The Turkish band Timesailor were founded in Ankara in 2001 under the name of Apoplexy. They recorded one EP called Sun Of Paradise (2006). Due to other bands with the same name they decided to change it to Timesailor. The current band members are drummer Bahadir Arslan, male vocalist Bulutay Güneş, guitarist Burak Kahraman (Dreamtone), female singer Damla Özdemir and keyboard player Yasemin Türkyilmaz. The album Once Upon A Time can be defined best as a rock opera constructed and based upon the 28-minute epic piece Dreamwalker. This piece, which has been divided into eight songs, tells a story about the three main characters: Goddess, Dreamwalker and Beloved, who are presented by male and female singers. Unlike the classical rock operas of the seventies and the early eighties, you may compare this record to Operation: Mindcrime (Queensryche, 1988) or Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory (Dream Theater, 1999). Alongside the long epic track the album contains four more tracks dealing with the story of Dreamwalker. Flow is the first one that attracted my attention with its diverse rhythm guitar riffs and unison vocal parts together with the keyboards. S.T.E. is the only instrumental track of this CD, while The Voice Within is my favourite one thanks to the fluent melodies sung by the two singers. The final track Sonbahar, which means 'autumn' in Turkish, is a bonus track sung in the Turkish language. I would like to recommend Once Upon A Time to people who fancy Savatage, Ayreon, Dream Theater and Pain Of Salvation. ***+ Zafer Yüksel (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
