjoys modern progressive rock should check out.

When Metallica, Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree go together, you get an album like this!

Riverside is yet another great progressive metal band from the second (or third, it depends on how you see it) generation of progressive metal, originating in the late 90's and early 00's, when progressive metal was already a solid and well established genre of both metal and progressive rock. This new generation tried to expand even more the horizons of progressive metal, not only trying to refine and polish metal so much that it became progressive or adding classical music, jazz and progressive influences like the pioneers did, but going further in the refinement of metal music and also adding even more diverse and colorful musical influences into their music, making it sound great and (more importantly) different.

So, due to what i just said, Riverside have a wide variety of influences. However, there are three bands that just stand up from that mix, and those would be Metallica, Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd is probably the most evident influence of Riverside, since the whole album (in fact, all three albums) have that space rock feeling, that gloomy and quiet desperation that Pink Floyd translated so well in their music, with moody / spacy keyboards and guitar melodies filled with emotion and feeling. Intricate thrash metal, like Metallica during Master of Puppets and ... And Justice for All, can be seen in probably every heavy / metal part of the album (and every heavy / metal part of all three albums), specially in the aggressive drums. Porcupine Tree also can be found here, as the band is kind of in between of metal and prog rock, though being inclined more towards prog rock. In the end, Riverside will sound more like Pink Floyd than anything, because Porcupine Tree also have a great deal o floydian influence.

Most songs here are very, very good. The opening track, The Same River, is just awesome! The emotional guitar melodies, heavy riffs, energetic drum beat, moody keys and powerful bass lines combined create a great atmosphere. The songs Reality Dreams I and II also are great, they alternate strong and calm parts very well, though sounding heavier than the opening song of the album. The closing songs, The Curtain Falls and OK, have an even bigger Floyd influence, to the point that you identify the albums were some melodies came from or the albums that inspired them, which is not too good, although not being too bad also.

The highlights go to The Same River, Reality Dreams I and II and The Curtain Falls.

Grade and Final Thoughts

This excellent debut from this polish progressive metal band is a very good album. New and refreshing, it is a decent starting kick and show Riverside's great talent, but also show that they still have to grow, so it will be 4 stars. On a side note, i would like to say that Out of Myself is also yet another proof o Pink Floyd's great and unrestricted influence among rock and metal bands around the world.

Riverside have released some excellent albums in their short (so far) career, none better than their latest Anno Domini High Definition. Returning to their 2003 debut, Out Of Myself I'm reminded that it's a decent album showing potential for future greatness but ultimately it's nothing special.

Apart from the occasional moment there's not a lot of the prog metal they get characterised under. Think of a heavier version of the trippy psychedelia of early Porcupine Tree and a touch of Pink Floyd and you'll be nearer the mark. All too often the songs lock into a simplistic and repetitive groove, usually bass driven which after a while become a little monotonous, none more so than opener The Same River just making things a little predictable. The musical tension that they create on future albums is missing here. In Two Minds stands out as it offers something different. Building on an acoustic guitar intro, it's one of the strongest pieces melodically speaking.

Don't get me wrong though, Out Of Myself is not a bad album, far from it, just a little uninspiring. Nevertheless there are enough moments here that make you think they might be onto something. Of course time has proved they were. Here's a band finding their feet and learning their trade. 2 ½ stars.

This was my second encounter with the band that I consider to be one of the true innovators of the modern Progressive Metal scene. After hearing Second Life Syndrome it left me craving for more so Out Of Myself was the logical direction to go, considering this was 2006.

This debut album didn't feel as balanced as their mighty follow-up. Although I could spot the Riverside signature sound on this release it left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied by the overall experience. In fact I will go as far as to say that it's my least favorite Riverside album of their first four studio releases.

My reasoning has to do with a certain trend that I've observed with many starting up metal band. Just like Tool's Undertow and a few other debuts this album shows us the band we all learned to love but without that spark/edge that is so apparent on their later releases. Which is completely understandable since everybody has to start somewhere.

To me this is a fun little experience but I can't go further than calling it a good, but non-essential release.

**** star songs: The Same River (12:01) Out Of Myself (3:43) Reality Dream (6:15) Reality Dream II (4:45) In Two Minds (4:38) The Curtain Falls (7:59)

*** star songs: I Believe (4:14) Loose Heart (4:50) OK (4:46)

Total rating: 3,74

It's really hard not to like Riverside. They have musicianship, passion, melody, great tunes and they use all those features to play a respectful tribute to all other great bands out there: Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Marillion, Anathema and many more. And on top of that, they're such sympathetic dudes.

