Riverside – Anno Domini High Definition

Releasedate: 15-06-2009; Label: Inside Out Music
By: Lara Cappelli

Riverside is a Polish Progressive Rock band formed in 2001.
Musically this band blends Progressive Metal with Rock music, trying to create their own style through the clear influence of bands like Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater.

The result is pretty intriguing, “Anno Domini High Definition” is composed by five songs really well written and performed, characterized by a constant melancholy that permeates the vocal lines. The albums starts with the piano notes of “Hyperactive” that evolve in a more compact and heavy sound. “Driven To Destruction” is not exactly the masterpiece of the album, it’s a quite an heavy song with good Piotr Grudzinski’s guitar solos. The album gets off the ground with “Egoist Hedonist” and “Left Out” which are really innovative songs, especially the second one: in it the band reaches its creative highlight with an over 10 minutes long song that reminded me a lot of the dreamy moments of Opeth music. The band cared for every little detail of the album, the melodies are perfectly raised to create a really calm atmosphere that you can find in the concept of the album too, which is the problematic of the constant hurry that torments our world. The use of the keyboards is another thing that characterizes the album, especially in the instrumental parts, mainly because it reminded me of an aged atmosphere, kind of Pink Floyd’s, made modern through the alternations of calm and speedy melodies, perfectly balanced.

 
Links:
Riverside MySpace
Riverside Official