NEMRUD

Lets talk about music. Concept is really cool and lyrics are nearly perfect, some parts are perfectly comply with music. Mert Göçay proved that, he is a good composer. All songs are exciting for me. Shamans are really weird groups and I never listened a album about them. Different concept is a good choice. (It can be a love story, think again :) )

My rating is 4 stars for this album, because i think nemrud don't show their own sound on this album. They have to create their sound. This is only bad thing for this album. I'm really hopefully their next album I think it will be better. Nemrud have talented musicians.

"Journey of The Shaman'' has absolutely no weak tracks. Every song was well written and played very well. You probably won't like it at first. But, listen to me: give it a pair of spins more and it'll never leave your top ten! A concept album for the journey of your prog taste. Easily 5 stars!

"Part I" opens with atmosphere as gentle guitar comes in. Drums and a heavier sound arrive around a minute. Spoken words come in then vocals after 2 minutes. I like the guitar that follows.The organ floats in the background. A change 6 minutes in as we get a calm then an uptempo section takes over. Nice bass after 6 1/2 minutes as it settles briefly. Riffs follow as the drums pound. Another calm before 9 minutes then spoken words after 10 minutes.Vocals are back as it picks up. Soaring guitar before 14 1/2 minutes. Beautiful stuff. Heavier guitar and drums end it.Nice.

"Part II" opens with thunder and rain. Drums and guitar then take over. So good. Water sounds and picked guitar 3 minutes in. Atmosphere then spoken words join in.Vocals 5 minutes.The guitar kicks in at 7 1/2 minutes and the organ follows as the drums pound.They "rock out" to the end.

"Part III" is spacey to start, very atmospheric.The guitar comes in after 1 1/2 minutes with cymbals. Cool sound here. It's building. Spoken words join in before 4 minutes. A change after 6 minutes.This is great. Heavy riffs after 7 1/2 minutes. Nice. Some prominant bass before 10 minutes then organ before the vocals arrive. Catchy stuff. A change before 14 minutes and we get a great sound as a result with the guitar playing over top. A calm with nature sounds after 15 1/2 minutes then this laid back guitar with atmosphere takes over. Spoken, almost whispered vocals join in to end it.

This is very well done and they should be proud.

A great epic journey by this well respected potential legendary Turkish progressive rock .

'Journey of the Shaman" (Musea Records) is a very expressive album and offers a wide range of tones and moods with a superb blend of classical and progressive chamber rock. Nemrud's debut is a heavy theatrical production which comes across as a great concept- like piece of art. Loads of great guitar work here as you would expect and songs are exceptionally well pieced together. I love the inter-exchange of the rock ideals with the classical style.

'Part I' starts mellow with 12 strings guitar work with repeated chords in a spacey style. The music flows in with a mark of dynamic drumming.It forms a beautiful opening part. The music then continues in crescendo style. Floydian guitar work then continues to flow nicely. It then creates a guitar sound that reminds me to the intro of Eloy songs. It's a short but very cool solo guitar; it provides a rocking nuance. The music then continues to flow in faster tempo. The howling guitar sound is really stunning. Drum work is dynamic. Keyboard then follows with spacey nuance. Excellent composition.

'Part II' features a space rock sound that brings Steve Hillage to my mind. We can enjoy pleasant work on the fretless bass, twanging acoustic guitar and an accellaration with flashy Moog synthesizer runs and again strong hints of early Eloy.

'Part III' begins with beautiful spacey keyboard layers, then many shifting moods that contain very tasteful work on guitar and keyboards. The music flows beautifully with constant style but in every journey through many segments, the textures are different - using sound effects or different guitar sounds.

Additional note is on Mert Gocay's compositions. The album is structured tightly in term of composition. Various piece of melody and sound are blend together with smooth transitions between melodies.

Overall, I can't see this as a "must-own" for prog-lovers' collections. It's a solid 4.5 than I'll round it 5 !!!

I highly recommend this album for experienced progressive rock fans only ... it is very challenging music.

