OUT OF MYSELF

So, some hours ago I listened to Riverside for the first time, with their second album Second Life Syndrome. I gave it a three star rating, I thought it was good, but not incredible by any means. The thing is that I think my final thought about this album is the exact same. So, yes this is a great album, but not incredible. That obviously makes sense considering it's a debut, and you usually don't find incredible debuts too often.

I can very quickly describe Riverside's sound as a mixture between Dream Theater, Opeth and Porcupine Tree. I must say that, while the tracks under ten minutes are pretty average, the opener is truly outstanding and by far my favorite Riverside song. One of my biggest problems with most Riverside epics is that they feel too cohesive! But The Same River manages to build up in emotion and heaviness and I truly love it. Five star track for sure!

The rest, however, is pretty average. It's highly enjoyable of course, and it's not boring in anyway, but after such opener don't expect anything that tops it off. Plus the ballads all sound very similar, mostly because of how cohesive they are. This makes some of the melodies you hear quite forgettable after doing a full listen.

So, this is a very good debut. Not excellent, but enjoyable and very listenable. Three Stars.

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