VOICES IN MY HEAD

The album "Out Of Myself" by the Polish progrock band RIVERSIDE was very appriciated on this site, personally it was one of my favorite CD's from 2004. So high expectations for this new CD entitled "Voices In My Head". It contains five studio-tracks and three live songs (recorded at the Traffic Club Warsaw in the Polish capital in May 2004). The atmosphere on most of the new tracks is mellow featuring warm and distinctive English vocals and soaring keyboards along beautiful twanging acoustic guitar ("Us"), a great, very moving electric guitar solo and delicate pianoplay ("Acronym Love"), acoustic rhythm-guitar and melancholic vocals ("The time I was daydreaming) and vocal harmonies and howling electric guitar ("Stuck Between"). The third track "Dna ts. Rednum or F. Raf" is more in the vein of the album "Out Of Myself": a hypnotizing atmosphere, fiery electric guitar, an agressive bass, propulsive drums and exciting changes of climate, from dreamy with acoustic guitar to bombastic with fiery electric guitarwork.". The three live songs are "I Believe" (sensitive and fiery electric guitarplay, beautiful piano and vocals), "Loose Heart" (great build up) and "Out Of Myself" (great rendition of their best song). My conclusion: the new tracks on "Voices In My Head" sound more laidback and less exciting than "Out Of Myself" but in my opinion RIVERSIDE still delivers wonderful, very warm and compelling progrock.

Not only voices ...

For the first moment I wasn't convinced when I listened to this EP. I expected more long tracks like 'The same river' or 'The curtain falls'. But after several times my disappointment was blown away.

Some tracks are melancholic with acoustic guitar and good vocals. 'Acronym love' is a ballad with a surprising change of speed at the end and good guitar work. The third track is hard to describe ('far from understand') - a mix of TripHop and Metal? 'The time I was daydreaming' has an excellent melody and the end is psychedelic - you just have to close your eyes und you feel like flying ... - my favourite track. The live tracks are wellknown - the highlight is 'Loose heart' because of its agressive end.

Riverside has enlarged the musical possibilities. So let's see which changes are coming with the new album 'Second Life Syndrome'.

(1) Us. Very warm atmospheric song consisting of space keyboards, atmospheric, soft guitar and melancholic, beautiful lead vocals. (4/5)

(2) Acronym Love - warm and beautiful played piano introduction, great vocals with excellent electric guitar melody. Riverside composes like they have been composing progressive rock songs for years already. I could almost even say that this song is better than the average Pink Floyd song! (5/5)

(3) DNA - Interesting ambient sounds accompanied by the great velvet vocals of Mariusz Duda. A bit brave compared to the other tracks on this album, but still pretty good. (3/5)

(4) The Time I was Daydreaming - acoustic guitar introduction covered by softened Floydian synth and again the soft velvet voice of Mariusz. Very atmospheric track! In the last minute the song slowly transforms into an essentially good prog-rock song. (4/5)

(5) Stuck Between. Melancholic and inspired prog-rock. One of the nicest tracks on this EP. This song could have easily been on Out Of Myself or 2nd life syndrome!(5/5)

(6) I believe (Live). Again insnpired vocals, probably at its absolutle best, warm piano and Floydian guitar, with a recognizable strong melody. (5/5)

(7) Loose Heart (Live). New Age introduction with same melancholic and melodic vocal and neoprog rhythm section with the same Floydian guitar. Vocal goes into pseudo death metal at the last 20 seconds of the song, and of course the audience likes it. (What an emotion in his voice!) (4/5)

(8) Out of Myself (Live). New fresh start with whispering "Voices in my head", and interesting vocals and interesting soft metal sound. Fortunately, inspired vocal strongly dominates again. (4/5)

Very good EP, maybe even excellent!

This is one of those EP's that at over 36 minutes in length would have been a full LP back in the seventies. I really like this one. We get 5 studio tracks from 2005, and 3 live ones from 2004. I like the picture of Piotr the lead guitarist wearing an ANATHEMA shirt. Nice.

