Riverside: Love, Fear And The Time Machine

Shrine Of New Generation Slaves (or SONGS, if you will), brought me right back into the Riverside fold, the Polish proggers hitting their stride in full and harsh style; a brashness and boldness not previously heard in their sound as engaging as it was startling. And yet, it sounded like no one else other than Riverside.

That final statement is true once more, Riverside a band who know exactly how they want to sound and able to leave no one in any doubt who they're listening to from first note to last. Interestingly however on Love, Fear And The Time Machine (LFATTM doesn't work so well…) Riverside have, for the first time truly allowed their influences to infuse their sound - and it isn't necessarily what we'd expect. Think prog and we all, in almost default setting, think Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, ELP and so on. Here however Riverside, while still sounding like no one other than themselves, are revealing a side linked to Gary Numan and even a-ha. Indeed those are pop references, but anyone who has ventured beyond "Cars" or "Take On Me" will understand that these acts (and many others from the same era) have some real depth and complexity to their less celebrated contributions.

Take "#Addicted" for example, a song which can only be Riverside and yet, if I played it to the unexpecting, they'd swear it was Morten Harket and the boys, Mariusz Duda using his unstrained falsetto to add melancholy to a darkly melodic piece, while "Caterpillar And The Barbed Wire" thrives on a roaming baseline and crawling keyboard-guitar trade off. Yes, there's a "riff" involved and yes it's catchy, but in a deep, dark manner. After all, you wouldn't expect Riverside to sound upbeat and chipper, would you? However there's an argument that Love, Fear And The Time Machine does two things - firstly, it wears its heart on its sleeve and if that heart sounds gently upbeat, then so be it and secondly it harks back to the striking debut Out Of Myself, an album which stubbornly refused to be anything other than what it was - well constructed songs, with little flash or thunder that got under the skin and remained there ever since. The feel here is the same, the almost happy strains of "Saturate Me" hypnotising and seductive; the short, fragile keyboard and voice of "Afloat" beautiful and captivating. "Discard Your Fear" possesses an irresistibly memorable guitar line and almost sing-alongable chorus, yet commerciality couldn't be further from its mind, while the lengthier "Towards The Blue Horizon" dances morosely on a chiming guitar line alongside piano and keyboards, while the understated drumming can't help but catch the ear. "Time Travellers" brings that isolated, claustrophobic air that only Riverside really know how to create, as "Under The Pillow" comes dangerously close to being "lively", but thankfully backs off from a full on grin. Which leaves the opening and closing numbers, "Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened Of A Hat?)" (possibly song title of the year) and "Found (The Unexpected Flaw Of Searching)" (possible song title of the year runner up) to bookend this loosely conceptual piece in quite remarkable style.

For some this turn away from the metal side of prog, right back to the foundation of this band of hitting hard through not hitting hard will be an initial shock. Yet from an outfit that have flitted from this style to that via electronica, the real surprise would have been if Love, Fear And The Time Machine sounded anything like Shrine Of New Generation Slaves - or indeed any different…

See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!

Track Listing
1. Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened By a Hat?)
2. Under the Pillow

3. #Addicted

4. Caterpillar and the Barbed Wire
5. Saturate Me

6. Afloat

7. Discard Your Fear

8. Towards the Blue Horizon

9. Time Travellers

10. Found (The Unexpected Flaw of Searching)

Added: December 13th 2015
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Riverside online
Hits: 4192
Language: english

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