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Riverside, the progressive rock revelation of 2004, were CD of the
month and even CD of the year in a lot of magazines and on a lot of
progressive web sites. They were the revelation of Progpower Europe
in 2004 and stole a lot of hearts during their tour in the spring of
2005.
Riverside already released their debut album in their country in
2003. It was re-released in 2004 by The Laser’s Edge. So they didn’t
really have some new stuff to go on tour. Waiting for the new album
would take too long, so they found an intermediate solution by
releasing a fan club album, only available on their tour or on their
website. The CD is called “Voices in my Head”, which is also the
name of their fan club and the opening line for the track “Out of
Myself”.
The 5 new tracks are all very quiet, very relaxing and mostly
acoustic. Mariusz is only accompanied by an acoustic guitar and
strings during “Us”, the first track. The first minute of “Acronym
Love” is only supported by a piano but after a minute everyone comes
to help to launch a superb ballad. “Dna ts Rednum or F. Raf”, what a
title, is the only track with some heavier music, but it all stays
very laid back. On this third track, we find the Riverside as we
know them from their first album. Mystical, psychedelic, Porcupine
Tree, Anathema,… The progmetal influences, which were present on
“Out of Myself”, are all gone. They already announced their next
album for the end of 2005 and they promised it would contain a lot
more progmetal again. On “Stuck Between”, there’s even some ambient
music lurking round the corner.
Mariusz voice is perfect for this quiet music. His voice forms a
perfect blend with the acoustic instruments and this quiet music.
The other musicians are doing their job perfectly, always giving the
necessary touches to the music without ever showing off.
I
would almost call this album Riverside’s “Damnation”, yes, the quiet
Opeth album, but it’s not really that quiet. Maybe Porcupine Tree
would be more appropriate with their quiet pieces and their sudden
outbursts of energy. And if you think it’s all too quiet, they added
three live tracks from the first album, recorded on May 15th
2004 at the Traffic Club in Warsaw. The live tracks aren’t just live
versions of the album tracks but the band gives some new versions of
these songs, which should be done more often by other bands. The
total length of this CD is only 36 minutes, but I couldn’t care
less, because every minute is worth two. |