"Us" is a beautiful song with synths, gentle guitarr and vocals. "Acronym Love" opens with piano as reserved vocals join in. A full sound before 1 1/2 minutes.The tasteful guitar is so uplifting. A gorgeous guitar solo follows 3 1/2 minutes in. "Dna Ts. Rednum Or F. Raf" is my favourite track on here.This one is darker as it builds to a full sound 2 minutes in.This sounds so amazing when the guitar comes in. It settles briefly before coming back even harder 6 minutes in. "The Time I Was Daydreaming" starts with strummed guitar as synths join in. Nice atmosphere. Vocals are next followed by a beat 3 minutes in. Electric guitar after 4 minutes.

"Stuck Between" has a good beat as vocals and synths lead the way early. It's building as guitar comes in around 2 1/2 minutes. It's pretty hypnotiic for a while. Cool song. "I Believe" opens with the cheering crowd as piano leads off. Guitar and vocals follow. "Loose Heart" is my second favourite tune on here. Atmospheric guitar to open as keys and drums join in. Vocals after a minute. It builds in intensity until it turns violent 5 minutes in. Nice. "Out Of Myself" opens with him whispering "Voices in my head" over and over with the crowd joining in. Guitar and bass join in. Full sound 2 1/2 minutes in. Check out the intense ending.

It will be hard for them to put out a better EP than this one. Highly recommended.

This album has the feeling of a coffee shop atmosphere. Most of the songs here are very laid back, soft, almost neo-prog like to a degree. There are a lot of warm sounds here and would be great to play by a fire with some hot cocoa during the winter months.

I can't help but be lulled away from the music on the album. The sounds aren't awful, but it's nothing really captivating, and hence, having a coffee shop feel. There isnt much "progressiveness" here in the strictest sense, but I am reminded of a mixture of gentle Floyd concepts and accessible rock.

I find little of value here, as this is a safe and gentle record, one that might be good for certain occassions around others who are not interested in prog, but little use for personal listening.

I remember that I was quite disappointed when I listened to this work when it was released. I was probably expecting too much from the follow-up of their great debut album "Out of Myself".

The studio tracks almost sound like Marillion Mark II ones. Totally boring during "Us", but quite brilliant during "Acronym Love". This one will hold some fantastic guitar moments and the melody is quite good. The highlight on this long EP (or mini-album).

The hypnotic "Dna..." is a bit too repetitive during its seven minutes. Good guitar riffs and a rather weird atmosphere. But it never lifts off, I'm afraid. I would have liked some more energy in here. And I won't get it with "The Time I Was Daydreaming", which is a dull track. There is nothing to remember from this song. It sounds all the same during the whole lenght.

"Stuck Between" is another good one here. More "Out Of Myself" oriented. Somewhat "amospheric" but tranquil again. All these studio songs are so sensible. We are millions miles away from the hard music they produced on their first album, which will remain the reference for me.

Even the choice of the live songs is more in favour of quiter pieces. This EP (still over thirty minutes) is not what I had expected from "Riverside". I just hope that they won't be a "one jewel wonder". "Loose Heart" and "Out Of Myself" come as a rescue for this release. The latter being the best live number available IMO.

I guess that this work could only please die-hard fans of the band or progheads willing to listen to the soft end of their repertoire. But it is not my case. Two stars.

In my other reviews of this magnificent bands albums I several times referred to the different styles that characterize Riverside such as the ballad style, the rough style (Jekyll and Hyde) and the epic style. Three significantly different styles that are all very representative for this Polish band and the interesting thing is they work different on almost everybody that follow Riverside's releases. In my comments I stated that the epic style and the rougher style have my preference and therefore I mainly love Second Life Syndrome and for instance The Same River on the debut Out of Myself. But here we have a mini album that is dominated by the softer side of the band.

