RIVERSIDE — Rapid Eye Movement (review)

RIVERSIDE — Rapid Eye Movement album cover Album · 2007 · Metal Related Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Phonebook Eater
6/10

"Rapid Eye Movement" is full of nice moods and has a few beautiful moments too.

Riverside arrives with their third album to what is considered the weakest album by the band. For me, the weakest one would be the highly acclaimed debut "Out Of Myself", since it's kind of immature. This album on the other hand is much more mature, and with a lot of more interesting ideas and greater melodies. The style is pretty much the same as Riverside's previous album, "Second Life Syndrome", the masterpiece of the band's first period, and also of "Out Of Myself": in fact, these three albums are a sort of a conceptual trilogy dedicated to man's mind, and "Rapid Eye Movement" is the last of the three. We still find some heavy parts as well as Pink Floydish/ PTreeish moods, spacey, atmospheric soundscapes are even in this album present. Some psychedelic influences are also present, especially in the final thirteen minute song, "Ultimate Trip".

The album starts off with "Beyond The Eyelids", a wonderful piece, possibly the best song off the album. The melody is fantastic, catchy, and there are a few brilliant passages, with great musicianship and technical virtuosity, pure progressive metal.

"Rainbow Box" has a catchy chorus, with an interesting verse, with some great vocals and arrangements.

"02 Panic Room" is possibly the most famous Riverside song (they also made a video). It's a spacey and tense song, beautiful in so many ways, with some PF moods and a great catchy melody.

"Schizophrenic Prayer" is my favorite calm song by Riverside, stunning melody, catchy chorus, and with a very mysterious mood. The arrangements also are quite interesting and noticeable.

"Parasomnia" is one of the weakest Riverside songs, not so interesting, boring, and a little repetitive. Forgettable.

"Through the Other Side" is a beautiful acoustic song, with a gentle touch that makes it so ravishing. It's played with an acoustic guitar, rare thing in a Riverside song.

"Embryonic" is very similat to the previous track, but less appealing in some moments and generally weaker.

"Cybernetic Pillow" is a fantastic song, a lot heavier than the two previous tracks, and with a great, memorable chorus.

"Ultimate Trip" is the final, epic 13 minute song, with some interesting points, especially in the grand finale, but most of it bores a bit. Too bad, since it is considered the key song of the album.

The structure of the album is much different than the previous albums: here we have more short, but catchy songs, making the album generally less progressive, which is probably the reason why this album was a little underrated.

As a conclusion, a pretty good album, full of nice moods and with a few beautiful moments too. not really essential, but definitely a must listen if you like this band.
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