INK

Sometimes a ridiculously bad band name prevents me from exploring a said band's music and such is the case of the ghastly denominated PERVY PERKIN. I couldn't think of a worse name for a progressive metal band if i tried, however once i finally explored this band that emerged from Murcia, Spain and currently resides in Madrid, i have to admit that despite the hideous moniker and rather uninspiring album cover art for its three full-length releases that i was completely enthralled by the band's debut album INK which hit the world in 2014. This group of perves was formed in 2010 by Carly Pajar'n (drums, percussion, vocals), 'lvaro Luis (guitar, bass), Dante (guitar, bass, vocals) and Ugo Fellone (keyboards, acoustic guitar) but was soon joined by lead vocalist Alejandro Macho. Soon thereafter Fellone left the band and was replaced by bassist Pablo Aks.

About the ridiculous name. In an interview with Prog-Sphere.com, guitarist Dante explained that the name was derived from an interest in astronomy and as it turns out 2483 PERKIN came up as a name for a celestial body from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which according to some is the exploded remains of the long lost planet Tiamat. The PERVY part of the equation was added to personify this asteroid who had a hatred and jealousy for the Earth so great that it designed a plan to lock its orbit into a trajectory that would ultimate crash into the planet and extinguish all life much like the theoretical asteroid that was the demise of the entire existence of dinosaurs some 65 million years in the past. While it is helpful to understand how this name came to be, admittedly it doesn't make me like in the least bit but despite the silly name, this band of young musicians is quite the talented bunch!

While the album's title INK has a mere three letters, the debut album boldly encompasses a whopping 137 minutes of listening experience which immediately pegged the band by many as being overly pompous, overweening, overbloated and much too adventurous for its own good. Those are the kinds of comments that generate my interest but to invest over two hours in a newer band that i have never heard? Well, sometimes you just have to let a few tracks flow and either you love it or leave it. Luckily for PERVY PERKIN i stuck around and despite the album's admittedly excessive use of listening time, this band has the knack to keep the active and adventurous listener intrigued as one melodic development cedes into the next all the while a callithump of musical genres perform tricks like circus animals performing on cue.

PERVY PERKIN can be thought of as one of those multi-genre juggling acts that has taken the disparate sounds of classic and modern progressive rock and mixed it all together with the more modern Dream Theater strain of progressive metal. Perhaps most closely related to bands like Haken, PERVY PERKIN tackles the seemingly impossible task of mixing and melding influences such as Dream Theater, Ayreon, Pain of Salvation, Opeth and Symphony X on the prog metal side of the equation along with a multitude of prog rock references such as Pink Floyd, Camel, Kansas, Rush and the Neil Morse projects such as Spock's Beard and Transatlantic amongst others. Add to that additional references to soundtrack music such as Ennio Morricone, Muse, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Frank Zappa and more and you can only imagine how much went into the making of this sprawling prog rock / metal album of epic proportion. Add even more touches of jazz, electronica, folk and more and you get the drift.

There is literally too much happening on INK to adequately convey the creativity displayed on it in mere the mere writing of a review. This is a type of band that must be experienced but it does require the proper investment of time and effort to connect with it. This is hardly an album for those who take the fly by night approach of simply sampling. While the accusations of a lengthy rambling album with no cohesive design may be true in small part due to the fact that the tracks are independently designed and exist within their own continuum of things, well'. so what. Many albums are a collection of disparate tracks and there have been no claims that this is a concept album of any sort. What it does convey is how talented this collection of Spanish musicians has become in their relentless pursuit to leave no prog rocks unturned. Admittedly an idea that has been done before and nothing new but PERVY PERKIN channel all of the technical wizardry into a strong emotional connection which is what keeps the album listenable for its duration.

While it's true there are some moments of 'down time' where an idea lingers too long or the vocal performances aren't up to the standards that the music demands, the album is for the most part an instrumental exploration and reinterpretation of all the aforementioned influences along with ample heaps of creative input. While the tag metal often accompanies the works of PERVY PERKIN, the heavier parts are not as common as the more middle of the road prog rock ones. In the end, this is not a magnum opus by any means. This is the work of a young band with a fertile creative drive that at times borders on a naive charm but always executed in a satisfying manner. While it may have been wiser to release the material as two albums or even edit out some of the more meandering parts, the truth is that i don't find any material on here to be unlistenable. In fact most of it is rather refreshing and interestingly performed. With two tracks over 20 minutes and 2 hours worth of listening material, this is truly one for the prog- o-holics out there but PERVY PERKIN delivered an exciting overdose of everything prog on its debut INK.