And that´s the side I least prefer. Although I admit that this style suits them very nicely I still prefer the other two because they suit me better personally, so not meant as criticism towards Riverside. And it´s all relative too I have to say because a song like Acronym Love is absolutely great and wonderful and is in the end my favourite of this release. On the other hand we have a song like Stuck Between that sounds really boring to me. Two other significant songs on this album, the Dna song and The time I was daydreaming are right in between the two earlier mentioned examples. The live tracks are less significant to me because they are meant as fillers and are actually songs from their debut album.

So all things considered I think this a very nice release but with just one excellent song on it and this makes me decide for the three stars this time. Recommended for fans of the softer style of Riverside

What a nice little album Riverside have made here. Very much in the same vein as their 3 REAL albums with the warm and touching vocals from Mariusz Duda and the beautiful guitar playing from Piotr Grudzinski. The songs are generally more mellow than on the albums though. I am a big fan of the quit Riverside songs though, so this is kind of a treat to me. There are 5 studio tracks on the album which are like I just described more or less ( Dna ts. Rednum or F. Raf is a bit different, but you´ll have to listen to understand) and 3 live songs recorded in 2004. The live songs are in good audio quality and nicely performed.

Riverside is such a great band in my eyes, one of the new true progressive pioneers. Not especially innovative but it´s finally a band where you know it´s them when you hear their music. Their style and sound is so warm and delightful, but sometimes also frighful and angst ridden. A nice cocktail if you ask me.

For fans of melodic progressive rock this is a must have along with the 3 REAL studio albums from Riverside. It´s not a masterpiece, but and excellent addition in my prog rock collection. 4 stars.

Voices In My Head is a nice EP where Riverside focuses on their more reflective side. With Us, Acronym and The Time I was Daydreaming there are 3 really strong ballads that rival the master of tasty balladry, mr Steve Wilson. If you like this style, you should sure check out Mariusz Duda's solo project Lunatic Soul.

But the best comes from two surprises that reveal a more experimental side of Riverside. DNA etc has a slowly developing start with atmospheric acoustic guitars and hazy vocals, but then at minute 2 they add an electronic beat that seems to come straight out of Depeche Mode. And indeed, a quick glance at the Riverside home site reveals the guitar player as a fan of Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins and Fields of the Nephelim. Also Stuck Between uses an electronic beat to create one of their most moving little songs. A prog band doing Massive Attack.

Nice! More sidesteps like this please Riverside!

There are some fans of Riverside who greatly miss the early days of the band, when they were a moody atmospheric progressive rock band without the metal elements they would later incorporate. Although those later albums are all excellent examples of the heavy prog genre, it's nice to see the band put out a newer work along the lines of their first album, although more adventurous fans of the band will still recognize plenty of the gloomy characteristics Riverside would maintain on their later releases. `Voices In My Head' is a valuable collection of mostly slower, thoughtful and heartfelt acoustic pieces full of melancholy and genuine human emotion, with immersive electronic elements and melodic progressive passages.

`Us' is a lonely drifting acoustic piece with lyrics full of longing and gentle hoping. I can easily relate to his piece, and it really touches my heart. `Acronym Love' begins as a subtle piano piece with a thoughtful lead vocal, then the entire band launches into a mid-tempo performance of a piece that wouldn't have sounded out of place on more recent albums by Marillion and Porcupine Tree. Lovely melodic guitar solos throughout, and a powerful upbeat finale stop it from being too unhappy. `DNA...' is a a moody and slightly sinister 7 minute piece with droning vocals, aggressive chunky bass and cold programmed percussion. The first half of `The Time I Was Daydreaming' has lovely heart-broken vocals from Mariusz with quiet acoustic guitar and a warm chorus, before building in drama with spacey synths, urgent programming and searing guitar solos. Still very tastefully restrained thanks to the talented band who know when to hold back. `Stuck Between' is a very contemporary piece of sophisticated dreamy adult prog/pop with trip-hop beats, floating group vocals and a catchy but downbeat melody. Very nicely done, and this is even the sort of track that might attract the ears of non-progressive audiences!

The EP finishes off with three decent live recordings that offer moments of the heavier tracks from their more recent albums, but I think they could have included live performances of pieces that are more in the style of the new music on this release. Would have given the album an even more successful sustained mood.