There's one issue I have though. With their first three albums in particular, it's a symptom called 'playing it safe'. Now, I wouldn't go as far as to call them formulaic, but there's no denying that Riverside has applied a recipe that could not fail. And sure it did not fail, this album is one of your safest prog purchases for the year 2003 and they have become quite successful because of it. Suits me fine.

So where it concerns the music, it's perfect, too perfect. There's not one wrong note here. The musicians are skilful and the singer must have the most warm and charming and inoffensive voice in the entire history of progressive rock. But it may not surprise you that I prefer the songs that deviate most from the norm: the Middle-Eastern opening section, the harder edged Out of Myself, the smoky bar ambience of OK and the slightly more adventurous Reality Dream I. Also the Anathema homage Loose Heart is adorable. I had expected to throw 4 stars at this but no, it's not enough.

When I listen to music, I prefer the occasional odd flavour or one or other sharp spice that makes me look up in surprise. Something that stirs my interest, something unexpected, exciting or challenging, something that will make me revisit the music and have another taste of it till I finally acquire it. It's an affliction I call proggophrenia, a personality disorder that makes a lot of music sound tame and derivative, it may be contracted from too much exposure to prog and especially from too much reviewing so watch out there!

Listening to this debut album I'm a bit concerned about the subgenre in which the band is included, unless Pink Floyd can be defined progressive metal as well. Of course there are heavy guitars and some screams so they can fit in some ways in that genre, but listen to the first track:

The radio which introduces this long song can remind to similar entrances: Wish You Were Here, One Of My Turns, Is There Anybody Out There, and also Gilmour's Castellorizon and Waters' The Ballad Of Bill Hubbard. It's totally floydian but when the drums enter the song we are between Porcupine Tree and Ozric Tentacles, so it's like saying "it's totally floydian". An excellent instrumental (the first half) as first track of a debut album is very promising. After about 5 minutes the signature changes. The bass seems played by Richard Sinclair while the guitar plays a very good melody. Just three words: I like it. The second half of "The Same River" has lyrics. It can considered as a separate song as it's totally different from the instrumental part. However it's as good as that. A five stars song for me.

The bass which introduces "Out Of Myself" remains on the same chords. It's a sort of follow- up to the previous song, but it's darker. The signature on this song is enough to justify the presence of this band on PA. Porcupine Tree fans, if you're not disturbed by screaming (just here and there, it's mainly clean vocals) this is for you.

Some gimmicks, crowd voices, a keyboard backbone and a whispering voice. When the 12- strings guitar overcomes I think first to Mostly Autumn then to Porcupine Tree. A melodic acoustic song in PT style, "I believe".

A clock....background noises like a nightmare just before waking-up. It doesn't explode into ringings like Pink Floyd's Time. It's heavy rock instead. Again an odd signature carried on by the bass on which the guitar plays few long notes in a jazzy riff. It's "Reality Dream". There's a bit of neo-prog inside, too. A very good track. "Loose Heart" may be Marillion, also the guitar cries like Steve Rothery's. The sounds are just a little heavier but this is a melodic song with a background keyboard's violins, harping guitar and a melancholic feeling. Riverside probably realised that the song was too commercial so the last minute turns into metal-screamo.

"Reality Dream II" opens in reality. There's initially a no-line tone then the guitar starts screaming. Between Pink Floyd and Dream Theater. With some passages which remind to Vangelis "Blade runner End Titles" of course a hard rock version.

The 12-strings guitar and the whispered voice who open "In Two Minds" have a strong Porcupine Tree flavor, but when the whisper becomes a clean voice the changes to falsetto and back remind more to Steve Hogarth. A very nice song anyway.

Harmonics start "The Curtain Falls". The sound of the guitar (looks like an ovation) is very particular. The song is initially again between PT and Marillion, but I hear a bit of Genesis in the guitar riffs, too. After 3 minutes the bass introduces a different section of the song that I suppose was intended as a short suite instead of a long song. Apart some backing vocals it's an excellent instrumental. It grows heavy then apparently calms down, but the bass maintains the same rhythm. I think it should be fantastic performed live.

The closer, "OK", is slow and atmpspheric. Vocals in Porcupine Tree style on Floydian chords. It's another excellent song with a nice acoustic guitar part and some jazzy flavor. Its only defect is that it could have been exploited more. There was room for making it a suite.

After some seconds of silence there's a sort of ghost track, just 3 seconds of a choir. I can't stand with this kind of things. I don't like ghost tracks or ghost anything. They don't add a bit to an album and make just the total time increase on the album cover.

