Riverside is known to be one of Poland’s greatest musical talent and they keep proving it as their fanbase of progressive-heads grows with each album. Well they gained my personal admiration on this one for sure! I have previously listened to “Rapid Eye Movement” and enjoyed it, although it lacked some heaviness and… power; this is the main difference in this album. “Anno Domini High Definition” is a heavier album although the music is still a mix of prog-rock and prog-metal. The main attraction for me were both the keyboard and guitar work for sure, so captivating and genius.
The album has 5 songs with a total playing time of 45 minutes: (Smells like progressive, right ?)
01. Hyperactive
02. Driven To Destruction
03. Egoist Hedonist
04. Left Out
05. Hybrid Times
“Hyperactive” is a catchy song with great tunes and progression. The keyboards are lovely and the tempo changes are also present throughout the song: a great way to kick off the album. And although each song on this album is a classic, the best is yet to come!
Rating: 4.5/5
“Driven to Destruction” is another great tune, which reminded me of earlier works of Riverside. I digged the bass work on this one, as well as the composing of course, absolutely fitted their status as state of the art progressive metal.
Rating: 4.5/5
“Egoist Hedonist” is worthy of being the best song of this album. It’s just great when the band gets the progressive part of their music going, and they keep building up these progressions one after the other, while the listener truly enjoys paying attention to the musical arrangement of the band, and Riverside keeps providing the best there is.
Rating: 5/5!
“Left Out” is the 10:59 minute song which captures great moods, matched by pianos, lovely guitar fills and the classic Riverside vocals.
I felt that the song should have been placed somewhere in the beginning of the album. Still, it’s a worthwhile 11 minutes to listen to. Probably the catchiest song on the album, one that I personally recommended first time Riverside listeners to give it a listen. (it payed off!)
Rating: 4.5/5
“Hybrid Times” is weird, progressive, heavy, wonderfully composed to keep the listener in the mood for 12 straight minutes. Surely the best song of the album in my opinion, and perhaps one of their best works. Gotta play the song over and over again!
Rating: 5/5!
One of the best progressive albums of 2009 ? I would definitely say so!
This album was featured in the LebMetal’s top 10 metal albums of 2009!
