This time we have synth horns accompanying the guitar and bass and it’s what I would call “Riverside but jazz”. The way this album manages to sound so compatible with the rest of their body of work is due to the abundance of unmistakable Riverside-style grooves, and song three, ‘Big Tech Brother’, starts off with one of those. Almost bordering on metal due to its riffy nature and odd-time grooves, it still manages to veer into a folky atmosphere which is characteristic of Duda’s style of melody writing.
Onto song number two with the title ‘Landmine Blast’, being greeted by a bass groove (that sounds like if Tool made video game music) layered up with a driven lead guitar line played by Maciej Meller, reminiscent of classic Riverside melodies from early albums like ‘Rapid Eye Movement’. Five minutes into the song we get a switch-up in mood we go from soft, mellow, and danceable melodies and sounds, into a hard and groovy riff that serves as an ending to this flashback. I wouldn’t call ‘Friend or Foe’ a typical Riverside song as they seem to be exploring new territories all while keeping their incredibly catchy vocal lines. They’ve really captured the sonic essence of these 80’s synths and made them sound really crisp and defined. Mariusz Duda slides in with his iconic vocalizing and his biting bass that cuts through the mix and sits comfortably in your ear. Keyboard player and sound designer Michal Lapaj changes up the bassline and we hear a classic pumping synthwave style bass. We kick off with a playful little synth groove layered up with a deeper and bassier synth patch while the rest of the band slowly enters the scene. It’s 1985 again, and Riverside have gone retro. The artwork was designed by Jarek Kubicki who also made the album art for Lunatic Soul’s ‘Under the Fragmented Sky’, and it does a great job of highlighting the album’s chaotic sounds and nature. The lyrics here are introspective and heavily tinted by a post-modern approach to social media and the internet in general, focusing on our desire to be seen and unseen and how difficult it is. This album is a beautiful venture into new grounds for the band as it doesn’t really sound like something they have written before, all while maintaining the Riverside signature.
After five years, the Polish progressive rock/metal quartet Riverside are back with an all-new album entitled ‘ID.Entity’ which is set as the 10th installment in their amazing discography.
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