Search - Turbulence :: Hail to the King

The Ribbon. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 12/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"2003 was undoubtedly the year of Turbulence on the reggae album circuit, releasing a full 5 albums (alongside Hail to the King, there was The Truth, The Future, Different Thing and his best work Join Us)mimicking his idol and stablemate Sizzla Kalonji's style (who himself released 4 albums in the same time), Hail to the King is the ribbon on Turbulence's 2003.
As to where this album fits in this year, I would put it 3rd behind the stunning Join Us and The Future albums, being a VP project however it is probably his biggest project and the most awaited of the year.
The album is of course a good piece, Turbulence just doesn't make bad music, and when you combine him with his Legendary in-house producer Fattis Burrell, the quality you get is even higher. Honestly were I to pick a single best song I would probably say the (3:44 long) intro Hail to the King. Made familiar by Turbulence as he uses it to open his stage shows all over the world and its probably his best vocal performance to date (until the final note). After that you have the excellent Confession (on which he sounds a lot like Kalonji in both voice and pattern), We Deserve, Good Draw (oustanding)and Live and Let Live are all standout tracks. Also check the album's second best offering Rasta Fiesta, a completely wicked combination with unheralded stablemate Chezidek, and the album's closing track Dig It Out. The negatives? As I said there are no bad tracks, but you can continuously see the soon to be 24 year old (Jan/'04) Turbulence sometimes shows his humor at inopportune moments (like on the Future album) on tunes like Your Papito, R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and Let's Get It On Tonight (which is one of the album's best tunes but actually employs the word bl@#job in the chorus). But that will come with time as it has for so many of his predeccessors (i.e. Kalonji and Buju)
Overall, with a heritage like Turbulence has: Musical family, nephew of underrated and underappreciated roots artist Norris Man, the serious class around which he is surrounded (Fattis, Kalonji and the entire Xterminator camp) Turbulence can't help but succeed due, in large part as well, to his own talents. Hail to the King is an excellent contemporary roots Rastafarian artist in the process of establishing a legend."