Damanek is the European branch of United Progressive Fraternity, itself born from the Unitopia split after "Artificial". So far, it's simple: Dan Mash (bass), Guy Manning (guitars, vocals) and Marek Arnold (sax) are together: Da-Man-ek. But as a keyboardist was needed, Sean Timms, one of Unitopia's masterminds, took on the job; the quartet reunited forms the backbone of a rock band with a clearly asserted progressive component, adding the services of guests known to the small progressive world, including Tim Irrgang on the first album (Unitopia again. )... Dan Mash having left the ship after the excellent "In Flight", the band's name was kept, a bit like RPWL who lost his "R" and his "P" along the way (but that's another story). "Making Shore" is the third production of this supergroup, after two high quality opuses.
Damanek once again delivers a remarkable work, solidly based on its progressive foundations, delivering a varied and even eclectic music as it doesn't hesitate to mix genres: a touch of reggae on 'A Mountain Sky', symphonic with 'Oculus Overture' for example. The rhythm section does a nice job, enriched with intelligent percussions that will inevitably remind us of the Australians of Unitopia. We recognize Sean Timms' touch in his keyboard interventions ('Reflections on Copper') and Guy Manning intelligently uses his six-string (the nice terminal solo of 'A Welcoming Hand'). But the man of the record is undoubtedly Marek Arnold, who illuminates each of his interventions with his class, evoking the great saxophonists such as Mel Collins or John Helliwell and reminding us of the immense contribution that this instrument can make.
if "Making Shore" is thus almost flawless musically, it is on the vocal level that the listener may stumble. It is understandable that Guy Manning has imposed himself as a frontman to express his compositions, but his lack of vocal signature seriously handicaps the overall interpretation. It's not that his vocals are wrong or misplaced, it's more the rather unspecified timbre and a lack of groove that affect some tracks: for example, it annihilates the dynamics of 'Americana', in which the rhythm section and the keyboards groove like hell, and hampers the efficiency of the whole 'Oculus' suite (apart from the opening, which is entirely instrumental). This is obviously a matter of taste, but the quality of Damanek's music deserves more than just decent vocals.
That shouldn't deter fans of well-composed progressive music performed by talented musicians. With vocals to match, Damanek would go from "recommended" to "must hear", and that's a nuance worth considering.