Review | Various Artists – Khalil Turk & Friends – Turkish Delight – Vol. III

Escape Music

Yippie! Escape Music owner Khalil Turk has managed to get a whole bunch of talented musicians and singers together again to produce a third version of ‘Turkish Delight’. ‘I’ and ‘II’ were already master pieces and a big must have for any melodic heavy rocker and AOR-freak. The third episode of ‘Turkish Delight’ has 14 tracks and is with over 70 minutes of music real value for money.

QUALITY GALORE

Indeed, the whole album is filled with top notch heavy rock, AOR and even some metal songs such as ,,I’m The Night’’, sung by Andrew  Freeman (Last In Line). This song could have been on ‘The Sign Of The Wolf’ album that came out some six months ago on Escape Music with Freeman as lead-vocalist. That album was quality galore and the hard rocking track ,,I’m The Night’’ would have fitted perfectly. This number is one of the many highlights here.

Also ,,Rose In Hell’’ (sung by the mighty Glenn Hughes) and ,,Bag Of Your Bones’’ (sung by Dino Jelusick) leave nothing to be desired. In fact, I should mention all songs but then there would be nothing left for you to discover. Like the razor-sharp guitars throughout the album played by various greats such as Doug Aldrich, Mick Box, Howard Leese, Mike Slamer, Laurence Archer and Marty Friedman.

VARIETY IS GUARANTEED

A lot of the musicians involved here have also contributed to the earlier ‘Turkish Delight’ albums, so they know the concept of the albums and what is expected of them. Because Khalil Turk as overseeing producer has used different composers, he has made sure that the variety in the music is guaranteed. There are all kinds of ‘styles’ to be heard on the album varying from mid-tempo material to upbeat and faster stuff and a touch of AOR as well.

By putting Fredrik Folklare in charge of the mixing and mastering the third volume sounds cohesive as well. It comes across as a unit although there are lots of musicians involved (including Dutch bass legend Barend Courbois). It is quite an achievement that this album with so many participants, composers and different styles sounds so incredible good and ‘together’. A special mention is deserved for the track ,,The Nero Decree’’ (sung by Ralf Scheepers of Primal Fear). Topic wise it is about the fall of the Third Reich and its capitol city Berlin. Too bad that some 80 years later a part of this world is still dealing with war and many innocent people dying. No lessons were learned it seems.

TURKISH DELIGHT III – THE CONCLUSION

Although this record came out a few months ago, we did not want to ignore such a fine and lasting album. In all aspects this is a must have release for any genuine rocker. Like I said, it is up to you to discover what is on offer on this release. We are just letting you know how good this is. Now it is your move….

Release date: 7 November 2025