Frontiers Records [Release date 12.03.21]
Lebanese Progressive Rock/Metal band, Turbulence, are crossing a few boundaries with their provocatively titled Frontiers debut, Frontal. It is a defiantly bold attempt to incorporate the music of the wider world into their work. Something only a liberated few in the east – and the west – have attempted.
One of the prime reasons for Prog’s popularity around the globe is the music’s illusion of improvisation. Here, Turbulence have created a tangle of songs that combine hard rock convention with an extemporised ethos, real or imagined.
That said, as opening tracks go, ‘Into The Gage’, is surprisingly conservative. Yes, there’s a lot of moving parts, and all mesh satisfyingly around a wiry melody, but it only truly comes alive when they introduce a short burst of Floydian axework, an airy solo that seems to be over almost as soon as it begun.
From that point, tracks unfold thematically, mixing repeating motifs with slices of virtuoso solos, held together by a melodic thread. Holding hands, Prog and jazz fusion mix and match through many tracks.
Frantic and furious, there’s a religious intensity to ‘Madness Unforseen’, a driven sense of purpose, as the lightly conflicting elements of guitar solos and tough vocal harmonies get pushed aside by bulldozing riffs. ‘Crowbar Case’ is almost off the scale. It’s a densely packed track, at times braking just as hard as it accelerates, snaking through hairpin bends and thick cut riffs, clouding the air in a swirl of combative Prog Metal.
Throughout, the music is crisp and powerful. It has its heavy moments, but it’s always light on its feet and always rich in texture. And sometimes, tracks with luminous melodies, like ‘Faceless Man’ and ‘Ignite’, glide gracefully through the Prog Metal architecture, moving us away from ricocheting art rock toward a marginally more intimate style of music.
No doubt about it, this is a band with a future. ***1/2
Review by Brian McGowan
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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024
In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections
Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024
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