`Voices In My Head' is a perfect companion CD in the Riverside discography that can stand proudly on it's own merits as a full album. I think it might also be a fine place to start for beginners, as I think the album is oddly accessible enough for new listeners and even female listeners thanks to the heart-felt lyrics and pained romantic vocals from Maruisz. Just don't listen to the album on a broken heart, it just might cut a little too close to the bone.

Four stars.

After RIVERSIDE released their debut album "Out Of Myself," they were met with unexpected critical acclaim and became the next best thing in the progressive rock world with their Steven Wilson / Porcupine Tree inspired take on emotional atmospheric rock with the extra oomf of metal elements popping in from time to time. The band set out to release what they called the "Reality Dream Trilogy" which would conclude with their second and third albums "Second Life Syndrome" and "Rapid Eye Movement." Tucked in between the first two album though the band decided to slip in a little EP called VOICES IN MY HEAD which is a collection of things to come as well as things that have been. While originally released in 2005 through Mystic Production, the band soon became singed to InsideOut Music where it has been released ever since.

VOICES IN MY HEAD contains five studio tracks and three live tracks from their "Out Of Myself" debut release. The studio tracks are mostly acoustically played with a few electronic and distorted guitar effects added in from time to time making this one a lot mellower of an experience than even the already chilled out debut. The tracks "Us" and "The Time I Was Daydreaming" would be reworked and partially reappear on "Rapid Eye Movement." On later releases there is also a video for the song "Acronym Love." Despite emerging in the middle of the "Reality Dream Trilogy" series, VOICES IN MY HEAD is not officially considered a part of this sequence but instead can merely be deemed a supplemental fan extra for those who can't get enough of this stuff.

Four of the tracks are in a mellow acoustic mode with clear inspiration from Porcupine Tree with progressive rock melodies and those tricky vocal counterpoints with the instruments. Mariusz Duda while sounding distinct in his own right nails the Steven Wilson stylistic approach as does his guitar combo effect with Piotr Grudzinski who at any given moment could easily slip any of these tracks on any Steven Wilson solo offering and no one would blink an eye. The track i find most interesting is the downtempo a la Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" album sound as heard on "Dna ts. Redum or F.Raf" which means who knows what but has a cool chilled interplay between the hypnotic groove, strong guitar riffs and Duda's rollercoaster ride of emotional vocalizations.

The live tracks show how easily RIVERSIDE connected with audiences and that their charisma wasn't limited to the studio. All those vocal harmonies and syncopated progginess were just as powerful in a live setting. The title track to "Out Of Myself" is by far the strongest track of this lot with that infamous stellar bass groove and strong melodic hooks that give RIVERSIDE their own sound if only for a while and should rightfully be called "Out Of Porcupine Tree" territory. Personally i find this music beautifully performed with a superior production job that allows every little swish and swirl to be heard in a crystal clear haze. My main gripe with VOICES IN MY HEAD is that it unfortunately prognosticates the fairly early burnout of creativity with the band and points to the day when they would slowly remove the heavier elements and fall completely within the derivative sounds of Steven Wilson, which is completely admirable in how well they accomplish that no small feat, but just not want i want to hear another band pulling off. One Porcupine Tree is fine, thank you. Overall a decent EP but i really only find their first two albums essential and then they lose my attention.

While lacking the quality of full length releases, Voices in my Head still delivers a unique experience!

Recorded after the release of Out of Myself and prior to the masterpiece Second Life Syndrome, Riverside consolidated its line- up with this EP which has a good production and some very good ideas.

Us follows the melancholic path of Out of Myself, but it contains a surprising acoustic guitars work. Acronyum Love starts with a beautiful piano which introduces a real classic of the band, with wonderful and very elegant guitars (we miss you, Piotr!) and a final accelerated part in the vein of Out of Myself.

Dna Ts. Rednum Or F. Raf, despite its weird title has introduces fine electronic rhythms and beautiful vocal melodies. The long instrumental part together with the electronic sounds is some kind of advance of what the band would do in the future with Rapid Eye Movement.

