After Ogün Sanlısoy left Pentagram, he became fairly popular in his homeland Turkey with mainly acoustic-based Pop music. That music wasn’t bad by any means, but it always left wonder what his massively improved voice would sound like when accompanied by heavier, more Rock-based music. ‘Üç’ already gave the electric guitar a more prominent place within the music, but ‘Ben’ is an album that truly shows Sanlısoy as a Hard Rock singer first and foremost. Even the ballads have an eighties Hard Rock vibe. This makes ‘Ben’ Sanlısoy’s finest effort so far.

Of course, ‘Ben’ isn’t just a Rock record like many others. First and foremost, there is a distinct Turkish vibe on this record and that is an aspect I like very much. That vibe is not necessarily caused by the lyrics, because there definitely are some songs that could have done well on the American market if the lyrics were in English, but Sanlısoy does some vocal acrobatics that would be impossible or at the very least incredibly difficult for western vocalists, and the Middle-Eastern strings heard on ‘Bu Ne Biçim Aşk’ and ‘İstanbul Sular Altında’ add an irrestistable mystical atmosphere to the songs.

Although Sanlısoy is credited as the sole songwriter of nearly all the songs on the record, I won’t believe that his guitarist Aytek Akçakaya had no influence on what ‘Ben’ sounds like. His guitars – which sound great, by the way, they have just the perfect amount of distortion – are all over this record and define the album as much as Sanlısoy’s vocals. It is his riff work that makes many of the albums finest rocking moments, such as the cover of Turkish classic ‘Anma Arkadaş’, the awesome title track, the uptempo riff rocker ‘Küçük Mafya’ and the modern Metal of ‘Çek’.

The ballads on ‘Ben’ are quite large in number, but they’re also surprisingly good. As I’ve already stated, many of them have a heavy eighties Hard Rock ballad atmosphere, but without the huge layer of gloss that made the likes of Cinderella and Poison so nauseating. Midway through the album, there are three ballads in quick succession, which could have been too much in other circumstances. Granted, it was a daring move by Sanlısoy, but two of them are the best ballads on here; ‘Son Kez’ and ‘Yalnız Gittin’ are both expertly written and arranged.

The closing salvo of ‘İstanbul Sular Altında’ and the simple, yet very powerful Hard Rockers ‘Gidenlerden’ and ‘Yukarıya Bak’, which are edited like they form a two-parter, finishes the album in style. Production-wise, ‘Ben’ is near flawless. Akçakaya’s rhythm guitars could have been doubled at some points where they aren’t, but apart from that, this sounds great. Sertan Soğukpinar’s drum sound is one of the best I’ve ever heard on a modern Rock production. All this adds to a very pleasant listening experience. ‘Ben’ is a record that should be heard by any Rock fan worldwide. It’s just a shame it’s so hard to get outside of Turkey.

Recommended tracks: ‘Anma Arkadaş’, ‘Bu Ne Biçim Aşk’, ‘Gidenlerden’