Electrophonic Tonic

1. What were your VERY FIRST impressions on listening to the album, say from the first five minutes in?

I was actually fairly interested. The music was fairly heavy, but it was quiet and backed by an active organ. It was an interesting approach and I wanted to hear more.

2. What did you think of the opening tracks?

I thought I had the wrong song when that Duane Eddy guitar came out on the second track. After that, Riverside settled into something that reminded me of a prog metal version of Styx, espicially on Celebrity Touch. There were some interesting musical moments throughout but I felt the songwriting was lacking in the first few tracks.

3. What did you think of the later tracks?

We Got Used to Us was clearly meant to have some crossover appeal and reminded me of this band called Manana. Manana is essentially a Coldplay knockoff, and We Got Used to Us is feels like that Europop style fed through a filter of soft prog. This reminded me of Opeth's Damnation, sans the awesome mellotron.

4. Did you like the vocalist? Hate him/her? Any impressions?

Voice wise, he reminds me a lot of Mikael Åkerfeldt's clean vocals from Opeth. The lyrics were all over the place in terms of quality. That reminded me a lot of Rush, where I can be totally thrown off by some incredibly awkward lyrics. The first track where he mentions a stomach ache was an example.

5. Did the music (only) generally appeal to you, or not?

This was all over the place stylistically for me, so the appeal was equally scattered for me.

6. Did the album get better or worse as you listened to it (first time)?

It was so scattered all over the place, my opinion was changing several times within each song.

7. What did you think of the lyrical content?

Rush-esque. There were a few awkward lyrics and words that killed the vibe of the songs every now and then.

8. Did you like the instrumental parts?

I preferred the stand alone and solo efforts to the band efforts on this album. I really enjoyed little guitar interlude at 5:15ish on Feel Like Falling. And, as much as I wanted to hate it, I genuinely enjoyed the soprano sax solo on the same track as well. Reminded me of the sax on VDGG's Man-Erg.

9. What did you think of the production?

The most oblivious thing I noticed was the quietness of the music and the volume on the vocals. It wasn't overbearing or annoying, but the vocals clearly wanted to be emphasized on this album.

10. How well do you already know the band/artist?

I got nutin'.

11. What sub-genre, if any, would you assign this music to?

Progressive metal in general, but there is a huge list of influences and cameos by all sorts of proggy and jazzy sub genres.

12. On repeated listens, did you find you liked the album more, or less?

I had a valley with with album. I liked it the first time. The second time I liked it a lot less and the third time I liked it again, but not as much as the first time I heard it.

13. What would you class as your favourite track, if you have one?

I didn't really have a single track that stands out on it's own, but if I averaged it all out, I would say Feel Like Falling and Deprived were my two general favorites.

14. And the one you liked least?

Again, I could find some kind of fault with just about every single track. But there was no crippling song on this album for me.

15. Did the fact that this album is a debut/sophomore/middle period or later period allow it, in your mind, any leeway, and if so, was that decision justified or vindicated?

Not knowing the contents of their previous 4-5 albums, I assume they are routinely this scattered brained, or just put all their previous efforts on one album.

16. Are you now looking forward to hearing other albums by the band/artist?

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... maybe.

17. Did you get, thematically, the idea behind the album if there was one?

Lyrically I picked up nothing. Musically, this felt like a showcase.

18. Did the album end well?

I think you could have arranged these songs in just about any order. This feels like a collection of songs rather than an album.

19. Do you see any way the album could have been improved?

I don't want to call this album a sell out since I don't know what the rest of their discography is like, but I think these guys have the talent to make a damn good prog album if they let loose.

20. Do you think the album hung together well, ie was a fully cohesive unit, or was it a bit hit-and-miss?

It was consistent in it's inconsistency.

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Overall, I'm very neutral on this album. It's safe and neutered in a way that really glazes over the immense talent I think these guys have. This album needed a 'This is England' (which, I listen to on roughly a daily basis ever since I heard that album), where Riverside could just cut loose and prog their proggiest prog song of prog. I think that would be an incredible track. This LP totally matches the title... it appears mystical, deep and interesting. But upon close inspection, it's merely S.O.N.G.S.

6.5/10