Riverside - 'ID.Entity'

While their music has never been anything other than adventurous and exploratory the last couple of albums have been built around more subtle concepts. They have carried a more sensitive and thoughtful structure landing in a similar field to the solo work of Steve Wilson and his later Porcupine Tree releases, or the more subtle moments that Marillion construct on their recent outputs.

‘ID.Entity’ returns Riverside to the big sound of their earlier works on the likes of ‘Anno Domini High Definition.’ The music here feels more driven and rhythmic. Possibly this is indicative of a return to music structured around the bass work of frontman Mariusz Duda. It’s clear that the bass playing is well up in the mix and that the slinky keyboard and crunchy guitar riffs decorate it.

At this point it should be mentioned that ‘ID.Entity’ falls into that great prog rock category, the concept album. Not very surprisingly that concept it the question of what identity means in our post pandemic world. In the space of just under an hour Riverside ask questions about who we are and if we are still the same people we think we are. Heady topics but handled superbly by the band. You get the feeling that these are questions the band have been asking themselves as they come out the other side of a tough time for them.

The music on this record is amongst the most accessible Riverside has recorded. It kicks straight into gear with the brilliant ‘Friend or Foe?’ Mariusz Duda launches this one straight out of the trap. It has a very 80s vibe going on, poppy but still with more than enough rock to please any prog rock fan. Think ‘Violator’ or ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion’ period Depeche Mode with a lot more guitar and a smidge of a-Ha thrown in for good measure. Why a-Ha, well because I can’t get past how much Duda’s vocals on this track put me in mind of Morten Harket. Strange but true!

‘Landmine blast’ follows and we are back in what I would describe as classic Riverside territory, Duda’s bass work sets a droning rhythm and the rest falls into place around it. I don’t know how the band went about recording the album, but it certainly sounds and feels like a record where they all played together in the studio.

‘Big Tech Brother’ stomps in behind ‘Landmine blast,’ and the album concept and strengths are on full display on this track. Huge credit here to Michal Lapaj on keyboards and Maciej Meller guitar playing. They swoop, dive, rise and rock around Duda’s bass work.

It seems right at this point to talk about the new boy. Meller has a very different style of playing to Grudziński. It brings a freshness to the band and it’s good to see that they didn’t go for a play alike. Gone is the Steve Hogarth style playing and in its place comes something crisper and sharper. I’d liken Meller’s playing on here to Andy Summer’s in the Police, or Alex Lifeson when Rush focussed on shorter song structures on their later albums.

‘Post Truth’ starts off feeling like a gentle head nodder and ends up a full on headbanger. Michal Lapaj’s keyboard work on this track is perfect right from the synth lead at the start of the song to the delicate piano outro. It’s also the first track where drummer Piotr Kozieradzki really shines through too. The drum sound on this track sounds like bombs going off, which fits in nicely with Duda’s decidedly downbeat view of our own state and treatment of each other.

Track five is the centrepiece of the record. ‘The Place Where I belong’ is both tough and beautiful. The latter half of the track might be one of the best pieces of prog music recorded in the 2000s. It’s a song built in sections and coming in at just over thirteen minutes it accounts for a large portion of ‘ID.Entity.’ As such it has to deliver, and it does. In places it’s delicate and shimmering but always with a sense that there is a darkness lurking just ahead. In the second part of the song that darkness arrives as the band deliver a searing condemnation or our world. Meller’s guitar work is electrifying here, and the keyboards match them. I’m not sure but it sounds like the keyboards here are a Hammond Organ, generally more associated with blues rock but slotting in here perfectly if that’s what it is. The third part of the track cools things off with some acoustic playing before entering that final fourth part that made the hairs on my arms stand up. Duda has described the lyrics in this track as the best he has written. As he uses the extended length of the song to explore his struggles in recent years and his place in the world it’s hard to argue with him.

The album closes with ‘I’m done with you’ and ‘Self-Aware’. These tracks were the band’s choices to herald the album and have been available on video / streaming services ahead of the album’s release. ‘I’m done with you’ has a surprisingly retro feel to it after the previous tracks. The way that the guitar and keyboard challenge each other makes the song feel like classic Deep Purple or early Rainbow.

‘Self-Aware’ brings the sound right back up to date with a hopefully unintentional synth riff that sounds like Muse. It’s the last track on the album but it’s also the catchiest in the tunes simplicity. For anyone who enjoyed the pre-release single/video version they should be delighted to find that the song ruins for an extra three minutes on the album.

So, a fantastic return from Riverside. Of course, there are moments that don’t quite come off, the robotic voice springs to mind. It’s piercing and tends to pull you out of the music and there is an occasional lyrical clumsiness. But these are small things compared to the overall piece.

It sounds like Riverside have no questions left about their ID.Entity and in answering their own questions they have produced the best album of their career to date.