RIVERSIDE

There are still a number of great tracks though. Beyond The Eyelids is a decent prog metal epic but doesn't really inspire me. But better songs follow. Again Riverside surprises me with their skill at short catchy song writing. Rainbow Box is a fine and fresh rock song that should rule the charts really. 02 Panic Room is even better and further explores the integration with the electronic wave rock of Depeche Mode, one of Piotr Grudzinski's a favourite bands.

The early highlights are followed by decent but run of the mill Riverside material that never reaches the heights of the previous album. It takes till a next batch of shorter songs till my attention is brought back to the album. Through The Other Side specifically but also Embryonic and Cybernetic Pillow are good short songs.

I happen to own the 2CD issue an that is definitely the version you should get. Lucid Dream IV adds another short instrumental to the Riverside Dream-suite, Back To The River is a nice jam around Shine On riffs from Pink Floyd and the final track, which is strangely enough the title track, is one of the best things I had heard from Riverside till then. Much of their other material had hinted at space-rock and here they finally give it a go. And how! Of course, the references to Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd and Porcupine Trippy are plenty but it is done simply marvellously.

With REM, Riverside will not challenge the originality contest, but they prove to be very adequate at trying out new directions once in a while. It's no surprise really that exactly those moments are the most inspired of the album. Still, it feels too much like the band strived too much to obtain a certain sound instead of following their hearts and inspiration. Riverside was in need for a makeover. And it arrived in a big way with their next album!

3 stars for the regular version, 4 small stars for the 2cd.

The opener is the first one of those; it's almost an a-cappella intro with beautiful vocal harmonies, some soft percussion and background synths. A strong and very atmospheric start. Volte-Face and Dance With The Shadow are typical Riverside epics, featuring long instrumental intros that go through a number of metal-proggy themes and riffs, followed by a rocking main body with lyrical vocals and ending on a dramatic climax. Nothing revolutionary but enjoyable, especially the first one.

One of Riverside's strong sides is actually balladry and the short rock song. Conceiving You is a fine example of that sugar-sweet pop style and I Turned You Down is one of their best tracks ever. But they also manage the prog epic format quite well, the title track Second Life Syndrome is flawless. The instrumental Reality Dream III is another pleasant moment, it's one of the few places where I can actually hear them having some playing fun. There's a nice ELP vibe in the last minute. The album has only one weaker cut, Artificial Smile is rather artificial indeed, the gruff vocals are too overstated and sound out of place on this album. It all ends strongly in true Porcupine Tree fashion with a slow Floydian space epic.

There are few moments on this album that I get really excited about, it's all pretty monotonous in the end. But I can't help loving it and it's perfectly fine album that might serve as a good introduction into prog rock, sub-genre: Prog-Lite.

But the best comes from two surprises that reveal a more experimental side of Riverside. DNA etc has a slowly developing start with atmospheric acoustic guitars and hazy vocals, but then at minute 2 they add an electronic beat that seems to come straight out of Depeche Mode. And indeed, a quick glance at the Riverside home site reveals the guitar player as a fan of Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins and Fields of the Nephelim. Also Stuck Between uses an electronic beat to create one of their most moving little songs. A prog band doing Massive Attack.

Nice! More sidesteps like this please Riverside!

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!

PS I really. really love the music of Riverside, but I can´t understand why many of my favouritebands; Opeth, PT and Riverside, have some guys playing around with these digital video effects boxes. Lasse Hoile is one terrible example, but this is the worst I´ve ever seen! Sadly. The band is at it´s peak and the filming is great however. I even like the colourcorrection, it gives an atmospheric look that you can´t get at the original gig, but please spare us from this in the future. Keep your eyes closed if you buy this.

There are actually only two big complaints that I can think of. The first one has to do with the fact that Riverside didn't change much in their formula when composing this album. The second issue has to do with the slight Space Rock-tendencies that the album features. It's definitely not the most original direction to undertake and it feels mostly like a somewhat cheap puck at the progressive rock audiences.

Otherwise this album is a really enjoyable trip that I have undergone quite a few times since this albums release. The supporting tour, that also featured Anekdoten, was really memorable and it was a great treat to see Riverside performing some of these tracks in a live setting!

