Pick of the month:
MIDNIGHT IDOLS - "Nightrulers"
You don't hear a lot of it but yes, in Turkey they make metal too. "Set Me Free" is guitarist CEM KÖKSAL's first album and he wrote, arranged and produced the whole thing himself, musically accompanied by singer Murat Ilkan (from fellow Turkish power metallers MEZARKABUL) and drummer Aykan Ilkan. The style on this album is easily described. CEM KÖKSAL is sort of the Turkish YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and the song material on "Set Me Free!" brings to mind such albums as "Trilogy" and "Odyssey": melodic hard rock with lots of neo-classical shreddage and dramatic vocals. On the whole "Set Me Free" is certainly no worse than those two albums and Mr. KÖKSAL is one hell of a guitarist who also did an admirable production job.
I could end the review here, were it not for the fact that on the last couple of tracks Cem has some extra tricks up his sleeve. "For Amadeus", his reworking of MOZART's "Requiem" is so pompous and overblown it wouldn't be out of place as a soundtrack to a gladiator movie. Even QUEEN never made 'em so epic, really. "Violin Concerto No I In Db-Minor" is a rather pretty contemporary classical composition which is all keyboards and no guitars whatsoever. Finally album closer "Life" is an acoustic ballad. Patient listeners will be rewarded with a short piece of keyboard music which serves as a hidden bonus track.
Since on these last tracks metallic heaviness takes a step back some hard rock purists will undoubtedly frown upon them, saying Mr. CÖKSAL 'loses it' here, but personally I can't help admiring the sheer audacity of it. Other than that, in terms of a contemporary take on classical music this is a lot more interesting musically than the blatant silliness of ULI JON ROTH's latest endeavors. With this album the guitarist certainly proves himself as someone to watch in this particular brand of (neo-classical power) metal. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here.
OFFICIAL SITE: www.cemkoksal.com
MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Set Me Free (mix sample)
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