NEMRUD

Nemrud managed to build up their unique progressive sound and continue to evolve that sound in every album they released. Debut album; Journey of The Shaman, saw the band settling down to their own prog rock soundscape, but Ritual took a leap in a better direction by improving the sound they had created. S/T album begins where band left off, as it began with the simplistic "Light" but ended with the more complicated and experimental "Ritual". That sound pushed the limits of music and continued to do so on this excellent follow up album. 'Nemrud' like previous albums, was four songs across a conceptual album in which the 4 songs were interlaced conceptually and musically, forming a symphony of 4 movements. There is actually very little that resembles traditional pop song structure. The beauty is that it all holds together as one piece, without seeming directionless. They are complete compositions, with a commonality.

The album opens with the 11ish minute "Gods of the Mountain". This gives Keyboard, Bass and Drum chance to warm up at the begining but they really gets his chance to shine when the guitar and keyboard battle comes in, probably one of the best examples of this technique like Eloy did in the past. Mert Göçay is incredible here as the band switches from the frantic battle and subtley starts to mellow out. Göçay introduces some excellent emotional guitar with a sort of phaser effect, which he used previous albums. This beautifully progresses into vocals begins. This gently lulls the song to its close with tremendous guitar work often creeping above incredible harmonies. The catchy chorus hook will settle in your brain after a few listens. Definitely a keeper in the Nemrud greatest hits package.

'Lion of Commagene' starts a steady rhythm and some glorious guitar and keyboard flourishes. Tempo changes and locks into a twisted meter and some incredible lead guitar trade offs. Then it settles into a haunting clean guitar motif and reverberated vocals on Church organ. Soft Hammond soundscapes encapsulating a Pink Floyd atmosphere. The mood swings from dramatic tension to a very heartfelt gentle emotion at the end. This is so catchy it always jumps out on the album. The melodies are as good as Nemrud gets.

'The Euphrates' is one of Nemrud' most beautiful pieces, crafted to perfection full of flowing structural change and the whole band playing to their best abilities. The music enters slowly through the soft touch of Organ fills and vocal work. This part gives an excellent work of acoustic guitar that serves as main rhythm section of the music which is led by keyboard solo plus drums. The music turns into quiet passage when effect guitar starts to enter the music but it then moves into more complex arrangements. Synthesizer solo also enriches the textures of this track.

The album ends with 'Forsaken Throne'. It is a great finisher, with the typical Nemrud instrumental passages, added with the usual great chorus. The music enters with solitude wind sound than guitar and keyboard making double Tangerine Dream style, very interesting flood till the music evolve another dimention. Second section is really beautiful dive to attractive synthesis of folk music and symphonic rock emulating classical music philosophies with very powerful emphasis. Göçay's lead vocal over an acoustic and organ-and-pedals is amazing, pure, powerful, haunting and the driving conclusion with a gorgeous guitar solo is divine. Even in the things seem to get a bit repetitive, the music still has enough momentum to hold your attention. Heavy and solid bass lines combined wonderfully with machine-gun drum work and guitar riffs. The music flows smoothly. Structurally, this epic comprises various forms of music with a balanced combination between high and low points. In some segments there are atmospheric nuance combined with dynamic combination. Nemrud showed off again a new definition of their sound. A good thing about this album what is missing from most others is that it was a mixture of proggresive rock songs and standard structured songs. This managed to attract more people into liking their sound.

Overall, 'Nemrud' is a very good album indeed, but not faultless. It´s masterpiece quality but it gets too nice and poppy at times for my taste and therefore 4,5 stars round up to 5. It´s highly recommendable though.