***** star songs: Beyond The Eyelids (7:56) 02 Panic Room (5:29) Cybernetic Pillow (4:46)

**** star songs: Rainbow Box (3:37) Schizophrenic Prayer (4:21) Parasomnia (8:10) Embryonic (4:10)

*** star songs: Through The Other Side (4:06) Ultimate Trip (13:13)

Like Out of Myself, the music on SLS is based heavily around beautiful guitar work, and a passionate flair for emotional songwriting. The music is not overly complex, and at times feels as if Pink Floyd has just been in the recording studio guiding Mariusz Duda's hand. The often angular mash of Metal, classic psych and rock grooves ensures that SLS flows with amazing clarity and a powerful emotional drive.

The highlight of the album is undoubtedly the epic, Second Life Syndrome, a track that spans over 15 minutes featuring several evolving movements. It mixes ambient peices with Tool-esque grooves, Porcupine Tree-esqe chorus work and epic Floydian guitar solos. It is a proto-typical Riverside composition that stands alone as one of the best rock/metal compositions of recent years. Indeed, Duda has a knack for writing such songs, as tracks like Volte-Face, Conceiving You and Dance With The Shadow all strike a simialr emotional and musical edge. There are plenty of melodic hooks and pop style structures to ensure that SLS is easily a memorable listen, but there are also many moments of progressive bliss - including the final installation of the three part instrumedely, Reality Dream. Mariusz Duda's vocal work also appears to be more assured than in the first album, complemented by an even more solid instrumental performance from the band.

The beauty of Second Life Syndrome is the way that technicality and songwriting combine, a near perfect synthesis that does not suffer from over-technicality, nor over-simplification. Having said this, there is a tangible 70's prog aura to many of the tracks, which may not please some modern prog fans. This is but a minor gripe, for there Riverside manages to develop their own unique sound, irrespective of their obvious inspirational artists.

Essential for all classic prog fans, especially those who enjoy the like of Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Tool, Dream Theater and many more.

I will start from LEFT OUT: this is marking ADHD indelibly. It gives me goose-flesh as more and more I listen to it. It is so cinematographic in how the story, or the feeling, of one excluded, are related to music that hardly I can find similar examples. I can almost see in front of me, as the song start, one guy walking at dusk in small city streets (a long distance siren is heard), on its own feelings and thoughts, eyes on his toes. At 3:03 Marius sings "could have been so wonderful..." and a light keyboard melody starts...bringing the listener to the "dream" section of the song, soon after punctuated by nice guitar. At around 6:00, the dream gets to an end, and the music gets a relevant mood too. At 7:50 Riverside pays homage to loved Pink Floyd, with a bass pounding that goes back to "One of these days" and even "Shine on you..."part 2. An absolute piece of music, unforgettable!

Briefly, as I'm getting lazy, the other ones show a heavier side, with excellent ventures in rithmic dynamics, good if you want to hear your player rock!!! To be really noticed the horn-like (synth or real?) section in "Egonist Hedonist"

Rating: 1. Hyperactive (7/10) 2. Driven To Destruction (8/10) 3. Egoist Hedonist (8,5/10) 4. Left Out (10/10) 5. Hybrid Times (8,5/10) Average = 4.2 - excellent album, for sure. So many moments to enjoy on this. Kudos RIVERSIDE!

There are just little things about it that irk me a bit. Things like the fact that, the very last time they say, "It's just another day in my life" in the opening track, I always think to myself, "I really hope this is the last time, because I'm sick of that line." The song then ends, so it's literally about five seconds longer than it should be ... surely nothing to complain about.

And in Egoist Hedonist, when they are singing "Just Let me Live Without Your Pain", I always get the feeling that I've heard that line before, heard the way it's sung before, heard the vocal effect they used before, and while perhaps I didn't hear those three things together, I didn't think they were interesting the first time.

It has its moments, but none of them really grab me enough to remember later. That, I suppose, and all the little things that just sound off to me, is why I rarely feel the desire to pop this album into the CD player.

I do find Left Out to be a rather decent track, starting with nice guitar work, and it uses mood quite nicely. If I liked Mariusz' vocals more, I might listen to this track on it's own (ignoring the rest of the album). Unfortunately, Hybrid Times does not sound as good as Left Out, but is more along the same line of quality as the first three tracks.

Overall, I don't find enough appeal with this album to recommend it to anyone, unless they already fans of the band - in which case, they probably already own this album.