Riverside have completed their amazing trilogy with Rapid Eye Movement, an album that lends itself to the melodious side of the debut and the heavier aspect of the band's second album. It achieves a wonderful balance between its two predecessors, emphasizing atmospheric dynamics more effectively and also showing signs of growth and compositional improvement. Like the first two albums, Rapid Eye Movement also contains nine tracks and encapsulates everything what the Polish band stands for: moody soundscapes, emotive vocals, dense keyboard structures, and a solid rhythm background.

Though there will always be fans who'll consider Out of Myself Riverside's high point, it is a given that vocalist Mariusz Duda's vocals have improved significantly since the debut came out. Now, Duda incorporates all kinds of styles into his vocalizations with great results. His unique chants that open up "Beyond the Eyelids" function as a foreshadowing to the album's emotionally dark aura throughout its course. His voice is always strengthened by mood-intensive synth work and textural guitar voicings, which eventually transform into jam-like sessions with a strong rhythm presence. The instrumentation on the track is underpinned by keyboardist Michal Lapaj's electronic sequencing, which works brilliantly underneath Duda's doubled vocal harmony that occasionally borders on aggressive outbursts.

The band must have been heavily inspired by Porcupine Tree while composing "Rainbow Box", right down to the vocals. Built around an instantly memorable main riff, this is one of the shorter pieces that lends itself to crunchy rhythm variations, around which Piotr Grudzinski's textural guitar lines are woven. The single-note keyboard in the background is stretched into eternity to provide an extra layer of atmosphere; and segues into "02 Panic Room", a track with a heavily synthesized bass line and a cool guitar theme. This theme is subtly developed whilst fizzling synth sounds pan on the right and left speakers (listen to it with headphones) and Duda's schizophrenic whispers are filtered through a thick soundscape. The last section of the song, while giving the impression that it may have been added as an afterthought upon first list, is comprised of cold acoustic guitars and funereal atmosphere, mostly because of Duda's low monotone singing. The way the guitar sound becomes less and less audible while Duda's voice is set against a mournful piano figure are testimony to Riverside's aesthetic ability, not only songwriting-wise but also from a production standpoint.

From here on, the album sinks into the depths of despair. "Schizophrenic Prayer" boasts Middle Eastern acoustic guitars and a mournful vocal delivery which eventually culminates in a terrific melody. Duda's wordless humming and tragic croon precede a drawn-out instrumental middle part, formed by a steady, unbreakable rhythm. The song is finished off with some of the most schizophrenic whispers and repeated guitar themes you'll hear on any progressive rock release. Much like "Schizophrenic Prayer", "Through the Other Side" and "Embryonic" are also compositions proceeding in a glacial pace. They are both characterized by a largely acoustic framework; the contrast between Duda's ultimately soothing and reassuring voice and the terribly disturbing subject matter on "Embryonic" is impossible to ignore. Riverside brings together opposite poles of songwriting elements here, and concludes the track with a phenomenal guitar solo which recalls Jim Matheos' restrained playing on A Pleasant Shade of Gray, due to its context. It's got the same vibe of building the whole album up and then climaxing with a killer solo that is emotionally draining.

The most progressive cut on the album is "Parasomnia", one of the longer pieces. Not only does it marry the hallmarks of the Riverside sound their fans have come to love over the years, it is a track with a powerful bass centre and wonderful harmonies. The a capella intro alone is worth checking this album out, Duda has rarely before captured so much intensity within only a couple of seconds. As the song proceeds, amidst rampaging bass and Tool-like tribal drumming, Piotr Grudzinski intensifies its degree of heaviness with added guitar voicings and shifts of tempo. The song retreats into a dreamy section, filled with Porcupine Tree-like acoustic guitars and floating synth lines, not to mention the Floydian guitar solo. Just as its intro, the overly repeated whispering atop sparse synth notes at the very end is simply sick -- and his chants are to die for. Duda is among the most expressive singers in this genre no matter what anyone says.

