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riverside shrineofnewgenerationslaves
Artist: Riverside
Title: Shrine Of New Generation Slaves
Genre: Hard Rock / New Art Rock / Retro Prog
Release Date: 18th January 2013
Label: Insideout Records


Album Review

‘Shrine of New Generation Slaves’ is the fifth album by RIVERSIDE, a Polish progressive rock band. The band is interesting: it is among these bands who are known widely and have universal acceptance in their genre, but still likely to be playing smaller venues and retain more or less direct contact with the listeners - for example, via Facebook. I first listened to them a while ago, when they were promoting their previous album ‘Anno Domini High Definition’ and even caught them on tour in a relatively small Istanbul venue.

I especially like RIVERSIDE's atmospheric song full of electronic textures. To my taste, this release went somewhere to more rock-ish side. It opens with ‘New Generation Slave’, a classical rock song, that is followed by ‘The Depth of Self-Delusion’, a melodic ballad, captivating, with well-versed, rhythmic lyrics. ‘Celebrity Touch’ is, again, deep-to-roots classic and rocking. I cannot even recognise if Michał Łapaj's keyboards are there. Maybe, song context made Duda and Co. to choose this style - it talks about current public life of celebrities and mutual dependence of crowd and public person, but to be honest, this song does not stand out to me, despite all creative choices and fitting well with the whole album title.

Despite that I really would encourage less self-repetitions and more experimenting with style, I would expect that there is something connecting all songs together and branding these as RIVERSIDE songs, rather than a complete departure from "being themselves". Next track, ‘We got used to us’, is just as recognizable progressive atmospheric song as one expect from the genre, think ANATHEMA. To my taste, however, it could use a tad more elaborated in melody. I am no musical expert that sees a lot of technique in seemingly common track; that might be the case here, but as a listener, I used to some genre and I would expect some distinction from a new piece, that I could not quite find here.

The album continues with the interleaving "rock" and "atmospheric" songs and on the track six I start to suspect that it's not just a coincidence. ‘Deprived’, I cannot help that, is purely RIVERSIDE song, that continues their trademark sound and attitude... and I appreciate it much more than rock-ish tracks. The slave incarnation of this song is trapped by his memories. Seventh piece, ‘Escalator Shrine’, feels again classic, but towards blues. Song about walking up the stairs "walks" itself alongside very melancholic melody with little sign of speed and dynamics. The sing turns to be more "progressive" to the end, which is pleasant violation of assumed "rock versus atmospheric" interleaving.

Closing ‘Coda’ is - as expected from the song with even number - is a short atmospheric reprise that contains a message that lyrical hero is set to rise and be light for the others. I have to be honest - I do not see this album as full of hits. It's as if we're told that the whole album thing is just a medium to deliver a message. Precisely, the one about "slavery" in modern world. The album is uneven, while honest RIVERSIDE fan find even tracks much more appealing, while odd tracks are paying tribute to classic rock genres and might appear as a "common example" that wouldn't be noticed that much.


Tracklist

01. New Generation Slave -  4:37
02. The Depth Of Self-Delusion -  7:40
03. Celebrity Touch -  6:47
04. We Got Used To Us -  4:11
05. Feel Like Falling -  5:18
06. Deprived (Irretrievably Lost Imagination) -  8:26
07. Escalator Shrine - 12:41
08. Coda - 1:39
09. Night Session - Part One (bonus disc) - 10:44
10. Night Session - Part Two (bonus disk) - 11:33


Line-up

Mariusz Duda – vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar
Piotr Grudziński – guitars
Piotr Kozieradzki – drums
Michał Łapaj – keyboards


Website

http://riversideband.pl / https://www.facebook.com/Riversidepl


Cover Picture

riverside shrineofnewgenerationslaves


Rating

Music: 6
Sound: 7
Extras: -
Total: 6.5 / 10





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