OUT OF MYSELF

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.