Riverside "Shrine of New Generation Slaves"

 

This was one of those RIYLs, or "customers also bought" items found at the bottom of the page.  I believe I saw it listed on the Spock's Beard first and then the Steven Wilson page.  Looked for it on my favorite digital store and there it was.  I get 90 seconds of each track to preview and it was good enough to purchase despite its release date three months earlier (I don't have time to go back any earlier for product right now...I have 29 new releases since April 1).  It's been in the auto's rotation for six weeks, getting better with each listen. 

For the initial spin I noted it as Porcupine Tree-light, saying the vocals were almost pretty and the music itself not as heavy.  As I waded through spin #2, I dictated a Deep Purple vibe on a couple of tracks...



...and Heavy-Metal-Grammy-winner-era Jethro Tull (older readers should get the joke).  So you see the "not as heavy" remark beginning to fade in meaning.  The third spin yielded vintage Utopia and some Alan Parsons Project as well as the usual suspects of Pink Floyd, etc..  And now I LOVE it, enough so to give it a fourth listen for pure enjoyment.  There is one track with radio "hit" potential all over it...



The band is Polish and this is studio album #5.  It's their most successful yet as it has charted in six European countries, going gold at home.  Every now and then, I think the vocalist sounds a little like Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, but mostly I hear all forms of Steven Wilson, be it PT, solo, Storm Corrosion or Bass Communion.  The last two of those mostly arise from the two-song extra disc, twenty-two instrumental minutes completely different from the eight-track main album.  Part One takes on a Kraftwerk vibe early then sweeps into a William Orbit-styled piece.  Different, but not bad. 

You American prog-rock fans need to drop the $9 on the main disc.  I'm already looking forward to the next project.