Heal is the debut LP from French post-prog metal outfit RIVIẼRE and whilst there’s no doubting that it’s an adventurous piece, it’s unfortunately not all that exciting.
It’s clear that the band has a lot of talent musically, but it feels like it’s been wasted with Heal. Songs just feel unnecessarily dragged out, and as a result it’s difficult to remain focused on the music, especially since the tracks sound somewhat similar to each other and ultimately just blur into one rather repetitive song. Heal would perhaps benefit from songs being edited down into shorter versions as there’s some sections that could easily be chopped down without losing much of the songs identities.
However, a good element of the album is the use of saxophone – it’s something a little different to the norm, and is maybe something that the band should utilise a little more frequently in their music as in particular, the saxophone solo in third track Symbol is stunningly delivered and definitely leaves you hungry for a lot more, so it’s a shame it’s not used more prominently than just for small sections here and there on the album.
As a whole, Heal isn’t the most engaging of pieces. There’s passion in the band’s performance, and they’re certainly not lacking in talent, but RIVIẼRE haven’t quite reached there potential with this album – and it’s a shame because they are definitely capable of more than this.
5/10
