RAPID EYE MOVEMENT

Though generally felt to be a letdown, Rapid Eye Movement is a real good album and as a non-fan of Riverside, I suspect other non-fans might enjoy it the most of the first three. It has a larger stylistic range than Second Life Syndrome and seems less interested in grabbing us with brute force. Mariusz Duda's pleasant voice and unobtrusive bass provide the perfect amount of humanity to a record that steps gracefully through clean atmospherics, walls of Toolish power, and acoustic passages. A careful balance is struck between the indulgences of progmetal and the moods of electric space, and Duda's sincere crooning can sometimes even take us back to the sounds of British New Wave. It is possible the band has lost a few teeth, 8-minute 'Beyond the Eyelids' good but quite dressed-up with Michal Lapaj's synths. But Piotr Grudzinsky's rocky chunks keep things heavy and this opener has a huge sound with immediate appeal. Less appealing is poppy and tragically hip 'Rainbow Box' and the semi-industrial '02 Panic Room'. But better energy and a return to form for 'Schizophrenic Prayer' with an Eastern drone that gradually builds into a desert sandstorm, and sister track 'Parisomnia' is more of the same but still quite good. A summer's light grows into part 2 with Grudzinksy's delicate acoustic guitar leading, and sandy 'Embryonic' is even softer with breezes of David Gilmour. Soild if familiar 'Cybernetic Pillow' leads to epic closer 'Ultimate Trip' at nearly fourteen minutes where they throw everything into the mix.

A thoroughly modern and well-equipped rock band, Riverside can only be faulted for their gravity toward their own tendencies, and in the jungle we call Prog, that can be a killer.