Amarok - Amarok (2002)

Justamente cuando estaba pensando en retomar la senda del rock polaco que tantas alegrías nos ha traído y donde tenemos tantas cosas para compartir, se me adelanta el Mago Alberto a traernos a los maravillosos Amarok (y no hablo del disco de Oldfield sino del grupo polaco, y ojo que hay un grupo español de igual nombre). Aquí, toda la sensibilidad de una banda que no le apuesta a la estridencia pero sí al buen gusto.

Artista: Amarok

Álbum: Amarok
Año: 2002
Género: Crossover Prog / Neo prog
Nacionalidad: Polonia

Lista de Temas:
1. I'm a Rock
2. Fieldmour I
3. Fieldmour II
4. Avalon
5. Fieldmour III
6. Lavera
7. Aqu
8. Meriba
9. Seya
10. Massa
11. Astron
12. Khana

Alineación:
- Michał Wojtas / guitar (electric, electric slide, classical, acoustic), bass, electric piano, Hammond organ, synthesizers, sampling, ethnic drums and percussion
- Bartosz Jackowski / backing vocals
Guest musicians:
Małgorzata Stoch / violin
Joanna Jaworz-Dutka / flute
Krzysztof Pitula / percussion
Agnieszka Dudek / voice, backing vocals
Marta Wojteczek / voice, backing vocals
Robert Srzednicki / backing vocals

El primer larga duración de los polacos Amarok, desde su enfoque sino, sosegado, placentero, sensible... aquí el comentario del Mago Alberto...

Fin de semana largo, palita, cuenco, cepillo y a buscar en viejos archivos alguna cosa perdida, y de pronto nos encontramos con una banda polaca, con una propuesta musical distinta, acá todo suena impecable, fino, sin estridencias sonoras, hay guitarras muy floydianas, toques de solfeos femeninos, y arreglos muy especiales de teclados, todo esto es Amarok (nombre del disco de Oldfield), y al cual le profesan una profunda admiración, y en este álbum se nota.
Album muy pero muy climático, para degustar de a poco, más que nada porque de primera oída vas a notar inmediatamente que acá hay sentimiento a flor de piel, y lo vas encontrando de a poco, cada track te va trayendo atmósferas nuevas, solos nuevos, y la guitarra se va convirtiendo en una vieja-nueva conocida.
Para los amantes del neo, para los buscadores de cosas nuevas del prog, un disquito muy interesante. Músicos de la ostia!!. En el blog hay una muestra del buen rock polaco Riverside, Indukti, Quidam son una muestra de ello y los Amarok van por ese lado.

Mago Alberto

El disco no es que sea una tremenda maravilla, pero es una personal visión del estilo donde lo que prima es el sentimiento, con mucho estilo Latimer y Gilmour en esas guitarras emotivas, y obviamente también Oldfield en ese estilo despojado de ornamentos y complejidades innecesarias. Me pareció muy atinado el siguiente comentario.

Definitivamente no es un álbum hecho ni destinado a romper esquemas, innovar ni crear nuevas vertientes de estilos ya muertos, pero Amarok es un disco sencillamente notable, lleno de lo que se conoce tradicionalmente como el "feeling" musical: escencialmente guitarras haciendo melodías finas, firmes y profundas, y cada uno de los instrumentos e intérpretes en una perfecta armonía. No es muy repetitivo pero nunca aburre, suficiente para perderse en él y no volver más, evoca tantos grupos y obras maestras ya escuchadas pero no las cita, para mí es un disco excelente.
No se puede dejar de lado que es relativamente bastante convencional y no es una obra maestra, pero sí rebosa de talento y calidad musical notable hoy en día.

