JOURNEY OF THE SHAMAN

Named after the famous Mount Nemrut in Southern Turkey that hosts an ancient tomb sanctuary built by King Antiochus I Theos of Conmageme around 62 B.C., the band NEMRUD was formed back in 2008 in Istanbul by Mert Göçay, Harun Sönmez and Aycan Sarı as one of the rare examples of progressive rock oriented bands emerging from this ancient land of mystique and antiquity. The band released three albums from 2010 to 2016 and then seems to have gone on a serious hiatus.

The band's debut JOURNEY OF THE SHAMAN was released in 2010 shortly after the band's formation and is a concept album about the journey of a shaman named Mitos who lives on the steppes of Central Asia and one fine day receives an unexpected message from "the other side" or should we say the spiritual realm directing him to change his life path and pursue the world of higher spiritual endeavors. The album is broken up into three long tracks that are in turn broken down into multiple suites. The album is just over 45 minutes long and features not only the trio but also a few guest musicians on keys, bass and drums.

One of the rare examples of a progressive psychedelic rock band from Turkey, NEMRUD is primarily influenced by the 70s bands such as Pink Floyd and Eloy and records with vintage instrumentation to achieve the same effects. The three sprawling tracks represent the three kingdoms of Shamanism and the belief system that they espouse. As the story goes the theme revolves around the connections of the living and the dead and the spiritual realms beyond. Musically the band's sound is rather sparse with the majority of the album sounding like a proggy alternative rock band with the standard guitar, bass and drum set up. Keyboards do enter the scene at key moments but not used as much as i would've guessed.

The compositions adopt the basic progressive rock principles of crafting multiple movements that constitute a larger sum of the parts however the concept of JOURNEY OF HTE SHAMAN doesn't match the band's musical innovation. To my ears this album sounds like what i wold call garage prog with rudimentary guitar riffs, bass grooves and a rather unsatisfying simplistic percussive drive. Coming from Turkey which has developed some fascinating traditional folks sounds including Anatolian rock, NEMRUD seems to eschew any homegrown influences for the sake of emulating the psychedelic rock majesty of primarily Eloy as well as nods to Pink Floyd and others. Unfortunately the tracks don't really expand into grandiose musical compositions and for the most part remain more streamlined without lots of time signature changes or unexpected developments.

If this review doesn't sound too enthusiastic it's because i don't really get too excited about NEMRUD's debut. The entire thing sounds like a discrepancy between musical ability and fertile imaginative ambition. The album turns me off in two major ways, firstly lead vocalist Mert Göçay just doesn't have a very powerful voice that elevates the music beyond the ordinary and likewise the drumming style of Harun Sönmez is pretty much set to simmer. The rough alternative rock tones and timbres derail the psychedelic effects and the suites don't offer a lot of variation to set them apart. Not a lot of psychedelic production tricks either. It's not a bad listen by any stretch of the imagination but it's also not developed to the point where it sucks you in and takes you on that shamanic journey that the album suggests it will. One of the more popular prog bands from Turkey but this debut is a bit weak for my liking. The band step things up big time on its next album "Ritual."