GÖKBÖRİ was founded as a project by Emre, who was known for his former band PAGAN and their demo “Heathen Upheaval” from late90’s which has become a cult release in Turkish metal history now, in 2007 after he had moved to the USA with the aim of bringingtogether his musical and cultural background. When Emre met Jesse from DAYLIGHT DIES in 2009,GÖKBÖRİ became a band. Their aim of the band was to combine Jesse’s complex andenergetic drumming style with Emre’s early eighties style Black/Thrash influenced riffs; adding some Turkish folk influenced melodies anthem and completing these with Heavy/Black/Punk influenced vocals. GÖKBÖRİ’s debut album”Balbal” was recorded at band’s own studio Wolf’s Lair and was released in February 2013 by band’s own label Buz. After “Balbal”, Koray Önder was added to the band on bass guitars in 2013 and they started working on new material as a trio. Koray alsostarted accompanying Emre in vocal duties. Pre-poductions of second album “Erlik” started in 2015 and recordings were completed in 2016. In the 8 songs album, again the lyrics are in ancient Turkish language and theme is ancient Turkish mythology, but this time they talk ofthe darker sides. The ruler of the underworld “Erlik”, the hell “Tamu”, the ghosts that appear at dusk and dawn “Körmösler” and more.. Like debut album “Balbal”, the cover art was once again conceived by Dilek Baykara. Chris Amott & Levent Firat Ersoy appears as guests inthe album with guitar solos.
