Guitarist Piotr Grudziñski and drummer Piotr Kozieradzki knew each other from the Polish metal scene. During a car ride in 2001 they listened to and they confessed their secret love for prog rock to each other. The rest, as they say, is history. The group Riverside they founded grew internationally into an esteemed progressive metal band, guaranteeing concept albums that sound solid but can also
… fan out in dreamy passages and passionate vocals by singer / bassist Mariusz Duda. On their fifth album Shrine Of New Generation Slaves this is more beautifully expressed than ever. The album offers a symbiosis of tightly played classic rock, metal and prog. As on previous albums, they denounce the soulless and stressed modern man and maybe this is why Shrine Of New Generation Slaves sometimes sounds a bit too serious and pushy. The never-ending support is going to work against the group and the solemnly performed vocals eventually get a whine. Riverside especially lacks a playful element that can be heard in peers like and . (MR)more
