Numen (band)

Numen (rock band) is a Spanish progressive rock band from Alicante formed in 1992 by César Alcaraz, Víctor Arques, Gaspar Martínez, Manuel Mas and Antonio Valiente.[1] Currently, Marcos Beviá is the new guitar player of Numen.

Numen
Formación de Numen, 2015
Background information
OriginAlicante, Spain
GenresProgressive rock
Years active1992-2000, 2011-present
LabelsMylodon Records
MembersCésar Alcaraz
Víctor Arques
Gaspar Martínez
Manuel Mas
Marcos Beviá

Numen has become one of the most known progressive rock in Spain of the 90’s. The band's sound is predominantly neoprogressive.

Former members
  • César Alcaraz - Vocals
  • Víctor Arques - Bass
  • Marcos Beviá - Guitars
  • Manuel Mas - Keyboard
  • Gaspar Martínez - Drums

History

Numen was born as a quartet in 1992. The former band was composed by Víctor Arques (vocals and bass), Manuel Mas (keyboards), Antonio Valiente (guitar) and Gaspar Martínez (drums). From the beginning of its musical career, the band has been pointing its style to a quite elaborated kind of music whose main aim is melody and the instrumental arrangements. All these qualities are perfectly mixed up with a deep feeling on its lyrics. The final result consists of some kind of mosaic where spontaneity and innovation fit together through a musical style as the progressive rock, one of the most suitable fields for the musical experimentation.

In 1996 César Alcaraz joined the band as vocalist. His style goes together amazingly well with the musical conception of the band. From that moment, the recording project of its first album called Samsara arose.[2]

Samsara (sanscrit word: reincarnations cycle) is a conceptual record in which we try to show all the things that surround the man as an integrating part of Cosmos. Each song of the CD is related to some of the vital matters which influence straight to the human being (cultural backgrounds, freedom, love, the old age,...). The record is composed by nine songs starting from different musical plannings which drive us to some free structural developments. Melody and the instrumental arrangements create some atmospheres which bring the listener to each one of the situations reflected by the lyrics. Numen, due to this first album, made themselves known through prog rock catalogs from Italy, UK, USA and Japan, among other countries. Besides, Samsara had very good reviews all over the world.[3]

In 2000 Numen was dissolved as a band. Its members are engaged from that time to their personal projects.

After a long separation, Numen members have got together, on the one hand, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the release of Samsara in 2013, and, on the other hand, to publish a new album. Nowadays, Numen is promoting their second work Numenclature. This album means a high degree of maturity on their music. The songs included in Numenclature cover several styles such as classical rock, prog rock, folk, etc. As it happened fifteen years ago, Numen has had a great deal of good reviews again. Despite the global crisis suffered by the music industry, Numenclature has found a place in the prog rock catalogs from around the world.[4] Besides the new CD, the filmmaker Alejandro Moreno has just launched a DVD called “Numenclature. A journey in progressive” devoted to prog rock in Spain through the making of Numenclature.[5] Furthermore, taking advantage of social networks, a videoclip has been filmed based on the song “The camel’s back” in order to announce the reunion and the return of Numen.[6]

At the end of 2014, Antonio Valiente, guitarist from Numen, left the group and was replaced by Marcos Beviá.

Since this moment, a new stage begins in which, instead of falling into a long lethargy like the one that occurred after the publication of Samsara in 1998, Numen performs concerts for the presentation of his second album Numenclature.[7] This second work was received positively by specialized critics.[8][9]

Meanwhile, Numen takes advantage of this new impulse to undertake a new musical project that will be published in March 2019. On this occasion, Numen aims to publish his new album titled Cyclothymia in vinyl format. Cyclothymia (consisting of six tracks) is perhaps the darkest album of Numen. It is not a conceptual disc, although it approaches it by virtue of the exploration that is made of those moods in which the human being submerges when life becomes a burden and a torment. In contrast, there are other less bucolic themes, such as "Lady of the winds" or "A cosmic prayer", which extol the value of the little things that surround us. Only the first theme, "The man with the X-Ray Eyes", is out of this line, to become a parody theme that criticizes the ease with which the human being makes value judgments. In 2019 Numen signs with the record label Mylodon Records.[10]

Discography
  • Albums
  1. Samsara (1998)[11]
  2. Numenclature (2014)
  3. Cyclothymia (2019)
  • Other recordings
  1. Birth (1995) (demo)

Filmography
  1. “Numenclature. A journey in progressive” (2014)[12]

References
  1. Enciclopedia de la música progresiva en España: más información
  2. Los alicantinos Numen venden su primer disco en todo el mundo | Edición impresa | EL PAÍS
  10. http://mylodonrecords.com/numen-llega-a-mylodon-records-para-entregar-su-nueva-nomenclatura-en-cyclothymia/
  11. "La Caja de Música": Lista de Correo
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