RITUAL

This album represents for me, this is Nemrud's creative peak. The songs are arresting, the vocals sublime and - like Eloy's "Inside" - it is one of the few concept albums that really works, rather than simply being a collection of vaguely thematically linked songs with a hit single and some below par filler thrown in for good measure.

Ritual is a concept album, about the troubled person who tries to face himself in the dreams for his own salvation. What makes this album one of the best Nemrud offerings, is the way the classic formula of electric guitar, Organ and Smooth vocals comes together so well. I had felt that on their previous album, and indeed on some that followed, that the overall feel of the album was marred by moments of banality. 'Ritual' doesn't seem to suffer for this.

"In My Mind" is a great opener, complete with the sound of a robotic sounds at the beggining. Apparently the band had acquired a tape from various keyboards for this. I'm not convinced about the poetry that sits on top of the music on this track, but the guitar part, and the energy of the song do make for an exhilerating opener.

In "Sorrow by Oneself" Nemrud present their most accomplished and moving songs.

"Light" is a simple beautiful song, opening with gentle keyboard, and setting the scene for a fine perfomance from Mert Gocay. One of the best moments in the album.

For the closure title track "Ritual", the song is really a splendid piece of contemporary music breaking the borders of labels and styles; this work helped - and helped too much to set the guidelines for what we today call prog-rock or simply prog. It has a powerful melody and great guitar part at the opening. It's my favorite Nemrud's track as well. The music flows naturally with ambient vocal at the opening, moving up into an energetic style with drum beats and guitar riffs. I always repeat this track whenever I play this album like what I'm doing now. The combined work of keyboard and electric guitar is really excellent.

This is a really good album with Mert Gocay's best lyrics, compositions, and a great overall effort from the band that really deserves the attention that it gets. It is not quite a masterpiece, however, and Nemrud managed to create those in the forms of future albums that will follow.

If you haven't heard this album, it is highly recommended as an excellent addition to your psychedelic rock collection.

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