FRONTAL

I stumbled across this album by Lebanese band Turbulence the other day while browsing the list of 2021 releases so far and was pleasantly surprised! It seems to have flown under the radar so far, but I hope prog-metal affectionados will give it a listen because it's surprisingly good.

Most prog-metal bands these days are just bad clones of Dream Theater which somehow miss what made DT good in the first place, and while DT are clearly an influence on these guys - a quick look guitarist Alain Ibrahim's Instagram page shows him wearing DT merch and playing Petrucci's signature guitar - there's also a great blend of Haken and various other inspirations thrown in for good measure. I'm terrible at reviewing albums (hence why I never normally bother), so I won't go through a track-by-track list, but there is a wonderful mixture of loud and quiet moments, glorious, well-constructed guitar solos with some very tricky passages, and a great vocal delivery. The mix is also pretty good, which can sometimes be the downfall of some smaller bands.

As someone who always keeps an eye out for new prog-metal releases but is usually disappointed, this is IMO the best genre album since last year's Virus by Haken, and one of the best for the last several years, which has seen few quality releases. Check it out!