LUNATIC SOUL

Lunatic Sould is the solo debut of Riverside's singer Mariusz Duda. It represents a softer side of Duda that sounds even more in debt to Anathema then Riverside already did. Also the ambient melancholy of Nosound's Lightdark from the same year comes to mind but Lunatic Soul isn't nearly as good.

Duda is one of my favourite singers of recent years but here he doesn't use the full capabilities of his versatile voice. Instead he sticks to a softer approach. While this works on whatever song you randomly chose to listen to, the album as a whole suffers from the one-sided gloomy vocal approach he takes. Add to that the sparse instrumentation and standard rock balladry songwriting and as a result you get an album that sounds too similar all the way through.

Still, it's an entirely pleasant affair of mildly melancholic mood music that will work excellent to accompany your Sunday morning breakfast. It's almost 4 stars but when putting some perspective on it by comparing it to Riverside's albums it will have to do with 3 stars.