Released by Prog Team Management- 2010
Review Added May 13, 2010
Genre: Progressive Rock/Metal
Released on: January 11, 2010
Links: http://riverside.art.pl
Links: http://myspace.com/rivesidepl
Tracklist
DVD 1
1. Intro
2. The Same River
3. Out Of Myself
4. Volte – Face
5. Rainbow Box
6. 02 Panic Room
7. Reality Dream III
8. I Turned You Down
9. Dance With The Shadow
10. Parasomnia
11. Second Life Syndrome
12. The Curtain Falls
Tracklist
DVD 2
Encores (6:21)
1. Before (6:21)
2. Ultimate Trip (13:56)
Live Performances (41:45)
1. Beyond The Eyelids (Unna, DE 2007)
2. Loose Heart (Unna, DE 2007
3. Back To The River (Montreal, CA 2008)
4. Conceiving You (Montreal, CA 2008)
5. I Believe (Aschaffenburg, DE 2007)
6. Lucid Dream IV (Fulda, DE 2008)
7. Reality Dream II (Baarlo, NL 2006)
Bonuses
1. Behind The Curtain (A Film by John Vis) (15:24)
2. Photo gallery (2:20)
3. Credits (3:05)
* Mariusz Duda – lead vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar
* Piotr Grudzi?ski – guitars
* Piotr Kozieradzki – drums
* Micha? ?apaj – keyboards, backing vocals
Hailed as one of the most important progressive rock bands around, the Warsaw based group Riverside welcomes their first ever live DVD release titled “Reality Dream“. To best described the sound of Riverside is to understand progressive music in general and it’s many styles, of course such names as Dream Theater, Tool, Porcupine Tree are all native roots of the band, but they uniquely manage to blend their own atmospheric rock and metal elements giving way to their wonderful ambient sound. The band has put out some highly acclaimed material since their debut albumin 2003 “Out Of Myself“. The show was recorded in 2008 while the band was on tour in their native Poland, hence the selection of venue was on May 17th when the band played a special 2 hour set at Toya Studios in Lodz. Apart from the very good production, the lighting show was specially worthy of note as it really adds a nice effect to their melancholy music.
The bands strong points really varied on song structure, the vocals of singer and bassist Mariusz Duda can be compared to the more mellow moments Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) produces when singing with a clean slate, the bass playing as well plays an intricate part in the bands sound as it helps each song build momentum and style. Tracks like “Out Of Myself” and “I Turned You Down” display the bands shifty pace rhythm and thought driven substance perfectly. The guitar playing is a major positive also as main guitarist Piotr Grudzinski shines with on almost every song with some skillful licks and solos to bend the mind into these sometimes slow but rhythmic sound. The bands covers extensive material on Disc 2 which feature some back catalogue tracks performed in different venues around the world. Some standouts on the live performances includes the tight vibe in “Loose Heart” and the virtuoso work in “Back To The River” whith a homage to Pink Floyd for good measure. A nicely put together documentary adds more material to this solid DVD package, and great credit must got out to artist Travis Smith (painter for such bands as Opeth, Anathema and Devin Townsend) for some excellent design artwork.
For any fans of Progressive music this is a must have, as the material and styles covered here is more then enough to satisfy even the curious listener. The band has a strong stage presence and has a way of letting the music slowly build up and dig into your stream consciousness. As with many any progressive releases, you have to give the music time to appreciate it, but for now any fan of the band or prog in general needs to pick this up to complete a stout discography already from these very talented instrumentalists.
Written by Denys
Ratings Denys 9/10
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