By DOTTIE PARIS

Burak Ozmucur is a Turkish-born heavy metal musician with an unusual story.  His latest work, A Distant Light, tells of hope and it’s something he knows well.

After all, Ozmucur, who was born in Istanbul, but now lives in New Jersey, has taken on all parts of putting a record together — from creating the music to recording.  And he has taken a liking to a solo music lifestyle.

“I feel like there are times when we’re all trying to find that next path in life and we have expectations,” Ozmucur said. “This loose theme helped shape up the music, the lyrics, the song titles, and the album cover as well.”

Ozmucur wants to express all the things that he enjoys in both music and production. By releasing music simply under his own name, he has time and flexibility.

His influences are bands like Alice in Chains, Pink Floyd, Tool, Deftones, and Porcupine Tree. The music is a mixture ranging from melodic and atmospheric rock, to progressive, ambient music.

Ozmucur records at home and it’s a remarkable sound for a home studio.  And of course, he has been busy.

In October of 2013, he released a three-song EP titled In Silence which was met with good reviews. Throughout 2015 and 2016, he continued writing and finished an EP titled A Distant Light which was released in September.

The music he creates is haunting and beautiful, with all the power and verve of a man who knows how to move mountains.  If not mountains, he knows how to move people, and he does that with his excellent work.

“With A Distant Light, the idea was to expand on the sound of In Silence,” he said. “It’s really just the next step. The music is inspired by a lot of melodic, ambient, and atmospheric rock, and there is a metal and a progressive edge to it as well.

Follow Burak Ozmucur on Twitter.

“In the songs, I wanted to have a balance between some of the heavier and the lighter parts, and I tried my best to keep the song structures as interesting as possible,” he said. “There is a slight loose theme of trying to find hope.