When Polish proggers Riverside floored us with their sublime piece of work last year, it was easy to see that the band was on the fast lane to some well-deserved recognition. And despite not having released a studio album this year, 2008 has still been a prolific year for the people concerned. There was the single Schizophrenic Prayer, which featured great ambient reworkings of some songs from Rapid Eye Movement, a live album Reality Dream and finally, frontman Mariusz Duda's solo project, this here thing you're reading about.

Judging by the name, you might think there's some going to be some crazy experimental shit going on, but Duda and his fellow cohorts (all compatriots) keep it low-key and the whole album plays out like a collection of mellow-only Riverside tracks. Which is a good thing, right? This guy knows how to build up some pretty tremendous ambience. Case in point - when the first proper track The New Beginning gets into gear, vocal harmonies float over a haunting refrain while traditional instruments like the acoustic guitar and synth work alongside more unconventional sounds like Japanese-sounding string instruments and wood flutes, almost playing dissonance in counterpoint, and all backed by a subtle tribal percussion beat. And it's nowhere near as chaotic as I just made it sound. All the layers just melt together and give off this warm lush effect.

Subtlety is the word here, and it's employed throughout the album. There are occasional times when the intensity spikes, but the current of the song pulls it back on the ebb. It's not quite easy to box the final output into a clearcut genre definition; the album drifts through several passages which have hints of varied influences - jazzy, folksy, proggy (no they're not the dwarves you never heard about), ambient and several others. None of this is hamfisted homage, the music manages to attain a distinct ethereal flavour of its own. I'd say it sounds a bit like the softer parts of Opeth, but then it's a common opinion that Riverside already take a healthy dose of influence from them, so that's a bit redundant.

The most promising part is how Duda's songwriting skills seem to be ever improving, and this can only spell good news for Riverside, who seemed destined to attain progmetal 'essential' status in short order if he keeps going at it like this. Till then, this album will do nicely.
 
 
 
Label: K Scope
Year of Release: 2008