Turbulence – B1nary Dream

It’s been 2 ½ years or so since I last wrote a full album review. Not that I didn’t want to anymore, but the weekly Releases of the Week articles and What’s Hot?! playlist updates have kept me busy beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined. Add to that a growing fondness of the Mini Review format I’ve established that allows me to cover so many more albums week after week, so I thought I was done writing in depth reviews for good. Enter “Binary Dream”, the third album from Lebanese Prog Metal shooting stars Turbulence, and all my previous certainties were blown out the roof as I knew this deserved more than a few sentences once I had finished my first spin. Now, many spins later, I’m happy to present to you my first long review in a long time.

The 19 minute opening sequence works like a suite, with the tender intro ‘Static Mind’ building up the tension until the main riff of ‘Theta’ breaks through. One thing that stands out from the first keyboard (or seaboard?) wobbles by maestro Mood Yassin is the impeccable sound design courtesy of the band and Lucas de la Rosa that’s warm and melodic yet punchy in the low end of the rhythm guitars when it needs to be, touching on a Djenty tone here and there, but not as sterile. On the contrary, the overall sound is warm and welcoming like an embrace. The first of many more to come, Alain Ibrahim’s guitar solo in ‘Theta’ is a world-class display of skills, tone and emotions.

The instrumental double punch ‘Time Bridge’ (with some really cool string sounds) and ‘Manifestations’ focuses naturally on the technical prowess of all instrumentalists involved. Somewhere between the instrumental cuts of bands like Haken or Persefone, Turbulence excels in gripping, thrilling, coherent songwriting as much as in the individual, jaw-dropping performances. Special goosebumps moment as the ‘Time Bridge’ piano-outro morphs into some Opeth/Katatonia layered digital piano chords at the beginning of ‘Manifestations’. I can already see that one becoming a big audience favourite in a live setting despite its instrumental nature thanks to its bouncy, lively main riff.

The tender ‘Ternary’ closes the first part of “Binary Dream” with tasteful electronic touches, some heartfelt vocals from Omar El Hage and a yearning repeating pattern towards the end with killer ad lib fills from studio drummer Morgan Berthet (Klone) and bassist Anthony Atwe. So far, I’d say we have ourselves the first contender for best Melodic Prog Metal Epic 2024 (if you count the five first songs of “Binary Dream” as one suite, as I do), but wait, there’s more.

The fourteen minute title track has everything one could wish for in an epic, starting with a thumping bass groove, including recurring the very prog thing of recurring motifs (not only within the title track, but across the album), showing the masterful  compositional skills of the songwriters Alain Ibrahim, Mood Yassin and Anthony Atwe.

Halfway through, Alain Ibrahim enchants us with a gorgeous e-bow guitar solo that’s simply to die for, before we’re treated to a Quanun solo (with its signature sound between a Zither and a hammered dulcimer) that leads into a Cockroach King-like brass section… Before taking it down a notch to a dream-like part where I can’t decide what sounds more beautiful, Omar’s soulful vocals or Alain’s wailing e-bow guitar.

‘Hybrid’ was the obvious and perfect pick for the first single release. Upbeat, powerful and engaging, showing Turbulence from their heavier side and putting forward the most catchy chorus of the whole album. The final double ‘Corrosion’/’Deerosion’ again works best in sequence and feels like a mournful, emotional one-two gutpunch I can’t listen to without getting at least a bit teary-eyed, tenderly, yet tirelessly plucking at my poor heartstrings. And yet I wouldn’t want it any other way, as the ultimate goal of progressive music, at least in my book, is to manage to combine sounds for the head and the heart in equal, thoughtful measure.

We’re left with strong feelings of uplifting melancholia, if that makes any sense, triumphant, yet aware of the hardships and traumas endured on our journey so far. And that is the exact moment I know there’s no way around a perfect 10/10 for “Binary Dream”, because it’s nothing short of breathtaking, both on a technical and emotional level. The sky’s the limit for this Lebanese quintet, and with this third album, the course has been set and Turbulence is more than ready to conquer the Prog Metal stages all over the world.

Track List:

1. Static Mind
2. Theta
3. Time Bridge (Instrumental)
4. Manifestations (Instrumental)
5. Ternary
6. Binary Dream
7. Hybrid
8. Corrosion
9. Deerosion (Instrumental)