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Oaksenham biography, Oaksenham discography
ClassicRockSociety, UK )
The band is made of Vahagn Papayan on bass, Anna Adamyan on keyboards, Valeri Tolstov on flute and keyboards, Vardan Gasparyan on guitars, Koryun Bobikyan on violin and percussions and Ashot Korganyan on drums.Oaksenham is an Armenian symphonic prog band whose sole release, Woden's Eve Live captures a concert performance in June of 2002.This is definitely a band with skilled musicians that do know how to make good quality instrumental Progressive Rock...Professionally educated musicians, nearly all of them are graduates of the Yerevan State Komitas Conservatory they soon proved their serious intentions upon giving a very good concert in June 2002.In addition to the electrical program the band also boasts an acoustic one, part of which was presented to public on March 18 2004 at the opening of the British Posters Exhibition organized by British Council Yerevan.There are articles dedicated to the band in the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock, GEPR (USA).As a result Oaksenham signed a respected license deal with a leading French label Musea and the album's official release occurred in November 2007.This debut studio album was considered as one of best prog releases in 2007.Excerpts from Reviews
"Oaksenham's "Conquest of the Pacific" is an incredibly mature work, with not even a small hint of debut syndrome, an excellent creation by a truly talented band that ranks along the very best in contemporary Symphonic Progressive.Peter Thelen, Expose, USA (2004)
"The music of Oaksenham is all well orchestrated and expertly performed instrumental arrangements."You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.This article on a band or other musical ensemble is a stub.This page was last modified on 23 February 2008, at 11:13.All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.This user has either cancelled their membership, or their account has been deleted.Across the Atlantic 6:17
11.Following in the footsteps of Artsruni, OAKSENHAM are the second band from the former USSR republic of Armenia to join the international progressive rock movement or, speaking more precisely, to have an official CD release available for listeners from all over the world.Of course, "Conquest of the Pacific" is their debut album.Rock, but it is not a replica of the style.Talybont and On Reflection, are interpretations of Gentle Giant's pieces, as if serving to corroborate their statement to the effect that the English band are their primary benefactors.However, these renderings aren't as angular as the originals, both leaning towards a more distinct symphonic sound (ornamented with folksy colorations in addition), all of which is quite representative of Oaksenham's general approach.To a greater or lesser degree, half of the tracks, namely Water Spark, The Way Back Home, Time Out, Across the Atlantic, Ocean's Web and Golden Hind, all (but especially the first three) remind me of a cross between Gentle Giant ("In a Glass House"), Kansas ("Leftoverture"), Jethro Tull ("Thick As a Brick") and The Enid ("Aerie Faerie Nonsense"), though their acoustic parts often bring Gryphon's "Red Queen" to mind.Which is not to say Oasenkham sound exactly like their mentors, far from it, but anyway the similarities exist.The album's opener, Anthem, is a very short yet complete, surprisingly cohesive piece of music, this one evoking exclusively Kansas.The remaining four tracks, Elfy, Jester's Pipe, Merlin's Jig and Across the Atlantic, are all predominantly woven of acoustic fabrics and are only in places directly connected with Rock as such.Gryphon's first album of the same name can serve as a reference point as long as you keep in mind that, besides consisting of covers, it isn't too diverse or sonically saturated either, while here, there is no shortage in anything essential, you may believe me.Oaksenham's "Conquest of the Pacific" is an incredibly mature work, with not even a small hint of debut syndrome, an excellent creation by a truly talented band that ranks along the very best in contemporary Symphonic Progressive.Timeout( "DefaultButton_Postback( '" + form.Oaksenham are an Armenian ensemble.This isn't much of a stretch for the band as their overall sound is obviously influenced by them.Capping off the album is the title suite that is broken up into five tracks.Across The Atlantic (6:16), d.Hailing from Armenia, Oaksenham are a sextet of hugely talented musicians that have been together since 2001.British Council of Armenia sponsored Beatles Fantasy concert.The last time they performed live was back in May 2004 and since then they have been perfecting their first studio album, The Conquest Of The Pacific.Largely classically trained, the core members of the band are Vahagn Papayan on bass, Anna Adamyan on keyboards, Valery Tolstov on flute, Koryun Bobikyan on violin, Vardan Gasparyan on guitar and Ashot Korganyan on drums.As you will hopefully have surmised from the instrumentation, Oaksenham play classically