Lady Time (Numen, 1998)

Numen are a Spanish band whose musical consistency, so far from any commercial benefits and strongly rooted in the neo-prog soil, I surely appreciate. Since their debut album "Samsara" they displayed a nice bend for melodies and considerable instrumental skills. This song comes precisely from "Samsara" and I know many of you would have singled out other and more complex compositions from this album... but I hope you'll forgive me as you know how much I like a well done and well played pastoral song.

Didn't I say that Numen also like beautiful artworks for their releases?

This is exacly the case with "Lady Time", where a well found theme lies on a smooth sonic carpet and the listener can also find some beautiful guitar solos and a delicious flute work. Furthermore, there is a very clever and unpredictable change of mood around minute 3:25, when the Camel-esque pastoral song becomes more Marillion-esque and, believe me, this is simply perfect for my ears. 

Psychodrama (Numen, 1998)

I know, I know... so many neo-prog bands fill the virtual shelves of my blog. Nonetheless, these Spanish boys deserve, IMHO, their own space here and this song will help me to explain why. Not only Numen are pretty good when it comes to writing melodies, but they also like changes. Good changes, I mean. Listen to the way they shift from rythmic sections to sweet acoustic ones and vice-versa in "Psychodrama", especially around the acoustic guitar part. I also happen to like César Alcaraz passionate vocals, somewhere between IQ and Ange.

"Samsara" was the band's debut work and their only one until 2014.

And then, I love the way the piano gets in at minute 6:41and starts a rather jazzy and unusual section, seconds before the Marillion echoes come back with the main sung theme. Contrasts are the very hard core of progressive rock, so I welcome catchy lines and pop ballad verses as long as they're mixed with some less predictable moments. That's exactly what Numen seem to master very well in their best songs. And that's why I'm glad to have them in my blog.