MI KUBBESI

So your looking for some sumptious heavy groove driven instrumental prog with a flare... well welcome to the world of "My Cube". Proving once again that music has no boundaries, Turkish band NEKROPSI's debut album is a real stunner! "Mi Kubbesi" is mostly instrumental (with occasional chanting) full of complex twists and turns. NEKROPSI offers a unique blend of heavy bass riffs with the highest of calibre drumming/percussion richly swarmed with multiple guitar passages. This is really a "guitar-lovers" dream with 2 skilled players used throughout in a variety of mannerisms. NEKROPSI is deeply rooted in the KING CRIMSOM school of prog with some heavy accents. Songs dip in and out of many different moods, tempos and forms which is one of the strengths of this listen. This cd is nice and long and songs are given lots of room to move and take your mind deep inside life's cube. I should mention that this is put to an interesting philosophical concept storyline centering around the notion that life is nothing more than a cube to which we all exist within. "Mi Kubbesi" is also a little psychedelic for the lava lamp lovers out there...

Unfortunately, I recently heard that these guys are no longer playing together. But, what a great band they were. NEKROPSI were part of a modern Turkish progressive music renaissance that began in the early 90s, and that is picking up steam today. Dozens of young bands, many of whom grew up on 80s metal, 70s prog/classic rock, while discovering classic local bands like ERKIN KORAY and MOGOLLAR, are experimenting with adventurous forms music that mix West with East.

In the case of NEKROPSI, these guys invented a sound that is instantly appealing. This instrumental band features two guitarists that were clearly influenced by thrash metal guitar. But they turned off their distortion pedals, and added Turkish, and prog influences. Their sound is rhythmic, light, clear as pure water, and can turn, or soar, on a dime. At times, I'm reminded of the [%*!#]ING CHAMPS, DREAM THEATER and even EL RELOJ. The two guitarists did an incredible job of staying away from typical metal cliches that many other bands can't seem to escape from. The drummer is also worth mentioning. His playing is light, yet fits perfectly with the metal-like sound of the band. Once in a while, though, he whips out fast drum patterns that are as frantic as the drums on CITTA' FRONTALE's "El Tor".

The CD isn't entirely perfect, of course. The first 6 tracks are top-quality. We find a band full of ideas, intelligence, and energy. But, for some reason, they decided to slow things down toward the middle of the album. Their PINK FLOYD influence, maybe? Things don't pick up again until the 9th track. "Mi Kubbessi" is also a long CD. A few tracks could have been left out, so things start to drag a bit towards the end. Overall, though, there is something for everyone. Metal fans, and guitarists will enjoy almost every track here. Prog fans who aren't really into metal will find most of the tracks appealing.

NEKROPSI (a medical term which means an operation like autopsy) was and still is a band of a genre of its own. (well at least here in turkey) Born in early years long before the release of their first and last legal album "Mi Kubbesi" (this means "E Dome" in english) NEKROPSI started out as a thrash band. Proving the first two reviews written for this band, the guitarists still carried on their riff writing manners in to this album. The band released an underground thrash album which is almost impossible to find out in the market but the collections of old-time rockers around.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones here who have seen NEKROPSI live, at a concert at my university (and their university, too) festival. The gig was out for a roughly 50-70 people, who knew the songs note for note. Their energy, imrovisation and techniques had quickly drawn us out of our minds and into another dimension. The only lyrics you could hear (or read) on the album are some "sounds" (or screams) on "Son" (The End).

Nekropsi created their unique sound, leaving a good memory in Turkish rock music. Young kids around, who fancy music of the ones like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Pickpocket (TR), Manga (TR) will find this music a bit too slow for themselves :) but who cares for that? We were happy in those days..

This is my best album that i ever heard. I prefer everyone to listen this album, at least you must listen one song from this album. I claim that you couldn't have listen a album like that before. Also band's music type is off course progressive but it isn't like you thought. There can't be a band like nekropsi, its music type is complation of a hundred genres...

This is very nice album... When i listen this album i feel very good. The songs are short but very professional. I think everyone listen this album. I wish they continue the play but they aren't. I think everyone listen this album who love art rock. I think in Turkey the best album ever for their style... I think this album is perfect...

