Riverside – Shrine Of A New Generation Slaves

After 4 amazing full-length albums and one Ep it’s finally time for the Polish progsters to release a new album. Some years back a friend had told me about this band and the first album I heard was “Out Of Myself” and I was blown away from the very first notes. The atmosphere, the melodies, the pink floydish solos overwhelm you with goose bumps. When I heard the other 3 albums, what amazed me was that, first of all, every album is different and also the band has the most meaningful and deep lyrics in their albums, talking about relationships, society, routine life etc. After seeing them live in 2009 I loved them even more and really couldn’t wait for this release.

This album, musically, reminded me of their first releases but is still quite different. It has elements I’ve never heard before. From Deep Purple inspired songs like “Celebrity Touch” to jazz influences, as they bring saxophone on some songs, like the ending of “Deprived  (Irretrievably Lost Imagination)” which by the way is my personal favorite of the album and probably the most moving. “Night Session Part 2” closes in to Dubstep a bit, as does “Night Session Part 1”, but in a more melodic and moving way. Another personal favorite is “We Got Used To Us” which starts with the melodic keyboard of Lapaj and the warm and touching voice of Duda. The track “Feel Like Falling” must be the only harder song on the album. “The Depth of Self Delusion” has some of the most melodic guitar playing I have heard in a while. “Escaltor Shrine” is probably the most proggy track on the album (12 minutes) with some cool groovy bass lines, 70’s hammond keyboards and nice guitar melodies. The regular edition of the album closes with “Coda” song with just acoustic guitar and the warm vocals of Duda.

The special edition bonus tracks are “Night session One” and “Night Session Two” which I mentioned before.

The lyrics are again very deep and meaningful on the album. The band said about the lyrics that they wanted the listener to understand that the word ‘slave’ they are using in the album title has many meanings. You can be a slave at your work, in a relation, but you’re also a slave when you’re not only addicted to alcohol or drugs, but also to technology, to the internet or to shopping. The main goal of the album is to tell about our observations, especially about people who are disappointed with their lives, about people who only see the dark side of their lives instead of doing something positive.

Once again Riverside deliver a very moving album full of emotions. Great music, great lyrics, great artwork 10/10