OUT OF MYSELF

Riverside is a way of expressing reflections, dreams and fantasies through music. It is an idea for exposing emotions, for an escape from the grey or unnaturally overcoloured reality. It is a music inspired by a time, a place, a thought and a word, a figment of their own and other people's imagination. It is joy and sadness, a whisper and a scream. (taken from Riverside's site)

What you hear on "Out of myself" the result of the above. It's one of the debut albums along with "In the court of crimson king", "Entropia", "Rage against the machine", that just couldn't have been more perfect. Having said that I don't mean that they are the best efforts of each band but they just give you the feeling that whatever you change on this records you just can't make them better. That of course is really subjective.

"Out of myself" is a real masterpiece. It demands either complete attention or complete rejection. You can either be fascinated by the bands musicianship, compositions etc or just let your mind travel while listening to it.

It's a concept album. It's about a man who is trying to find himself again in a society after a nervous breakdown. He thinks that this time everything is going to be ok but he fails again. However, he doesn't give up. The lyrics are amazing and it's like the hero is talking to you or to another person. The image that comes into my mind when reading the lyrics is him aying all this to his girlfriend who left him when he had the nervous breakdown "Please take a walk with me, Let me know - Am I to blame?", "As you know, I've always loved you and I know I will always love..."etc. However this is just a hypothesis.

The lyrics are perfect and amazingly performed by Mariusz Duda that vary from whispers to melodic and from melodic to screams. His voice is really warm and emotional. Mariusz Duda also plays bass and I have to admit that he is really up front playing amazing bass lines and adding effects here and there. He also does some guitar work. Piotr Grudzinski is an amazing guitarist whether this evolves playing riffs in strange time signatures or it's soloing with a sweetness that reminds you of Gilmour. Listening to Piotr Kozieradzki you would never have imagined he used to play in death metal bands. He is drummer with an incredible sound. So controlled but at the same time loose. So light but at the same time powerful. Outsatnding work! Jacek Melnicki appears on this album but was replaced one month before this album was released by Michal Lapaj. I have to say however that his work in "Out of myself" is much better than just good.

Generally this album is a balance of atmosphere and progressive elements. It's emotion placed over odd time signatures so fluently and effortlessly played that sometimes you can't even notice it. It's a masterpiece. Who would expect even a better album after this one? What will they do after "Second life syndrome"? These are real tough questions. What is easy to say is that this band is really promising. It's the future of our beloved music. On Riverside you can find sounds similar to Anathema, Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd etc but not at all copies off those. It's something really new, something really unique.

This Polish band deserves the recognition it has on PA and even bigger. Everyone who is not stuck in the 70's should listen to Riverside. 5 stars for this total masterpiece.

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