Nemrud is the first progressive rock band to emerge from Istanbul, Turkey. Their newly released debut album titled "Journey of the Shaman" (Musea Records) already fixed them an international appeal. The band is four piece led by Mert Gocay who is behind the most of the compositions and lyrics. Mert was running the Turkish Eloy website for many years and a friend of Eloy's Frank Borneman. Inevitably there is some Eloy influence in Nemrud's music circa "Inside" and "Floating" period. Nemrud is blending all the prog elements with many variations of psychedelic/space rock and adding some nice melodic eastern flavors which makes this new band very enjoyable to listen. "Journey of the Shaman" is a concept album. According to shamanism all man on earth has to go through the underworld to reach the sky. There are three long cuts on the album timing between 12-17 minutes. Each cut tells the story of this journey : the earth, underworld and the sky. The album cover design also beautifuly depicts the sory. All cuts have many time changes, intelligent lyrics (all in English), topnotch musicianship and very much 70's analog sound; all the prerequisities for die-hard prog fans. But most important fact which strikes the attention while listening to the album is the band's sincerity in what they do. Unlike many new bands their ambition is not on the creating some more accessible music but what they really believe and enjoy, true progressive rock. Nemrud is already a popular band in Istanbul and lining up some live dates in Turkey and hoping to play at various progfests around Europe soon. They are also working on their follow-up album, there are rumors that the next recording will be made at Frank Borneman's studio in Hannover but it is too early to make any assumptions yet. Finally last but not least , a big thanx must go to the Musea Records executives in France for discovering Nemrud and bringing them to the attention of the international prog fans. Akif Ergulec, December 2010

Mert Gocay's song compositions, enorchestrations and productions are very mature for debut album...The raw, heavy, half-finished sound of the early era becomes space and melodic, clearly progressive giving Nemrud an original musical identity that differentiate them from other new bands all over the world.

Nemrud's Journey of the Shaman, is a great album, with a spacey feel to it and some more rocking moments, which they seem to blend in just as eassily. 5 stars. I'd recommend for people who like Pink Floyd and Eloy, you will not be dissapointed.

Consisting of just 3 tracks "Journey of The Shaman" is, perhaps predictably, a concept album. This is a slightly psychedelic piece of conceptual, quite hard rocking music. The concept is based around the Shaman character name Mitos, pysical and spiritual journey. These three songs represent the three stage of immortality in Shamanism belief.

The whole piece is well structured and carefully arranged and psychedelic jamming feeling. Mert Gocay's guitar sound is loud and strong throughout. On some passages the bass guitar and the electric guitar remind me slightly of Hawkwind and Camel respectively. It is hard to compare this album to works by other bands. Some say this is similar to Pink Floyd or Eloy, but not very much, in my opinion. This is a pretty unique band and unique sound...

The lead vocals are not the best, but certainly not bad either. The lyrics are quite interesting and unusual. The instruments involved, however, are basically just the traditional ones - electric guitar, bass, drums and organ but you will find beautiful Moog synthesiser solos here. Mert Gocay is the one who compose of all songs, probably he is driving force of this band. I do believe their second album will masterpiece for progressive rock listeners ! The first couple of times I heard this album I liked it but it still left very little lasting impression on me, but it grew on me and after several listens I begun to appreciate it more and more. This album is very listenable and never annoying or boring even if it is far from being as loaded with musical ideas.

The storyline about a shaman journey fits the music quite well, as it is spacey with symphonic leanings and psychedelic aura. In find the sound quite cool, very 70's, the guitar work . It surely reminds of the more spacey offers from Pink Floyd and Eloy, though a more raw sound is found here, and this is something I really like. A oriental flavour is also heard along the record, all in all these guys operate in Istambul!

I think the album is a bit repetitive and the vocal performance adds little value to the overall sensation, but is a pleasure to find this sounding and this adventorous ideas thrown in a record in 2010. I'll give it three stars, but I'll be after their next release, because I think they'll do better!

There are three long compositions here, the opening track "Part I" rises from cricket sound with 12 strings acoustic guitar (I am not sure but i feel this way) psychedelic move, as distorted amplified electric guitar begins to weave the soothing web of sound. The composition is interesting, as it has many different and very beautiful sections in it. Especially moog solo and last guitar solo are very solid.

"Part II" is another longer stunning psychedelic voyage like the first track. I was so hypnotized whilst listening to this and i feel like i was the one who step-down to the underground. Bytheway in the middle of the song guitar starts very powerful oriental riff, i like it a lot...

"Part III", starts with a moody, abstract sound wall, from where mysterious and powerful song rises. The composition has a mellow and calm feeling, where the fast and loud parts emerge from time to time. The vocals are also treated with weird effects during the verses.

So in all this is very promissing album, with only a couple of very minor quibbles to keep it from being considered a masterpiece. This feeling that the band was originally scoping this as a concept album (as evidenced by the band's name, artwork, and opening track), but for some reason the theme doesn't seem to quite hold throughout (i heard some groove moment which i dont like it). Maybe this is a masterpiece anyway, but for now I'll say it is a solid four stars.....