Apart of that, that's unfortunately quite common since the CD era, this is an excellent and surprising debut. Basing on this album only I don't see why they are considered Progressive Metal instead of heavy-prog, but they are on PA and this is enough, so I don't care too much of it, only don't expect to hear anything very heavy.

Good listen to everybody

Riverside's extremely capable debut album sees the exploring a fairly spacey style of progressive metal which puts me in mind of Porcupine Tree's In Absentia, but there are a few more flashy, show-offy flourishes here and there which are a bit more reminiscent of the sort of thing Dream Theater might toss in - though much more tastefully done than Dream Theater usually manage. Although its Floydian soundscapes do drag at points - the album rather peters out during the closing track OK - on the whole it's a decent debut which marks the band out for greater things in the future. One for fans of the spacier, Pink Floyd-touched end of prog metal.

Riverside's "Out of Myself" is the debut for one of the most dynamic prog metal band over recent years. This album is heavier with more distorted metal riffs than the material they would settle into on their fourth and fifth masterpieces. Piotr Grudzinski indulges in a lot of intricate riffing and some thrashy blasts of guitar, Mariusz Duda is more aggressive on vocals on the debut, even screaming on songs like 'Loose Heart', but still maintains an overall clear melancholy texture. He is also a great bass and guitar player. The rhythms of Piotr Kozieradzki on drums is always a solid foundation for the layered musicianship, and Jacek Melnicki's keyboards generate an ambient quality, though he would be replaced later by Michael Lapaj.

The album starts with a Pink Floyd resonance on 'The Same River', a 12 minute musicscape that meanders along patiently and builds into some heavier passages. 'Out Of Myself' soon blazes with some upbeat cadence and then is followed with the contemplative vocals of Duda on 'I Believe'.

The stand out of the album is 'Reality Dream', a powerhouse song that would be played live many times over the years as a regular favourite. The band are able to display their virtuoso skill with the interplay of guitar and keys over shifting time signatures. 'Loose Heart' has an energetic riff and some fractured structures embellished by guitar and keyboard crescendos.

'Reality II' is a fast tricky instrumental with Grudzinski's excellent lead guitar work outs and some sledgehammer syncopated percussion. 'In Two Minds' is a Riverside ballad, something that they would include on every album, a reflective atmosphere with ethereal keyboards and soaring guitars. 'The Curtain Falls' is an 8 minute haunting song with a soft chime, acoustic picking and ambient keyboard textures. It locks into a Pink Floyd 'Run Like Hell' riff that shows where the band have been inspired and that is not a bad thing. The lead break by Grudzinski is wonderful, with sustain and emotional string bends. 'OK' ends this on a rather gentle song with melancholy passages of beauty.

Overall this is a great debut, which is really a beginning for the band who were daring and adventurous but became even moreso on subsequent albums. It is a worthwhile listen with some of their best compositions and a darker feel with some aggression and powerful metal riffs.

Out of Myself is like the practice or warmup for that which is to come in the next two years. One can hear the potential, the evolution of sound, but the quartet--in its sum and parts--need further growth. There are compositional and engineering tricks that they have not yet learned, but which will appear with 2005's Second Live Syndrome--one of the 21st Century's crowning achievements in progressive rock music. Best song (and closest to what is to come): "The Curtain Falls" (14.5/15)

Also good: "The Same River" (22/25); and the acoustic guitar-based, "I Believe" (8.75/10) (can you hear LUNATIC SOUL here?), "Loose Heart" (8.75/10), the dreamy Steven Wilson-like, "OK" (8.75/10), and; "In Two Minds" (8.5/10).

B/four stars.

When I heard of Riverside initially, they were described as the next big prog metal band to me, so my mind instantly connected them to 'Dream Theater' before I had even heard any of them. What I got instead was something far more interesting, a more emotional, atmospheric, and especially dark sounding band. While I normally associate prog metal with extended solos and jams, Riverside provides a much more concise approach to songwriting, where even the 12 minute track 'The Same River' never feels like it goes off track at all, instead carefully progressing riffs and building up the song, slowly adding more layers to it, creating a truly beautiful song. I like the mixture of light ballads and heavier metal focused tracks, as the general sound, heavily influenced by 'Porcupine Tree' and 'Anathema' makes the ballads truly beautiful, and the heavy moments have a lot of weight behind them.

