RAPID EYE MOVEMENT

The catchy, exciting energy of the opener withstanding (which features some huge bass playing by Duda), Rapid Eye Movement comes across sounding like a mish-mash of their past two albums with too few new ideas and too few memorable songs to keep the momentum going. Songs like Rainbow Box, Panic Room, and Ultimate Trip offer nothing new, and frankly sound beneath the band who usually weaves soft/heavy together in and in-between songs. Furthermore, the lyrical content and thematics of the songs have yet to progress beyond the sort of abject paranoia found in Out of Myself, making Duda's vocals sound almost recycled from other albums.

This isn't to say there's still plenty to like on Rapid Eye Movement. The band's sound is intact, with a more even mix of of atmosphere and metal (which sounds harsher than ever, actually), and the songs Schizophrenic Prayer and Embryonic giving us some new vocalizing and especially soft textures respectfully. The instrumental closer brings a classic Riverside end to the band's first trilogy of albums (with a nice Floyd homage)-- and I for one am hopefully that the next will see more experimentation and renewed energy in their next effort.

A must-have for fans of the band (obviously) which will still entertain, but casual listeners should stick with their first two releases.

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 4