SPHERE

"Sphere" has been the amazing debut by this highly interesting still rather new Canadian band blending Prog, jazz and metal. Well on the one hand, this mixture seams to be anything really groundbreaking and obviously a speciality by bands coming from the North-American continent. Names like Spaced Out, Estradasphere, Ohm or Avant Garden are coming to one's mind if it's about metal-jazz-fusion. Nevertheless Karcius doesn't sound like any of those bands and these four young musicians are rather doing some really unique and adventurous music without drifting in any moment into aimless and inaccessible territory and staying throughout highly enjoyable. I've read a review on a German site claiming that they do not really combine jazz with metal but rather leave the two different genres stand besides each other. I would not agree to that opinion, just take a track like "Back to Earth" (which is last part of the long Lunatic-suite) for example which starts like an easy-going mellow fusion or new-age piece and develops seamlessly over swinging jazz rhythms into metallic sounding guitar riffs and awesome bass/drums play, an incredible dynamic! In some of tracks like the opener and "1111" as well classical influences can be heard with pleasant piano or acoustic guitar play. I'm admittedly mainly into instrumental Prog thus this record offers exactly the stuff I'm looking for. Honestly though I like very much all of the bands mentioned above none of them was able to fascinate me as much as Karcius did. This album doesn't have any really weak track on and its versatility is that high to offer enough pleasure and excitement for both fans of metal and jazz music even after multiple spins. I happen to like both genres and thus seduction would be high to rate this one with the full score. But I'll to resist being aware that this would be highly subjective since this might be not everyone's "cup of tea" and moreover this is "just" their very first record so even greater things are to be expected from these guys. I'd highly recommend this band to any Progfan who's more into jazz fusion and doesn't mind some heavy rock/metal. ****1/2 really!