Despite my enjoyment of how they sound, I do find this album, despite being one of my choices for favourite album by them, to be quite flawed in certain ways. While I believe that the sound present here is very unified and cohesive, I find this to end up being a drawback when many of the ballads end up sounding very similar in the process, along with being unmemorable. Despite how much I enjoy listening through the album, I do find myself not being able to remember elements of most songs, with some that I do remember being fairly mediocre, such as the unimpressive chorus of 'Out of Myself'.

Even though there are a couple of issues like this, the album has enough highlights on it to warrant a fairly high score, along with the fact that other than the title track, which I find lackluster other than the great bassline, there is no major weak point on this album. Songs like 'OK' and 'In Two Minds' are highly emotional, and the 'Reality Dream' songs are both filled with great instrumental work. I was highly surprised by Riverside when I first listened to them, and while they aren't anything truly amazing to me, they definitely are a good band that provides something a bit different in the prog metal scene that I highly recommend, especially to those who enjoy that genre.

Best Songs: The Same River (seriously, even if you check out nothing else by them, I highly recommend this one), Curtain Falls, OK

Weakest Songs: Loose Heart, Out of Myself

Verdict: A great debut album that focuses more on atmosphere and emotion rather than technicality, the compositions are in general very good, and there isn't anything particularly difficult here, recommended for basically anyone interested prog.

Out of Myself, Riverside's first album is a remarkable demonstration of the tremendous musical quality the recently- formed group was able to reach. Its excellence seemed to belong to a consolidated band and not to a rather new one.

The poles finely blend the progressive metal with the symphonic and neo-progressive currents. This brew results in an authentic atmosphere of melancholy and darkness: Piotr Grudziński's guitar, always immaculate even in the most complex of moments, admirably combines whit Jacek Melnicki's keyboard and the intense voice of the leader and bass player of the band, Mariusz Duda.

Out of Myself is a spotless piece of work. The following pieces are, at least for me, the best of the album: The same River, the opening song, a 12-minute legitimate progressive rock composition with an excellent final guitar-solo; both Reality Dream I and II (but primarily the latter), which are fine instrumental symphonies; finally, I Believe and In Two Minds, two outstanding and beautiful ballads.

Riverside's debut, then, was an immense hit. The newly-formed group entered the musical world with an album that would become an all-time classic in the progressive metal sub-genre. It is worth noting that Out of Myself is just the first part of a trilogy: after it follows Second Life Syndrome and Rapid Eye Movement.

Over the last 30+ years it has been rare for me to review an album more than once, there must be something special for that to happen, yet here I am once again falling in love with an album which I originally wrote back in 2004. The rationale this time around is because Inside Out Music have now made it available for the first time on their label as a digipak as well as vinyl and has been re-mastered by Dan Swanö (Opeth, Katatonia, Nightingale). These days, Riverside are probably the largest progressive export from Poland, and right from the beginning this album looked like it was going to create a stir as after it had been released independently it was picked up by Sony, while the band then signed to Laser's Edge for a worldwide release. This was big news in the scene, as this was still in the dark days of Prog, when labels and mass media were trying at best to ignore the genre and at worse were trying to kill it, so to be picked up by Sony was huge.

What's it like returning to it after so many years? It's like falling in love all over again. Right from the beginning I knew this was special and was so thankful for being allowed to hear so much great music from Poland thanks to my friendship with Polish Prog DJ and writer Artur Chachlowski. Back then I described the album as being one of those prog albums that goes into the head and stays there: think Porcupine Tree, Radiohead, Pink Floyd and darker bands such as Anathema, and for once I think I got it right as I still feel that today all these years later. The quartet of Mariusz Duda (vocals, bass), Piotr Grudzinski (guitar (R.I.P.)), Piotr Kozieradzki (drums) and Jacek Melnicki (keyboards) created something very special indeed which still stands up to scrutiny all these years later.

It is not prog metal, but when the guitars come in they kick really hard. With the lyrics in English this is an album that is accessible yet at the same time is darkly complex: there is a passion and presence that is sadly missing from many prog bands. This is not music that has been created to be listened to in a sterile environment, this is prog designed to be taken out on the road and performed in front of a sweaty baying audience. It is prog that mixes and melds, never forgetting that rock is a key element of what they are doing. Yes, there is room for acoustic guitars, but there is also room for Marshalls turned up to twelve, but even when this is happening it is not about bludgeoning the audience into submission, but rather using it as part of another dramatic effect. The remastering allows the definition and separation of the instruments to really shine through.

In 2004 I said it was one of the finest progressive rock albums I had ever heard come out of Poland, and in 2021 I still feel exactly the same way.