OUT OF MYSELF

When I heard of Riverside initially, they were described as the next big prog metal band to me, so my mind instantly connected them to 'Dream Theater' before I had even heard any of them. What I got instead was something far more interesting, a more emotional, atmospheric, and especially dark sounding band. While I normally associate prog metal with extended solos and jams, Riverside provides a much more concise approach to songwriting, where even the 12 minute track 'The Same River' never feels like it goes off track at all, instead carefully progressing riffs and building up the song, slowly adding more layers to it, creating a truly beautiful song. I like the mixture of light ballads and heavier metal focused tracks, as the general sound, heavily influenced by 'Porcupine Tree' and 'Anathema' makes the ballads truly beautiful, and the heavy moments have a lot of weight behind them.

Despite my enjoyment of how they sound, I do find this album, despite being one of my choices for favourite album by them, to be quite flawed in certain ways. While I believe that the sound present here is very unified and cohesive, I find this to end up being a drawback when many of the ballads end up sounding very similar in the process, along with being unmemorable. Despite how much I enjoy listening through the album, I do find myself not being able to remember elements of most songs, with some that I do remember being fairly mediocre, such as the unimpressive chorus of 'Out of Myself'.

Even though there are a couple of issues like this, the album has enough highlights on it to warrant a fairly high score, along with the fact that other than the title track, which I find lackluster other than the great bassline, there is no major weak point on this album. Songs like 'OK' and 'In Two Minds' are highly emotional, and the 'Reality Dream' songs are both filled with great instrumental work. I was highly surprised by Riverside when I first listened to them, and while they aren't anything truly amazing to me, they definitely are a good band that provides something a bit different in the prog metal scene that I highly recommend, especially to those who enjoy that genre.

Best Songs: The Same River (seriously, even if you check out nothing else by them, I highly recommend this one), Curtain Falls, OK

Weakest Songs: Loose Heart, Out of Myself

Verdict: A great debut album that focuses more on atmosphere and emotion rather than technicality, the compositions are in general very good, and there isn't anything particularly difficult here, recommended for basically anyone interested prog.