Back to the River : Riverside Omnibus 2 : Voices in my head

This is the EP that makes the permanent addition of keyboard player Michal Lapaj.
 This EP is in two part.
 the second is simply 3 titles from the first CD live, namely out of myself, I believe and loose heart.
They are the side of discovery of this EP, 3 great tracks from the great first CD.
 the second ( or first actually) part are 5 new tracks.
let's focus a bit more on that.
 the first one Us is a gentle acoutic almost ballad about love. hardly similar to the previous album.
Acronym love , is a bit the same , yet slightly more electric and in the style Riverside created.

The next one Dna ts. rednim or F.rat  is a long half instrumental , hypnotic and relentless more in the veins of what the band produce..
After comes the time I was Daydreaming, and we go back to semi accoustic ballad.


Finally , we round the new tracks with Stuck Between , which is a bit less acoutic love issued tracks but still is well stuck between these one and the traditionnal riverside songs.

This EP seems a bit indeed stuck between  the discovery one with the live tracks and the B sides , off course new songs that should appeal to the fans but in the end does not really gives a good starting point to the Riverside kind of songs. Especially since the live ones really outshines the new songs.

So maybe it is a bit of discovery part B sides collection which clearly shows the many talents of Riverside yet is not their best effort.

Back to the River : a Riverside Omnibus review 1 : Out of Myself

First disc from the polish Band Riverside.
 I started going back to them sadly because of the passing of their guitarist Piotr Grudzinski.

The first album, called Out of Myself is short of masterpiece in the old sense of the term. The crafting ability that makes the artists crowned by the profession.
 Out of myself achieves that.
 The album starts by a long and powerful intro going into sparse lyrics setting the tone.
 The album is about a man having probleme either with living in society, or with a companion but can also be seen as a man with schizophrénic problems ( since this album is the First of the reality dream trilogy, named after an instrumental in many parts, two of them in this album)
With a great start then comes out of myself, where the Riverside sound really starts to take shape.
Subtil yet prowerful drumming, gilmouresque guitar sound, shy keyboards  that some times takes center stage as prog goes and the voice  whispering or shouting from groovy bassist and leader, Mariusz Duda.
The music is similar to Porcupine Tree with bits of Anathema and Opeth as it was largely said prior, and that is true. But the band managed to create their own sound, probably due to the front man being  a bass player which writes the lyrics also.
Slightly Metal yet prog with all 4 of the muscians having their say, not doing only rythmic or such. 2 instrumentals, 2 calm intimists songs that goes with the concept running through the album.

This album is a great start for the band and almost a perfect ( the last closing song "ok" being a not very necessary coda)