Riverside is back with their first album in nearly five years. After all the change since their last album was released—a pandemic, a new guitar player, political polarization in their homeland—will ID.Entity continue to be aggressively chill or something different?
In anticipation of their upcoming album, here’s a helpful primer on prog-metal stalwarts, Riverside (they live in a van down by the river).
“I’m a Devin Townsend fan. I first encountered his music when I was a fledgling metalhead and Synchestra was released, and I quickly latched onto the man’s back catalog, of which I still consider Ocean Machine, Infinity and Terria stone cold classics. But that doesn’t mean I love everything Devin has done. Z2 left me cold, and despite the critical acclaim, I never could get into Transcendence or his Casualties of Cool project. On the other hand, I vehemently defended the swimming pool-sized kitchen sink that was Empath. Since the production process of that monstrosity was understandably nightmarish, Devin announced that Lightwork would be a light, simple and poppy affair. That did not necessarily worry me; he’s done poppy before.” Light pollution.
“2022 seems to be a year for bands I was a fan of in their heyday to reunite. A couple months ago we saw the release of the not-amazing-but-not-embarrassing new album from Porcupine Tree, Closure/Continuation. Back in January Jethro Tull released their first album in 19 years. Now this week we see a new album from the venerable melodic prog rockers King’s X. Three Sides of One is the band’s 13th album, and first since 2008’s XV. The trio have a combined age of 195, which is almost the same as Steel and I. That’s old, but age doesn’t bestow nor hinder success; songwriting does. Can Dug Pinnick, Ty Tabor, and Jerry Gaskill still write some great material?” These three Kings.
A King’s X primer? Bet you didn’t have that on your AMG Bingo card for 2022.
“The Side Project Era is a common part of the evolution of many successful bands. They’ve been around for a while, they’re doing pretty well, and they know what they sound like. But naturally different members have different musical preferences and want to try different things. They could leave the band, but that’s pretty drastic. Enter the Side Project. Today’s example stars Charlie Griffiths, one of Haken’s guitarists, taking an opportunity to write for six-string guitar after years of playing eight-string with his main band.” Side pieces.
“It’s great to see a new album from Pure Reason Revolution just two years after their last, the up-and-down, nearly-amazing Eupnea. We were also gifted with a reissue of their brilliant The Dark Third back in 2020, so they’ve kept some momentum going upon their return from their 2011 hiatus. Now Jon Courtney and Chloë Alper return with a fresh album and one more band member – Greg Jong, who was in the band until prior to the release of The Dark Third way back in ’06. Above Cirrus is therefore this version of PRR’s first release.” Bear market.
“Fuck the rules—that’s the rough translation of OU’s mission statement. Steeped in the streets of the Beijing jazz scene, OU (pronounced “O”) has emerged with a debut that challenges head-on the stagnant energy of the modern prog space. Striking a masterful balance of joviality, tranquility, and ferocity, OU have emerged from the underground to spread their idiosyncratic brand of futureprog.” The future is NOUW, olde man!
“Post-metal, particularly the instrumental kind, tends to be its own beast when it comes to songwriting, and Toundra have clearly mastered the craft. The “El Odio” trilogy of songs, that forms the front half, beautifully blends echoing, trilling, Explosions in the Sky-like leads of beauty and wonder with crashing, thundering cavalcades of drums and riffs that remind a fair bit of Dvne, a compliment of the highest order,” Thunder on the Toundra.
“Believe it or not, it’s been roughly twenty-two years since the band’s last full-length. I know that LTE isn’t for everyone but it’s hard to deny the impressive instrumentation. Bringing acclaimed bassist Tony Levin on board took a potential this-is-just-Dream–Theater-without-James-LaBrie outfit, and made it mostly original. Sure, you can’t take the DT out of John Petrucci but, even then, it’s nice to hear the instruments without LaBrie’s voice.” Do androids dream of Liquid Tension Experiment theater?
