Despite showing a passport not so common in the genre, turkish band NEMRUD develops an anglo-saxon type of Progressive rock, of the highest quality. One might even be reminded of ELOY's "Ocean" opus... This is no surprise then to learn that the leader Mert GOCAY is a close friend of Frank BORNEMANN ! "Journey Of The Shaman" (Musea Parallèle, 2010) is a first concept-album divided in three parts: "The Ground", "Underground", "The Sky". Here's the initiatic journey of the shaman, who needs to go underground first, to be able to eventually reach the Sky. This rock symphony is mainly instrumental, as the lyrics are often used in a spoken and meditative way. It's a very sophisticated music, based on Seventies sounds but with an excellent production. Floating keyboards sounds, guitar arpeggios and a sense of slowness obviously recall ELOY and PINK FLOYD, but there are other influences, like CAMEL, GENESIS, JETHRO TULL... In the course of four long pieces, the second opus "Ritual" (Musea Parallèle, 2013) follows a pathway not unsimilar to "Journey Of The Shaman", possibly with more dynamic passages. Here's a highly spiritual music, carefully composed and played, suggestive. A real musical "journey" for the listener.