The time I was Daydreaming is another acoustic song in the vein of Us, but this time with a glimpse of trip-hop in the guitars and rhythm, typical also from Out of Myself with another intense and dramatical ending. Stuck Between has also a bit of trip- hop influence and it has an excellent layer of keyboards and guitars, very good combined, together with a fine bass and very good harmonic voices. These voices are left alone at the end of the track to close this fine collection of new songs in a very good way.

After the new songs we encounter live versions of I Believe, Loose Heart and Out of Myself, very good played and with enough variations to be enjoyed despite being heard a thousand times in Out of Myself.

Conclusion: with this EP, Riverside experimented with more acoustic sections and more trip-hop melodies than in Out of Myself. This was a cult release these days, so they were allowed to do that without receiving the anger of fans. The result is a very interesting disc with four good songs and a true Riverside classic, which is Acronyum Love.

Maybe is not an essential addition for every prog-rock collection, but it's obligated to hear this album if you like Riverside, because it's very important to understand their first years as a band and know their influences.

Best Songs: Us, Acronyum Love, The Time I Was Daydreaming.

My rating: ***

Riverside's "Voices in My Head" is an EP that was released between their first and second albums in March of 2005. It contains 5 original studio songs and 3 live tracks recorded at the Traffic Club in Warsaw in May 2004. As far as I know, none of these tracks are available elsewhere. This EP presents Riverside at a more mellow vibe for the most part and also presents the band performing early on and how well the could connect with their audience from their native land. The EP also reminds us how their music can be creative and atmospheric, mellow and dark, and also somewhat similar to their contemporaries "Porcupine Tree". This similarity really shows through in their mellower songs.

"Us" is a short, mostly acoustic ballad with some keyboards added for atmosphere and a repeating, subdued percussive sound. "Acronym Love" leads out with a soft piano introduction. Vocals deliver a mellow first verse after which a full band joins in while the piano continues. There is a very nice electric guitar solo after the 2nd verse. It is reminiscent of Porcupine Tree. Towards the end of the track, tempo picks up quite a bit and a rousing guitar finishes off the track.

"DNA?" is the longest track on the EP at over 7 minutes. It starts off on a more experimental style with a more ambient feel, but dark vocals start off early as things start to build and get more intense. As it continues, you get a mid-eastern vibe with vocal styling to match it for a short passage. The track remains sinister throughout and stays interesting all the way through.

"The Time I Was Daydreaming" starts off in acoustic mode again. A strummed guitar is soon joined by soft keyboards and mellow electric guitar. The vocals here sound similar to "Opeth's" more mellow songs, but also foreshadows the direction that band would be taking for their more progressive songs, except "Riverside" might be a touch more accessible here. There are some nice harmonies here too.

"Stuck Between" keeps the same atmosphere, but the percussion is so straightforward, it seems programmed. This one is less interesting and seems like an attempt at commercial music. This is the last original studio track.

Next we have 3 live tracks culled from previous studio tracks. The softness carries forward on "I Believe" with a piano introduction, but as it continues it builds and becomes more intense. This was a good placement of this track to carry forward into the excitement of their faster and more intense music. "Loose Heart" fades in on electric guitar and piano and a mid tempo rhythm and a nice bass line build full band support. After the first vocal section, a heavier sound comes in with a short guitar solo. There's a 2nd verse, then more intensity and more guitar. This time the intensity flows into the following vocals and the build continues until it erupts into a surprisingly dramatic and heavy ending. "Out of Myself" starts off with a fast pace guitar riff and a sinister sounding whisper. This is another track with more intensity that gets quite heavy again.

This EP was a big "thank you" to fans and critics early on in their career. But, even though it stays mostly on the softer side of their music, it does build to heaviness in the last few tracks, so you do get a taste of that here too. I must admit, I was hoping for more heaviness on this, but it is still a decent EP, and at just over 36 minutes, it gives you a good idea of what music they could generate.