RIVERSIDE — Second Life Syndrome (review)

RIVERSIDE — Second Life Syndrome album cover

Album · 2005 · Metal Related

4/5 · 2010-09-29
arcane-beautiful

Polish people, coming over here, taking our jobs. To be honest, if some Polish guy is taking your job, then you must be pretty bad at it, is what I usually say to racists. There is an amazing, quite hidden music scene in Poland, with some amazing Prog (and not so Prog) bands, like Osada Vida, these guys, and Behemoth (thats the only ones I can remember).

But these guys are quite an amazing bunch, taking a sound that can only be described as mellow Opeth or heavy Porcupine Tree, displaying both opposites, and becoming their own anthithesis, quite ironic. But it works for these guys.

I had to order this in my local HMV, cause they were too bad enough to have it. But I was glad the day I got it. But I don't need the hassle of going through that, now that I can shop online (but I mostly buy obscure power metal bands online).

Yea, this one amazing album, it really is something unique, and these guys can really make a piece of music interesting.

The artwork (done by that whore Travis Smith), is quite good as well, and the booklet smells amazing (Inside Out booklets always have an amazing smell, try it, if that doesn't seem to weird).

1. After - Nice atmospheric intro with some nice Sikth like poetry. The rest is almost Arabic like percussion with a heavy drone and spacy vocals.

2. Volte-Face - The intro is very droney. The following riffs sound like a mixture between Black Sabbath and Opeth. The intro is an amazing mixture between prog metal and jazz. The vocals are very Katatonia with the layering and the spacy atmosphere to his voice. Pretty cool chorus. The piano solo is also amazing. This song has a very spacy, almost Hawkind vibe to it.

3. Conceiving You - Very beautifull piano based ballad with some great vocals and very Pink Floyd like guitar work.

4. Second Life Syndrome - Wow, what a song. Very atmospheric instrumental intro. The off beat rhythym throughout is very effective. The chorus is amazing. The second part shows a more No-Man like side, very mellow. The chorus also returns and is perfected, but slowed down as well. I love the almost scat vocal like section. The third part is an instrumental, showing a recurring theme that is played at least once by each instrument, which is very classically inspired (Concerto Grosso, yea, classical music has helped me alot). This song is said to basically sum up Riverside's sound, and yea it does. An amazing song.

5. Artifical Smile - Sounds like if Opeth were to cover punk songs. I love the chorus, Mariusz's vocals are very angry. One of the best songs on the album i my opinion.

6. I Turned You Down - A very atmospheric ballad like song, with an amazing effective chorus.

7. Reality Dream III - Wow, what an amazing instrumental. The piano bit at the end sounds like if Iron Maiden were to play Final Fantasy music.

8. Dance With The Shadow - The intro has a very ominous drone and the vocals add a quite beautiful eerieness to it. When the main riff in the song comes in, the song just clinks together, into wondefull fruition. Amazing guitar solo at the end.

9. Before - The intro sounds like a droney Aphex Twin song. A very Opeth vibe to this song, reminds me of Isolation Years off of Ghost Reveries. A nice Porcupine Tree like way to end the album. I like the scream at the end that fades out.

CONCLUSION: An amazing modern Prog album. If you haven't heard of these guys, then I suggest you get this album, and maybe some of the rest. I hear their new one is even better.