The album "Mi Kubbesi" has a strong start, with "Crying Game" and "Fok", but has some weaker moments than, but eventually gets it together to present some really good music. The tracks "Dimli Mi", "Goc", "Yollar", "Son" are really great and "41" does it for a remarkable finale. But somehow, Mi Kubbesi is really a strange kind of album; lots of short songs disconnected from each other, doesn't really fulfill the listener's anticipation of a long epic. I, personally, would prefer the presence of a 15+ minute song or at least more 9 minute songs instead of the short 1 - 2 minute pieces. Anyway, there is no way that I would rate any track of this album as bad.

Great album by Nekropsi, although I can't affirm that it's a perfect masterpiece. It's a sure thing that Nekropsi have demonstrated their ability to produce a legendary album, but too bad they collapsed and waited too long for their second release. Much better works would have happened if they continued to work at the time.

Any rock/metal fan in Turkey HAS to buy this album (possibly more than one copies), to support the music they love. 4 stars without a doubt.

This truly is a unique album. It's an all instrumental record except for the few vocal melodies and yells, but no real lyrics.This band employs two lead guitarists, a bass player and a drummer / percussionist. Being from Turkey there is a middle-Eastern feel to their sound at times, and I would describe their music as dark with a great rhythm section being the driving force. There is a definite psychedelic vibe going on here and I can't in all honesty think of another band that they sound like, although I did think of TOOL once with the drumming. I also thought of IN THE WOODS... as well with the dark and heavy sound they often employ. Like I said,they are unique.This is a long record of 73 minutes and I think they could have taken out a couple of the songs in the middle where I found it dragged a bit. Hard to believe these guys were a Thrash Metal band because much of this recording is slow and atmosphereic.

Some of the highlights are first of all the opening track "Crying Game" with it's odd metered drumming and fantastic bass lines leading the way. "Fok" has a lot of time shifts with the guitar taking a more prominant role.The melody after 3 minutes is great. "Efsane" is the third longest track and it has a real middle-Eastern feel to it. There is an extended atmospheric section before it gets back to the original melody.

"Hindu" has some incredible bass and drums that create a heavy undercurrent with the guitars playing over the top. Nice. Lots of tempo changes in "Carklar" with the percussion dominating early before giving way to some heavy guitar and drums later. "Goc" has such a hypnotic rhythm and the heaviness that comes in after 4 minutes as the guitars grind away is simply awesome ! "Yollar" is all over the map.This is the one with the heavy TOOL like drumming after 2 minutes as well as having a spacey, psychedelic soundscape. Some mesmerizing percussion later.

Heavy, psychedelic, atmospheric and hypnotic. Excellent!

This is the masterpiece of the Turkish experimental rock. Nothing like this was ever produced in Turkey and no other band managed to achieve the quality of this album. The sound on this album reminds us of King Crimson and Mr. Bungle, but the songs are totally unique. I remember my first time listening to Derinlik and the phaser guitars at the end made me feel like never before. This album is strongly recommended who like progressive and experimental music.

What an amazing underrated gem this Mi Kubesi is, a suprisingly unique blend of metallic melodic ideas, jazzy instrumentation and native Turkish influences. The majority of the album is clean and instrumental with a few distorted metal moments and for the most part it's actually surprisingly psychedelic which is an amazing feat which few metal oriented acts have ever pulled off well.

My favourite song is the opener 'Crying game' which is the perfect encapsulation of what is good about this band and this album and is one of the faster more upbeat and complicated songs of the album. Yollar comes in a close second for me with both some great heavy moments and some brooding almost meditative middle eastern passages. Unfortunately the album does wax and wane a bit in terms of intensity and it does get a tad boring in places as it is such a long album clocking in at around 73 minutes but there are a lot of great songs and a lot great music on the whole.

There is some amazing technical drumming here and it interplays well with the guitars which are the focal point of the album. The guitar tone is quite reverberant and is primarily responsible for contributing to the psychedelic and spacey textures of this album full credit must be given to Cem and Tolga it's one thing to play metallic type riffs loud and distorted but to play technical metallic riffs clean and then to add dynamics into the equation is quite the feat, I thoroughly enjoy the middle eastern influenced riffs, there is careful attention to melody that is evident all throughout this album.

Overall NEKROPSI's debut album Mi Kubesi is a fantastic piece of music highly recommended to anyone into darker instrumental prog or even metal.

I had to review this one as my first. Nekropsi is kind of an underground band in the rock'n roll scene of Turkish music. But when we consider progressive rock as our criteria nekropsi suddenly becomes the most interesting and unique band in Turkey.

