Rioghan - Kept - review
Rioghan - Kept - review
Tracklist
01. Dreams02. Hands
03. Skin
04. Edge
05. Distance
06. Hopes
07. Motion
08. Here
09. Red
10. Grief
A review by
musclassia February 21, 2025
Rioghan was initially a non-metallic solo project of poet Rioghan Darcy (aka Jenni Perämäki), but expanded to a three-piece for the aforementioned 2022 debut. For album number two, three members have expanded to five with the recruitment of guitarist Tero Luukkonen and bassist Antti Varjanne. Following the cameos of Jonas Renkse and Einar Solberg on the debut, the line-up of guest appearances this time around is slightly less star-studded (although Vikram Shankar and Netta Skog are not to be sniffed at), but this ensemble shines all by themselves. The scope of Kept makes it difficult to pin down to any one specific genre, but there’s a range of influences, particularly from bands associated with prog, that have been fairly seamlessly woven into the record’s songwriting.
When reviewing Different Kinds Of Losses, I picked up (perhaps due to Solberg’s guest presence) on a fairly substantial Leprous influence in several songs. This time around, I would say this is generally less prevalent, but it is an influence that re-emerges very successfully near the record’s end on “Red”, the longest track here and effectively the climax of Kept. Across the song’s 7 minutes, there’s a tremendous coalescence of electronics, tapping guitar motifs, tasty polyrhythms and outstanding drumming that together capture some of the essence of albums such as The Congregation and Malina, capped off with a surge of relative aggression in the closing stages. It’s absolutely the album’s highlight, and one that is followed by something of a denouement in the form of bleak piano ballad “Grief”.
Moving past Leprous, what other sounds can listeners expect here? Well, right out of the gates, the crunching guitars and spanning synths really scratch a modern Evergrey itch, and it would have improved that band’s latest record if it had featured on it. A more striking new sound comes on “Edge”, however, which bursts out of the speakers with a djent onslaught and pained shrieks from Darcy; while the intensity dials down in the chorus with cleaner singing, polyrhythmic djent groove is sustained. This djentiness is mostly confined to “Edge”, but “Motion” does also have some crunchy syncopation in moments.
On the topic of pained shrieks, while there were harsh vocals on the debut, they’re a bit more prevalent this time around. The moody synth-heavy alt-metal effort “Hands” has a lot of compelling melodicism to it, but there’s also real anguish to the screams in the chorus. The most striking vocal style used, however, is during “Distance”; for large stretches, this is an understated Middle Eastern-tinged electronic effort carried by subtle melodies, throbbing synths and clean singing, but its final stages feature an unleashing of distortion and the appearance of some filthy deep growls.
Not all initially soft tracks descend into extremity in this manner; melancholic art-rocker “Skin” eventually lands in metallic territory for its climactic minutes after the subdued beats and soundscapes early on, but said climax remains firmly melodic. Then there’s the wildcard “Hopes”, a symphonic folk ballad lit up by its strings accompaniment; it’s a big shift, but it’s pulled off successfully. A heavier ballad-leaning approach is employed on the tender-yet-anthemic “Here”, featuring a memorable chorus.
Truly, every song on Kept has completely its own character; there’s not many albums that can say that, and to generally find success with each approach is even more remarkable. Different Kinds Of Losses for me was something of a sleeper hit that’s maintained replay value through the appealing memorability of its tracklist; I’m not sure at this stage whether Kept is quite as strong on a song-to-song basis, but several of these tracks have grown on me across the repeat playthroughs I’ve given the album, and “Red” is a real trump card to have. Overall, I’d say the two albums are very close in quality to one another; as for Rioghan as a whole, one could argue that some of the influences are still a bit too obvious on certain songs, but with this capacity to write well in so many different ways, I have to imagine that they’ll soon find a way to honour their inspirations while blending them just enough to make those sounds their own.
Written on 21.02.2025 by
Written on 21.02.2025 by
Hey chief let's talk why not Comments
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Posts: 1122 Quote: I'm not sure what's going on here exactly, but the promotion department seems to have slept on the record here a bit: - Vikram Shankar is credited for keyboards (and orchestrations) on multiple tracks, his work is most audible on Motion and Here - Accordion on Hopes is played by Netta Skog - Keyboard solo on Motion is played by an additional keyboardist who's now in their live line-up As for the music, my favorite tracks actually lean on the less heavy side, mainly Skin and Here. Motion is also great. I personally can hear Leprous-isms throughout the whole record, but they're not so obvious because they're mainly through vocals.
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Posts: 8681 Written by Risto on 22.02.2025 at 21:51 Wow yeah they must be, I tried looking but only saw the core line-up credited - I'll update the review when I get a chance Edit: I updated the sentence quoted by Risto on 23/2/25 to more accurately reflect the personnel on the record
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