ANNO DOMINI HIGH DEFINITION

This is the first time that I've heard this interesting band. Riverside happened to be (to my ears) an interesting effort of different tendencies, having a mixture between Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater together. They have a groovy side, more atmospheric and relaxed mixed with more straight nu metal parts and other prog metal phrases with intricate solos, time signature changes and unisons. The result is very good, not impressive maybe, but still good enough to enjoy.

This is their most recent piece and maybe I should check a little back in their catalog, because I've found a very good band with a lot of dynamics going on, all the musicians in the top of form and sharing a good experience of intensity and heaviness, lifted in the right places with more ambience piano soft oriented phrases.

The album is really short, just above 40 minutes of music, which is good, because you have to have a really good concept to make a solid album longer than that. And I feel maybe Riverside is not at that level of quality or maybe not in this album. My point is that I felt that only 40 minutes of music was perfect for their purpose. The melodies are very enjoyable and "singable", maybe the voice of their vocalist is not the best for this type of music, but the music is good enough to save it. I mean, he has the ability to sing in different states of emotion, but in the heavy parts it's evident that he can't reach the level of aggression the music needs (it's a very subjective observation, I know, so, don't give this too much credit, please, I'm very picky with vocals). As for the rest of musicians, no complains, a great sound, good interpretation, maybe they should receive more respect and attention, but with those so many prog metal bands out there, is a little difficult to reach that goal. I will check out their rest of material, because it promises to be good.

For me, their first three "short" songs are more interesting, but I think the complete piece is solid and cohesive enough to make it.

I do recommend this album and this band to any alternative prog fans, like Porcupine Tree or Tool fans, as well as more Prog metal oriented fans, like recent Dream Theater or O.S.I. fans. 3 stars, with possibilities of growing, but just for now it's a solid 3 album. Good, but not essential.

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