MUJER LUNA

''Mujer Luna'' (or ''Moon Woman'' translated from spanish into english) is the fifth studio of AMAROK,a spanish band formed in early 90's in the region of Catalonia in Spain.The main musical brain of the band is instrumentalist/composer Robert Santamaria-just read the instruments this man can handle.By the first years of their career AMAROK played mostly a weird combination of folk/ethnic-oriented progressive electronic music with few prog rock elements.However,through several line-up changes and the addition of musicians with mostly classical and medieval music influenes the sound of the band had a more prog rock- oriented form with intense celtic,ethnic and mediterrenean music elements.By ''Mujer Luna'' the ''lifting'' of the band was almost over,making AMAROK one of the most original-sounding bands.

Musically speaking,this is one of the most difficult discs to describe.Some moments in this album are straight towards 70's progressive rock,while others aim to an intense folk/ethnic/medieval direction.Generally the longest tracks of the album are more prog rock-oriented,while the shorter ones seem like folk/etnic tributes.The unstoppable use of different instruments non-rock (very strong presence and intense use of piano,flute,sax,tambourine,violin and marimba) lift up this album in terms of progress and complexity.While this would seem like a ''difficult to listen to'' album,strangely it is very accesible to the average prog rock listener.If I had to give this album a label of influences,I would describe it as an amazing combination of GENTLE GIANT,KING CRIMSON and RENNAISANCE (due to the great female vocals of Marta Segura) with spanish,celtic and mediterrenean music!Sounds great and it is!

This bans has matures very much through the years and ''Mujer Luna'' is one of the most inspired and balanced albums I have heard.I think this album deserves at least 4 stars and comes highly recommended to those who search for something different and highly intricate!