SECOND LIFE SYNDROME

GOOD LORD!!!! i gotta say i loved Out of Myself but dude I REALLY LOVE SECOND LIFE SYNDROME. There have been alot of great '05 albums that came which really made it a grand year and this album really made it better as Riverside once again dazzles us by using emotion, atomoshperic moods, and prog metal to make a very successful record. i will say it is heavier and longer than Out of Myself but i think it is also a little bit better than Out of Myself in my opinion which is cool. The longer songs are great with a great groove rocker like Volte-Face, amazing epic with the title track, and an awesome intro into an intense heaviness with Dance with the Shadow. The shorter songs also bring a greatness to the album with such tracks like Conceiving You, Reality Dream 3, and I Turned You Down. Overall every song is freakin awesome and the band does a tremendous job doing what they do best. With Mariusz Duda taking off on vocals and bass. Man i was blown away with the clean vocals at how beautiful he sounds in each soft section along with the screams which at times really got my adrenline going. Then you got his bass player.....MY GOSH what else can he not do he is just so good on that bass with all the slaps and rhythms that he made in fact what impressed me the most he had this neat bass solo intro thing to SYS and he was playing that and singing it at the same time and i'm think how is he doing that. Cause you know there has to be a trick to that haha. Piotr Grudziñski once brings back the great guitar playing he brought on the last album as he once again shows us that he ain't afraid to solo as much as he wants cause that's basically what he's doing. In fact in this album he reminds me alot of David Gilmour from Pink Floyd which is awesome cause honestly i don't think i've heard anyone that can capture the essence of Gilmour like he can. Piotr Kozieradzki is here on drums displaying that whatever the band is playing he can too with his grooves and tightness that he brings to the band and like i said if i wanted to be extremely tight i would want to be as tight as he is cause gah i dunno i just love his style kinda like a heavier Gavin Harrison from Porcupine Tree. This album however has a new member in that of Michal Lapaj which brought out the same thing that the last keyboardist brought and that was great background effects and awesome synth stuff the big i love about this guy is his use of organ in the background in some parts of the songs which was a really cool effect. So anyway this is just as grand as the last albums as the influences keep coming along as they have the jamming sections like Tool, the same atomospheric heaviness of Porcupine Tree, a similar musical and vocal sound of Pain of Salvation, and some similarity in riffs and vocals from Opeth so your definitely getting your money's worth when you purchase this album. But also if you love a band that can really capture the essence of Pink Floyd with just a big heavy structure gett it NOW ITS WORTH IT