Mi kubbesi has lots of influences from the bands like Ozric Tentacles and Pink Floyd, the atmospheric and psychdelic ambient is kind of a composition which was melted down from those bands through the holes of the unbeliavable music of nekropsi.

Drumming is the first thing one might notice while listening to mi kubbesi, it is really dynamic and has signs of native Turkish music. It is almost close to a style of jazz drumming but at the same time there are lots of metal influences. The guitar work is also interesting, really experimental, loyal to the basic principles of rock music but this loyalty doesnt make it a classic one, on the contrary it is feeding the classic rock principles with lots of developments.

In my opinion this is a top class album when the cricumstances in Turkish music environment is considered by an objective eye. Pay special attention to 'Efsane'

This is a difficult album to judge.

This band from Turkey released two albums, if I am not mistaken. This is their debut album. An album I guess is a typical Post Rock album with both it's King Crimson and doom metal influences. Not to mention the pretty obvious oriental folk rock and Pink Floyd influences. There is no vocals on this album. The music is based on twin electric guitars, drums and bass. A lot of bass, in fact. The music is pretty good with a lot of interesting rhythm patterns. This is also a highly original album from a scene which is saddled between east and west. Between Arabia and Europe. The result is this album. I am not overwhelmed positive about this album, but it is certainly a good quality product. For that reason; three stars.

3 stars

Mi Kubbesi (Turkish: The Dome of Mi), released in late 1996 after 3 years of works, is one of the best albums ever made in Turkey, and able to compete easily with mainstream albums. This album appeared in cassette format (which was popular in Turkey from 1980s to 2006), and later on CD. Sadly, no vinyl copies. Group members define their style as "transsexual jazz, an invention which has no reference". It blends various styles such as thrash metal, industrial, ambient, progressive with the melodies of Middle East, experimentally. Turkish percussion instruments (bendir, darbuka, classic drum) and string instruments (kemençe, bağlama) are heavily used in this album.

Opening song "Crying Game" is one of the striking openings I've ever heard. Sadly, this song is short (there are more gems in this albums like this!). Basses and electro-bağlama dominate this with backing vocals yelling, murmuring and so on. No lyrics here.

Fok (Turkish: The Seal) starts with 2-3 seconds sound of a seal, and then basses. Speed and power is variable in this song along with good melody.

Efsane (Turkish: The Legend) is an upstanding song. At some point, folk dance ambiance is present with vocals of "Hey, hey!", then everything stops and ambience switches to dark.

Çarşı (Turkish: The Market, or downtown, especially in older cities) is another short song with guitar, bendir, and darbuka. Fully folk-inspired excellent melody.

94 Kor (Turkish: 94 Cores) has metal influences and speed. Drums enter and exit like there's a gunfire combat with otomatic ones. Too angry. Remember, in their first years, Nekropsi was a thrash band! (This could be used as a film music)

Derinlik (Turkish: The Depth) starts harshly, then gets soft as you don't imagine and relaxes you after a chaos.

Dımlı Mi (Turkish: Wet Mi) is quite psychedelic and tribal. Kemençe have been used here differently, creating dark atmosphere. (Ironically, it makes you play in anywhere if you're from Black Sea) Also, some ascents and descents are present, taking you from one place to another.

Lim (I couldn't understand what it stands for) is another short song, show of electro and bass. Hindu (Turkish: The Indian) is the same, with drums joining.

Çarklar (Turkish: The Wheels) is one of the songs I love in this album. It emulates spinning wheels perfectly, just with bass and bağlama, with speeding and slowing!

Ateis (It should reference atheist, one letter absent) starts with accords, then dominated with basses, has some metal influence.

Göç (Turkish: Migration) instead starts slowly and ambiently, then finishes suddenly with heavy guitars.

Kubbealtı (Turkish: Under The Dome) is just 30-seconds long improvisation record from 1993. A feeling like you're under a dome and echoes present.

Yollar (Turkish: Roads) starts with some ambient sound, then suddenly accerelates, takes some breaks, and finishes softly. Folk melodies exist highly, with usage of darbuka. Good guitar work.

Son (Turkish: The End) is chaotic, with guitar playing like a siren, and drums attacking sometimes. Good closing.

41 (A number has some mystic meaning) should be a track that added later issues. It resembles some industrial to me, with chaos. Like a game music.

Conclusion: An album that you can't find easily in it's genre. Masterpiece. Rating: 8.5/10