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Broken Hands - Turbulence

  • Written by  Carris Boast

Taking inspiration from the sound of aeroplane engines Broken Hands skyrocket their debut album, Turbulence into space from the moment you plug in. Guitar fuzz is the starting point of each track. ‘Four’ and ‘Turbulence’ cascade upward into a crowd of cymbals in one effortless journey. Each track sounds distinctive yet they fold into one another as they scale the walls with every dark notion.

Opening with a ripple of fuzz, ‘Spectrum’ is like travelling somewhere much darker and colder.  Picture Broken Hands dressed in ripped denim, floating on a fog cloud in a place where you can immerse yourself in flashes of purple, red and amber colours. Cue the lightning. The imagery may sound slightly cheesy but this album, in parts, does fall into the cheesy trap. ‘Impact’ is a slower and grander affair which is best described as a power ballad that, like it or not, could be taken straight from an ‘80s movie. 

The album feels like it should be heard live, in a place where you can feel the static stream off the guitars and the bass in your chest, present, for example, in ‘Collide’. The wistful tones from lead singer, Dale Norton, mimic that of Band Of Skulls as the guitars rumble on behind.

Loud rock, the guitars all fall into focus in most of the tracks throughout the album. Each riff is secluded by mind-numbing feedback. This makes it easy to lose your head in the muzzled noise which is big enough to make the hairs stand up on the top of your head. This album is full of little surprises; ‘747’ features synthetic sounding echo throughout which sounds alien-like. ‘Should I’ changes pace mid-song and is churned into a psychedelic bounce which follows in the footsteps of bands like Tame Impala and Temples.

“I offered you some but you said no, as I was hanging off a meteor”, is yelled from Norton’s lungs in ‘Meteor’ and is coincidently the perfect sentiment to sum up the album as a whole. Broken Hands have created an album that simultaneously sounds fresh and nostalgic.  With immense tracks like ‘Turbulence’ and ‘Death Grip’, the album is undoubtedly an exciting debut from the Canterbury band. 

Turbulence is now available from Amazon & iTunes 

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