Album Review: Burak Ozmucur – A Distant Light
In his EPK, Burak Ozmucur‘s music is compared closely with Alice in Chains. Although another end of his sound clearly draws from modern progressive metal tropes, that’s definitely the first band I thought of when hearing the A Distant Light EP for the first time. A lot of it undoubtedly stems from his vocals; gruff and droning, and powerfully effective in getting that brooding sense across. Layne Staley would have been proud, no doubt.
More than that however, Burak Ozmucur shows how an artist’s natural combination of influences can result in a relatively fresh sound. While nothing on A Distant Light is truly fresh if you’ve heard much in the way of alt rock and metal, the particular combination of ingredients sounds surprisingly new. Who knew that an Alice in Chains brand of metal-grunge could be merged so effectively with post-rock and quasi-djent, atmospheric metal. The way it comes together, A Distant Light leaves a solid impression in spite of its relatively short length. Although I’d be intrigued to see the way Burak Ozmucur brings the style around on a full-length, it’s always a good sign to hear a new artist create a complete experience without needing to go overboard on time.
The kind of atmosphere on A Distant Light is capably reflected by the album cover; bands of this sort are often prone to conjuring an impression of ethereal airiness despite a seemingly contradictory bent on heaviness. Burak Ozmucur hits many of the predictable strides when it come to the individual styles. The post-rock relies on reverb to create a tried-and-true sense of atmospheric soaring. Given the chunky, somewhat djenty grooves that Burak brings out (particularly on the opening track) it wasn’t surprising to learn the EP was mastered by none other than TesseracT‘s very own Acle Kahney. References to met never go too far in describing this EP however; wisely so, he keeps the direction surprisingly restrained and song-focused. This subdued approach to instrumentation puts more of the spotlight on the vocals themselves. While the constant reference to Alice in Chains lends the EP an instant sense of pleasant familiarity, his vocal lines don’t seem as well written as the solid atmosphere flowing underneath.
A Distant Light is a solid EP from a very talented multi-instrumentalist. Burak Ozmucur isn’t building his legacy from new blocks so far, but the way he’s putting it together is distinctly his own.
Links:
You may also like...
Prog Sphere Android App
You must be logged in to post a comment Login