C. Velasquez

Así que dejamos otro lindo disco venido desde la prolífica escena progresiva polaca, y no van a creer todo lo bueno que viene desde esos pagos, ya tengo a mano algunos discos inconseguibles que nos comparte nuestro polaco cabezón Marek y pronto podrán escucharlos.
Como un extra al post, aquí dejo una canción de los Amarok pero que no está en este disco, en donde interviene el bajista y cantante del grupo polaco Riverside, el también prolífico y talentosísimo Mariusz Duda, quien impone su estilo y temple también en uno de los discos de Amarok llamado "Metanoia" al que añadieron más toques étnicos y electrónicos... Donde está Mariusz Duda hay buena música: Riverside, Indukti, Lunatic Soul y Xanadu además de Amarok. A todo esto, tendríamos que presentar su extraña propuesta en Lunatic Soul... pfff. Hay tanto para presentar aún! También me dieron ganas de presentar a los Amarok españones con su buen propuesta de prog folk. Pero vayamos por partes...



Pero volviendo a este disco, aquí vienen, como siempre, algunos comentarios en inglés.

I'm pretty surprised at how little attention has been given here to this very good work. As I always say or write, depending on what you want to hear, it is a very good choice for the genre.
Amarok plays mostly instrumental music in this album. And, as its name suggests, with some subtle hints or not so, the style of the great Mike Oldfield. There are also some shades of Pink Floyd. I do not think that this approach is detrimental to the product, on the contrary.
The acoustic and electric guitar is the main instrument here, with a transparent sound and neatly executed. A good dose of violin and flute add color and depth to the music.
Fildmour part I and part III are extraordinary. Aqu, Meriba, Seya and Massa are other highlights, to name a few more. The album is balanced.
The cover photograph is appropriate, and outlines a good idea of ​​what is presented in the music.
Later, Wojtas was looking for something different other sound. Neo Way is less original and Metanoia too experimental, at least for me.
I came by chance to listen to the first installment of Amarok, and welcome. I´m pleased.

Ariel

Poland became a quite prolific soil for progressive bands during recent years. Most importantly not only for those in the usual Marillion-Pendragon-Arena line but as well for some with really different sound like Riverside or Indukti for example. So here we have another one of these young talents coming from there. Michal Wojtas is a highly talented multi-instrumentalist and a dedicated fan of Mike Oldfield. That's why he gave this name to his band project. Influences from that famous paragon cannot be totally denied neither in his playing style nor in the kind of music offered here on their debut album. Most of the tracks are pure instrumental and up to a considerable proportion more in an acoustic vein. There are occasionally very pleasant female vocals. Especially instruments like piano, violin and flute are providing a nice symphonic atmosphere. At times when it's getting more into a rock vein like in "Massa" Wojtas' guitar play sounds a bit too much like Mark Knopfler, at least for my taste.
Though being not entirely my top favourite type of music I've to say that AMAROK's debut is really a quite notable one and should appeal to any fan of OLDFIELD or CAMEL. Not as interesting and innovative as Riverside or Indukti, but still better than the usual neo progressive standards. I'd add an extra half star if possible!

Dieter Fischer

Well, nice surprise from Polland! Apart from some female wordless chanting on a couple of tracks, this a totally instrumental album, with lots of great guitar. Amarok is the personal project by Michał Wojtas, a very talented musician/songwriter that really knows how to produce great songs instead of the usual technique exercises that plague so many solo albums. I believe that the reader already figures out by his project name that Wojtas is quite influenced by Mike Oldfield. That is true. Fortunatly he is far from being a copycat. In fact, there are so many references to other guitarrists on this debut CD that Oldfield´s style is, in the end, just one of them. And not the most obvious.
The album is quite varied and although Wojtas is able to tackle several different kinds of music, this becomes an issue overall. The CD lacks a cohesive feel. Each track seems to be played by an individual artist, making it hard to see what is his sound after all. Even if no track here is bad, Amarok falis to show what he came for. Which is a pity because tehre are some real nice things on this record. Fieldmour I is certainly one of them. A powerful and poignant number where the use of both acoustic and electric guitar, violin, hammond organ and a powerful rhythm section is stretched to its maximum power. The result is one of those classic tracks that blends Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield and Camel to make a classic 9 minute epic that you never get tired of hearing it. I just can´t get enough of that song!
The remaining tracks are not as brilliant, although its continuation Fieldmour II gets close to that. From then on we have several different guitar-led tracks that are mostly very good, but nothing that comes near the magic of its electrifying beginning. With nods to David Gilmour to Mark Knopfler, Wojtas shows great skills and fine songwriting. The production is very good and all the musicians involved do their parts well. Very little ego trips here.
Rating: hard to do it. It is certainly more than just good, but not really essential overall. I think a 3.5 stars rating is adequate. If you like melodic instrumental prog music, this is recommended. I´m looking forward to hear Amarok´s follow ups.

