ID.ENTITY

I confess that I am no great fan of prog metal, but, with Riverside, that doesn't tend to matter overmuch, because their music routinely stretches far beyond the confines of any particular sub-genre. And I have enjoyed various tracks from each of their albums from Out of Myself to Wasteland. (Looking at my collection, I note that tracks from Love, Fear and the Time Machine feature most prominently.) Sadly, and contrary to the widespread acclaim for ID Entity, I have found it a real struggle to add anything from the latest album to my collection. Suffice is to say, I just found it a directionless jumble, perversely lacking any sense of identity of its own. By far the band's weakest album to date in my opinion, notwithstanding the undoubted (and usual) technical excellence on offer.

Whilst I duly concede that I may have a blind spot as regards the magic that fellow reviewers are so patently recognising, I am nevertheless quite happy to sit unmoved on the canal bank and simply wave at the ID Entity barge as it passes serenely by, until it altogether disappears from sight, behind the lock gates.

For what it's worth, I ended up salvaging only Friend or Foe? for my collection. The rest of the tracks simply sunk without trace. And there they will remain, unloved, for all time, I reckon. Three stars max.