TURBULENCE — Binary Dreams (review)

Album · 2024 · Progressive Metal

4/5 · 2024-03-21
siLLy puPPy

TURBULENCE has made the most impact as a progressive metal band simply by coming from a nation that isn’t usually associated with the extreme side of Western extreme music. The band formed in 2013 in Lebanon riding in the wake of bands like Myrath who were putting the Middle Eastern nations on the map for metal music. The band released its debut “Disequilibrium” in 2015 but mostly went unheard and it would be six more long years before the band released its second album “Frontal.”

This is where i and many others finally heard about this band and experienced its Dream Theater inspired proggy metal for the first time. I was impressed. While not exactly charting unexplored territory in the vast world of prog metal, TURBULENCE crafted an excellent album that sounded part Dream Theater, part Leprous, part Haken and a whole slew of similar sounding bands. The band was dripping with confidence and the ability to pull off its chameleonesque music magic guaranteed “Frontal” picked up more than a few fans.

Fast forward four years and TURBULENCE is back with its third slab of polyrhythmic prog with the title BINARY DREAMS that implements crunchy djent riffing, rhythmic complexities and touches of jazz fusion all dressed up in molten metal ferocity. The band retained the same lineup with the exception of keyboardist Mood Yassin who replaces Mahamoud Yasine. Featuring six vocal tracks and three instrumentals, BINARY DREAMS runs about 49 minutes and once again delivers a veritable hybrid effect of Dream Theater, Leprous and even a bit of Riverside and Shadow Gallery this time around.

A concept album that tells the tale of a robot at the center of an experiment called “Binary Dreaming,” the saga results in the android entity achieving self-awareness and becomes sentient, a possible warning of the worries of the rampant development of the artificial intelligence technologies sweeping the planet in the 21st century. BINARY DREAMS pretty much carries on as the logical next step of “Frontal” without changing the game plan. Once again this is progressive metal in the traditional 90s sense with alternating clean guitar mellow motifs that give way to knotty guitar riff dominance that allows the groovy bass and drumming technicalities to unleash their full potential.

Once again the star of the show is lead vocalist Omar El Hage who really does have the perfect vocal ability for this style of prog metal that demands a firm control and an even more demanding range. Sounding just a tad like Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, El Hage’s lyrical deliveries align perfectly with the soft and soothing quieter aspects of the album as well as they do with the more boisterous metal moments. While the band does weave in its indigenous Arabic folk music into the mix, it’s actually very subtle and to my ears at least virtually undetectable. While not as rowdy or symphonically based as guitarist Alain Ibrihim’s other band Ostura, the band delivers a great mix of the more intricate and tender aspects of prog metal with the perfect appropriation of the heavy metal.

Not much really to set this one apart from the last. If the previous “Frontal” appealed to you then you will find a lot to love here. Same deal really. Not reinventing the wheel but certainly crafting an above average slice of traditional prog metal in a style that many claim has been oversaturated. For me these types of bands are hit and miss and it really boils down to the performances and in the end it’s really both the strong compositions and the vocals that win me over. While a few more faster tempos segments would’ve been appreciated, as it stands it’s a really great album for what it delivers. This is the dreamier side of prog metal so it helps if you can appreciate soft tones and lush atmospheric backdrops.