THE SPACE ADVENTURES OF PYJAMA BOY

This is the debut album from UK trio Quantum Sphere, who begin to dream back in 2009. Only two years later, their first child entitled "The Space Adventures of Pyjama Boy" saw the light. The music they offer is rich, taking elements of metal, and combining it with jazz and some symphonic prog that give as a result a solid instrumental album. It contains nine compositions that make a total time of 44 minutes.

It kicks off with "The Space Adventures of Pyjama Boys" in which the power is shared and can be felt since the very first seconds. Fast rhythm, excellent technique and a very nice keyboard background (I ignore who plays keyboards here, it does not appear in the credits). "The Formax Void" continues with the clear metal tendency, but here they implement some delicate piano notes that touches its jazziest side. The music is very well crafted and exposed, it is evident they are trained and talented musicians. I like where guitar and piano talk to each other and give us a cool passage. After five minutes there is a short moment where peace and beauty appear, letting aside the power and metal created by metal. Nice!

"Fractal Dimensions" perfectly combines metal with rock and jazz, and even with some post-rock touches (very few). Honestly the name of Planet X came to my mind since the very first time I listened to this record, I am afraid they are one of Quantum Sphere's main influences. "Perplexia" has a piano start that emphasizes even more their jazzy tendencies. Later the strings and drums enter and together begin to build up a structure; the guitar plays in odd time signatures, making some pauses that last for a split second and later after three minutes it produces a riff, which is answered by keyboards.

"Interplanetary Probe" continues with the same style, now it is evident that Quantum Sphere has found its own sound, inspired by some older acts of course, but with their personal touch. "Error" is one of my favorite tracks of this album. I love how it starts with fast piano notes that produce a sense of tension and nervousness, and I love how later drums, bass and guitar join and together create an extraordinary picture, where the slightest element is essential to the song's success. This track perfectly flows, and introduces you to the Quantum Sphere planet.

The last three songs are pretty similar, even in length since the three of them are in the four minute mark. "Tachyon Pulse Induction Protocol" shows once again their musichanship, their evident skills as composers and performers. In "Amastia" the odd time signatures are shown with the guitar, while a delicate piano-like appears as background, creating this pretty cool progressive-metal-djent sound. And finally "Attack Ships on Fire off the Shoulder of Orion" starts soft but after half a minute it explodes and begins to form the final structure. It progresses, adds new elements and shoots us with some nice keyboard and guitar solos.

I liked this album, and as I've mentioned, the quality of these musicians is unquestionable, however, in moments I felt it a bit repetitive, but that may be because I am not really into this kind of music. I know the band would expect a higher rating, the deserve it, but to me, this is a three-star album.

Enjoy it!