inspired "chamber rock" music, a heady mixture of Bach, Vivaldi and Elgar on the classical side and bands such as Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Gryphon and even Fruup on the rock side.The influences of two of the rock groups are easily discerned, particularly in the case of the Giant.Talybont is given the full medieval treatment with the various classical instruments blending perfectly with the rock band.But there is a lot more to this band than covering classics as the excellent Water Spark demonstrates.The arrangements are complex and involved yet the pieces flow perfectly like a stream slowly meandering through gentle fields before crashing over rocks fragmenting the cohesion and then reuniting in a pool of placidness.Final section The Golden Hind cites themes from Purcell and Elgar (even listeners not well versed in the classics will recognise the 'Pomp and Circumstance' march!Elgar theme sticks out by virtue of its simplicity.Oaksenham have successfully produced a superior album that takes in a large number of influences and displays superior musicianship without any pretension.As mentioned earlier the album benefits greatly from the contributions of the guest musicians which are vital to the structure and arrangement of virtually all the pieces.One's opinion of the music will depend greatly on the individual's attitude to mixing classical and rock music but anyone who gets excited by the thought of what brass instruments other than sax, wind instruments in addition to flute, stringed instruments other than guitars and keyboards other than synths (all hail the harpsichord!Just hope the next one doesn't take six years to develop and record!In the beginning the guitar solos are very spacey in the style of Steve Vai, but halfway through the song Boullt and Sherinian battle it out with fast steaming solos.At the end of the song Lindsey can't hold back and he ends the song with fast guitar playing.Moving Panvishnu is, as the title states, a sort of tribute to a big inspirational source for Lindsey Boullt, the Mahavishnu Orchestra.Call For Peace sounds more Eastern than Chasing The Whirling Dervish.More violins and again a supporting role for the guitar.But the strongest element on this song are the vocal sounds from Sukhawat Ali Kahn, if you close your eyes you can picture yourself in Arabia.By far the best thing on this song is the violin melody that lifts you from the ground and sways you slowly in the air.This melody is one of the highlights of this album for me, too bad some parts of the song are a bit messy due to an overexciting drummer.Groovin' With The Stu is a short track that features a bass solo by Stu Hamm.The title could be a reference to the song Boogie With Stu by Led Zeppelin, although musically the song bears no resemblance.Seree Lee, a guitar player from Thailand.So, it is food for guitar lovers only.The heaviest song from the album is called Solar System, which is filled with lots of metal riffs and rather ferocious solos.This track also contains some melodic parts that remind me of Vinnie Moore.Le Soleil Et Une Bombe Atomique.Antoine Bernard on bass and Maxime Brisboise on drums and percussion.The group describe their music as "slightly demented heavy music with a touch of prog and a lot of rhythm".But don't let the words 'demented' and 'heavy' put you off, instead, focus on the 'touch of prog' and 'lot of rhythm'!The music is often quirky, as on Jouer Encore, often a little inspired, as on Brainstorm (which bears no resemblance at all to the Hawkwind song of the same name!On Feedback the band gets heavy but the results are far from boring and unlike anything you'd hear from a 'metal' band (or even dire death metal as produced by an American band that share the same name, minus the umlaut!The style may not be for everyone but certainly worth checking out to be sure, you may be surprised.Sync (4:12), Partymaniac (4:29), Perfect Dream (4:42), WWW.Michael Sticken on drums contributes the solid base on which the group builds its compositions.All three contribute backing harmony vocals.The bass parts are all supplied by organist Fehmer, and a great job he does too.Damaged Brain is a favourite of mine, with a dark Echolyn edge and a memorable chorus.The harmonies are very well executed throughout and definitely help give the songs some edge.American sounding this all is, and all the bands I might try to offer as comparisons are all from the USA; Echolyn, Kings X, Galactic Cowboys, Niacin.The first of these is a funky strut of a number, with a hummable guitar melody and a stinging solo (with nods to the Mission Impossible Theme), whilst the latter is more in the fusion vein, and a bit more laid back.Italian project Kongrosjan is, but nevertheless they have put out three releases in the past four years, the most recent one being Happy Way, from 2005.Domenico to record Happy Way but the songs, though clear in sound quality, sound almost like demos or mere afterthoughts yet to be completed.Where was his vision at the time?
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