RIVERSIDE: Anno Domini High Definition

Released: July 2009

A few years back I had the unpleasant experience of being exposed to Pain of Salvation's convoluted, bewildering and absurdly over-indulgent Be album, an indecipherable and unwieldly piece of shit that made me stop listening to anything remotely like it for quite some time (actually there is nothing remotely like it. It's like the Zardoz of prog). That was until I discovered Polish band Riverside. Essentially, they are all the stuff you love about prog, and nothing you hate. Like the equally wonderful Porcupine Tree, they restored my faith in this genre. Three albums later, not only do they continue to shine, they have created nothing short of a masterpiece.

It's really no coincidence that I mention Porcupine Tree, because this Warsaw quartet's music has distinct similarities to them as well as to Dream Theater, especially with respect to Michal Lapaj's keyboard sound and in Mariusz Duda they have a vocalist to rival Daniel Gildenlow. Since Lapaj joined after their first album, Riverside has been closing in on a more metallic style and Anno Domini High Definition certainly steers them in a heavier direction without compromising the various melodic, gloomy and atmospheric ambient elements they have used in the past.

"Hyperactive" floats in on a melancholy piano melody until marching drumbeats, swirly keys and an unmistakably metal guitar riff begins to fade in from about the 1:08 mark, soon afterwards joined by Duda's dark, warm vocals. Like the best prog, a dominant aspect of this song's sound is the Hammond organ and even later, in the eleven-minute "Left Out", Lapaj busts out into some surging, pompous breaks that recall the greatness of Deep Purple. "Driven to Destruction" is a little reminiscent of TOOL, with the main riff a slight variation of the one from "Forty Six and 2" and while distinctly more keyboard-driven, the song itself moves through the same kind of dark moodiness the American progsters explore. "Egoist Hedonist" is a composite piece made up of three movements, the swinging, upbeat middle segment of which is joined by a horns section; the last part is perhaps the album's most metal moment.

ADHD's final two tracks run well over ten minutes apiece with both Lapaj and guitarist Piotr Grudzinski turning in some eloquent and tasteful soloing and the band weaving all their influences into a cohesive and decidedly original sound. "Hybrid Times" is perhaps the high point with Duda's jazz-influenced bass break leading to a crashing crescendo of 70s pomp rock organ and metal guitars, followed a little later by trade-offs between Lapaj and Grudzinski that leads into a darker, atmospheric coda of voices and theremin.

Riverside has been seeking to bridge the gap between progressive rock and progressive metal for several years now and with ADHD they have at last achieved it. Their best album yet.

1. Hyperactive
2. Driven to Destruction
3. Egoist Hedonist
4. Left Out
5. Hybrid Times

Rating: 98%