Tarcisio Moura

If you like David Gilmour, this is a MUST.
One of my prog wonders (by the way, I have 20 or so) is why AMAROK from Poland is rarely mentioned by prog fans although there are millions of David Gilmour fans in the world and the band is of the same type of music. Well, maybe that's because of the band name which is a bit confusing with Amarok from Spain.
This album is almost seamless like Mike Oldfield's as they refer to, but do not misunderstand that their music is by far more emotional and melodic. Listen to track #2 "Fieldmour II", and you will be amazed how melodic the guitar is. And you will be also surprised at the fact that basically all the instruments are played by one person except drums. He is genious !
Today, you have to set sail to Polish prog world if you want to find real prog music successors.
This album is obviously Classic, so 5 points with confidence.

Katsuhisa

Finally polish band Amarok has been added to this site.Their first album is almost entirely instrumental. On some tracks we can hear female vocals in the background. First two tracks are instrumental.The third features some female background voices. "Avalon" opens with the guitar solo similar to the one we can hear on "Coming Back to Live" from Pink Floyd last LP. Then comes the third part of "Fieldmour" (nice quibble!) containing acoustic guitar and violin parts. All tracks are mixed with various guitar parts (acoustic, electric, bass), flute and violin. The whole is very fresh and pleasant. I assure you, that those melodies are not the boring neo-progressive tunes. "Amarok" album is very good predecessor of truly amazing "Neo Way". I give this album 4 stars with great pleasure.

pyciu

Amarok plays mostly instrumental music in this album. And, as its name suggests, with some subtle hints or not so, the style of the great Mike Oldfield. There are also some shades of Pink Floyd. I do not think that this approach is detrimental to the product, on the contrary.
The acoustic and electric guitar is the main instrument here, with a transparent sound and neatly executed. A good dose of violin and flute add color and depth to the music.
Fildmour part I and part III are extraordinary. Aqu, Meriba, Seya and Massa are other highlights, to name a few more. The album is balanced.
The cover photograph is appropriate, and outlines a good idea of ​​what is presented in the music.
Later, Wojtas was looking for something different other sound. Neo Way is less original and Metanoia too experimental, at least for me.
I came by chance to listen to the first installment of Amarok, and welcome. I´m pleased.

Sinslice

This is the 1st album by Polish Prog group Amarok, which created quite a stir when it first arrived on the scene. The group is in fact multi-instrumentalist / composer Michal Wojtas and a bunch of guest artists. Strongly influenced by Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd (among many others), Wojtas manages to compose some great new music, which is very melodic and original in spite of the influences. He also plays many instruments, including all guitars and keyboards on this album, and there are a lot of these. Overall this is typical Prog stuff, which many listeners enjoy immensely and is definitely worth investigating. Recommended!

Jazzis

A full hour of different but beautiful soundscapes by this Polish multi-instrumentalist.Tracks differ between acoustic and electric ones with some charming keyboard work around and various string sections.Not a boring minute with strong hints of MIKE OLDFIELD, ANTHONY PHILLIPS, JEAN PASCAL BOFFO, MARK KNOPFLER and ANDY LATIMER.

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