As far as genre names go, djent doesn’t sound cool like nu-metal did. Mind you, crunk is even worse, and at least djent sounds like a sneeze, rather than the sound of the bodies of a million serious music fans hurling themselves off buildings in order to end the pain. Anyway, this week’s Breaking The Waves features the London based Quantum Sphere, who rather delightfully call themselves “robo-grunge”, but another description might well encompass “Rush-synth-fed Meshuggah” and the thundering heartbeats of an angina-ridden King Kong. Born of a desire to try something a little different, guitarist Joe Pearson spent time in sound-manglers Fleshrot, and says of the foundations that inform QS: “All of us come from an extreme/death metal back ground, but it’s mostly our collective love for progressive metal and instrumental jazz fusion.” Along with Joe and his long-time compatriot bassist Greg Knox, the percussion part of this most powerful of trios comes courtesy of from Mark Smith, whose playing in progressive bands Lost Planet and Anchorhead dovetailed into neatly into the ambitions of “out-weirding Planet X”. After two years of prog-prep, they have just released their first opus, “The Space Adventures Of Pyjama Boy”, the title track of which you can watch just below. Bringing together their influences of Planet X, Meshuggah and Cynic in a gloriously colourful mix, it’s as rhythmically tight and progressive as their influences, and with a hefty dose of energetic Dream Theater to boot. “We make sure that there is a very strong pulse in all our tunes, so even the really odd stuff still grooves hard,” Joe says, “It’s our “Meshuggah” philosophy: you can be as odd as you like as long as you reference 4/4. That’s what makes people bang their heads.”

As for what the future holds, keep an eye on their Facebook: (http://www.facebook.com/QuantumSphereBand), but in the near future, in order to see what is promised to be “a massive, groovy, colourful mind-fuck”, Joe can confirm: “We have been asked to perform a clinic at Guitar Guitar in Epsom but no date is confirmed yet. We will be having an album launch party next February 4th in London at the Red Herring in Bank. The event is invite-only so if you want a free invite get in contact via our Facebook page!”

‘The Space Adventures of Pyjama Boy’ is out now on iTunes and available to listen to on Spotify. There’s also their Soundcloud (http://soundcloud.com/QuantumSphere), where you can also listen to 8-bit renditions of QS tracks!

Interviewed by Steve Jones

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