RIVERSIDE - Shrine Of New Generation Slaves

Riverside are one of the flagship acts of Polish rock, by now well known far beyond their country's borders. Initially tagged as prog-metal, they soon began a migration toward more mainstream sounds, landing on a kind of crossover-prog.

Their latest release, "Shrine Of New Generation Slaves" (also known by the acronym "S.O.N.G.S."), takes another step toward the mainstream audience, smoothing out the rough edges and diluting their early metal into a more accessible, familiar hard rock.

And it's precisely to the hard rock of the golden years that "S.O.N.G.S." can be likened, with an overdose of Hammond keyboards, lightly distorted guitars (often simply acoustic) and vintage sounds. Setting aside the forced comparisons with Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree, Riverside draw heavily on the Anglo-American school of the Seventies, from Kansas, Uriah Heep, and early Deep Purple.

The commercial outcome has been positive: last February the album entered the Top 50 best-sellers in no fewer than seven European countries, and topped the charts at home (it's their third consecutive work to reach number one).

Mariusz Duda, bassist, vocalist and leader of the band, is recognized as one of the most talented musicians on the continent; his bass riffs are becoming a personal, unmistakable trademark, and the rest of the band is no slouch either when it comes to musicianship, which is one of the main draws of the new album.

We're clearly dealing with a well-crafted product here, blending old and new sounds, unexpectedly catchy and in many respects "soft", despite the prog-metal tag routinely attached to this group of Eastern European veterans.

The opening track, "New Generation Slave", kicks off with a powerful riff that underpins the whole song. Powerful, straightforward, anthemic yet never overblown, the track introduces the central theme of what, in some ways, can be considered a kind of concept album: the shattered dreams of a generation forced to reckon with a descent into hell.

"I struggle to sing "I am happy and I do what I like/ But my voice breaks and I start to hate my singing and simply everyone": alienation that breeds detachment and contempt for other human beings, and that's only the starting point...

The following “The Depth Of Self Delusion” unfolds with acoustic guitar and Duda's intense vocals, interludes of xylophone and strings, a track that is understated and solemn at the same time. The result sits somewhere between pop and Fm rock, while the lyrics are unmistakably in a Pink Floyd-esque vein: “One little brick, then another and I will build that wall anyway/ You can find me there rested and calm without a mask, This is where I will stay.”

“Celebrity Touch” was the first single used to preview the release of “S.O.N.G.S.” last December. It opens with a classic electric guitar riff joined by a Hammond organ. Amid shifts in rhythm and stop & go dynamics, it stands out as a catchy track. The lyrics tell of the risks and fleeting satisfactions that come with achieving celebrity: the media circus around the star of the moment, inevitably destined for oblivion in the near future. Fame and success don't resolve alienation, they only make it worse.

The album reaches its “commercial” peak with the next two tracks. “We Got Used To Us”, sung over a piano backing, is more properly a pop-rock song, with a melody as simple as it is catchy. It tells of the loss of a loved one, an abandonment that leaves one in utter despair: “No, I don’t want to be there, Where we are/ Silence fallen between, All the doors are locked/ All the words unsaid/ And we’re still afraid of time/ Started to keep ourselves/ At a distance that we could control/ Not too close, not too far”.

“Feel Like Falling”, on the other hand, blends instruments and sounds from different styles and eras: new wave synths with huge hard rock riffs.

It's the prelude to the album's grand finale, the two closing tracks (not counting the brief “Coda”) in which Riverside forcefully return to their signature genre, that crossover blending progressive elements with pop, metal, ambient, rock, jazz and fusion sounds.

“Deprived” is an intense, over eight-minute ride, full of ups and downs, showcasing undeniable musical and compositional talent. The Polish ensemble's enormous technical abilities shine through. In the final part, a wrenching saxophone recalls Pink Floyd's “The Dark Side Of The Moon”, a cushion upon which Duda's barely whispered voice comes to rest.

The lyrics reveal a glimmer of hope for the protagonist, “Endless bedtime stories, I could touch the moon and switch off the sun, I could have my dreams and dream about better times”. Life isn't all bitterness after all, memories of good times help keep hope alive for the future.

Next comes another complex, elaborate suite, even longer this time (almost thirteen minutes), “Escalator Shrine”: nothing too ambitious, no baroque flourishes, a linear development, with the Hammond returning to sounds initially somewhere between the Doors and early Deep Purple, before giving way to an interlude that is once again Pink Floyd-esque, this time in “Animals” mode. A track of absolute value which, while unable to redeem the album as a whole — where a certain banality still prevails — represents one of Riverside's most creative moments and the best track on “S.O.N.G.S.”.

The protagonist's story comes to an end with an openness to the future and an acknowledgment of the human capacity to keep on living, despite everything and everyone: “Dragging our feet, tired and deceived, slowly moving on/ Bracing shaky legs, against all those wasted years/ We roll the boulders of sins up a hill of new days”.

The closing “Coda” picks up the sung motif of “Feel Like Falling” and closes things out in under two minutes with the message of someone ready and eager to start over: “Want to be your light/ Illuminate your smiles/ Want to be your cure, bridge between self and us/ Want to be your prayer, wipe the tears from your eyes/ When the night returns I won’t collapse, I am set to rise”.

“S.O.N.G.S” is a good album, full of great craft and little originality, with some interesting psycho-philosophical reflections thrown in. Between the first half hour of pop-rock and the final 20 minutes, which lean more toward certain progressive structures, it's undoubtedly the latter that stand out in terms of quality — food for thought as they continue down their artistic path.

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24/03/2013