There is another epic-length song on the album to finalise the three-part concept story. After a long jammy intro, "Ultimate Trip" merges both vintage and modern synth sounds, developing a unique Riverside aesthetic, and contains extensive lead work by both Grudzinski and Lapaj. The tense silence in the middle is only a chance for the listener to take a breath as the piece is concluded with smashing rhythm battery and impressive guitar work.

The debut album was perhaps the band's most melodically engaging work while Second Life Syndrome saw the band expanding into heavier territory accentuated by intense guitar work. As for Rapid Eye Movement, this is their most atmospheric statement, created to underline the psychological turmoil of the protoganist. This is not to say any of their albums lack melody or atmospheric depth; it's just each album has its own priority and the level of cohesion achieved between each release is remarkable. The production is amazing, perhaps their best. Upon the first couple of listens, I had to think of the production of Katatonia's The Great Cold Distance, though this has somewhat waned now. Still, I can't help but listen to these albums back to back -- they do have something in common, at least spiritually.

Now that they've released their albums and solidified their sound, it will be interesting to observe what kind of path Riverside will forge on their future albums.

They will not disappoint.

Riverside have created an impressive end the the Reality Dream trilogy. While I rate this at just 4 stars in comparison to the two previous 5 star albums I would still highly recommend this to any prog fan. Stand out tracks, for me at least, are 02 Panic Room, Rainbow Box and Parasomnia, although there are no really bad tracks on the entire cd. The only complaint about this effort is that some of the tracks are a little too ambient at times and take a bit long to get to the meat of the song, but this is just personal preference and doesn't reflect at all on the musicianship, which is top notch.

I confess that, like many Riverside fans, I awaited the release of this, their next studio recording, with great expectations. I am a bit disappointed, however, mostly by the lack of development in many of the key songs holding the CD together. There are some typically beautiful, melodic passages countered by driving metal and rock. These ideas are not as well developed or fully fleshed out as they were on previous releases. They get briefly referenced, then dropped, with the song ending prematurely and the listener begging for more. Themes are rarely revisited. That stress and release thing that Riverside, unlike so many prog outfits out there, do so well, just doesn't come through effectively, for me at least, on this release. Perhaps they've said all they can say to end this beautiful trilogy. If so, I'm hoping for new ideas and a return to lengthier, more fully developed songs on the next release. I would stick with the first two installments of this wonderfully crafted trilogy if you are new to Riverside.

I don't know if my expectations were too high after "Second Life Syndrome" or if this release truly is subpar to Riverside's previous offering, but I just can't get into it that much. It seems that at least half of this CD is ambient filler. There are too few musical themes and not enough catchy vocal/instrumental hooks that were so abundant on SLS. Even when they are there, they seem underdeveloped.

The first half of the disk is pretty good. Tracks like Rainbow Box and 02 Panic Room are strong and very attractive. The second half of Panic Room is really a separate song by itself. I have to say, though, I can't understand what it's doing at the end of the track, and I certainly can't understand why they chose to keep it as short as it is, considering how beautiful the melody is. This complaint I have to repeat over and over again throughout listening to this CD. They would play a some wonderful theme and just abandon it without exploring it further for reasons that are completely unclear.

By the time we get into the second half of the album, things start losing steam. Even short songs are not grabbing my attention. The last track, The Ultimate Trip, sounds more like The Ultimate Drag with 13 minutes of slow to mid-paced riffing that doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Lyrically, I'm as baffled as ever. This is supposed be the last installment of a trilogy. Well, I have all three albums, I've read the lyrics plenty of time, but I just have no clue what the concept is. Since I haven't encountered a single review out there that actually attempts to explain what the trilogy is about, I'm guessing other reviewers are just as clueless, but don't want to admit it. The closest I can get is that it's about a guy with a whole bouquet of psychological issues.

I'm still giving this album 4 stars because of the strengths of the first half and because of the overall quality of musicianship and production. While this is not as good as Riverside's previous effort, it's still worthwhile having.

This album finalizes the trilogy of the Dream Reality story... even at the end they got the radio scanning just like the beginnig of Out of Myself (1st CD). They have their unique sound down with an excellent creativity that is comparable to Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree without ever sounding like them.... if prog Rock is your thing this trilogy is a MUST have... highly recommended