Sphere3 could be the name of the latest science fiction movie, but in this case it stands for a progressive rock/jazz fusion instrumental group from London. They have released Paralysis under the name Sphere, but Comeuppance can be considered as their debut album. They play original, innovative and surprising music, which is a mix of progressive rock, jazz, fusion, classical music, ambient music and many other styles, perhaps the reason why they call themselves Sphere cubed. They have a very strong live reputation, playing often with big names as The Flower Kings and IQ.

There are naturally a lot of influences, like Chick Corea’s Return To Forever, Brand X and more recent Echolyn, but the compositions are very refreshing an original, not always evident for an entire instrumental album. The slappy bass playing of William Burnett makes the music a bit funky at times, while heavy progressive rock touches are added by some aggressive keyboard and guitar passages.

The album starts with 'A Good Example of Arbitrary Presumption', indeed a perfect example of what Sphere3 stands for: heavy guitars, reminding of King Crimson, an interesting rhythm section and jazzy keyboards.

Shrimp.sng is a short but very nice (Camel-)sounding progressive track with very nice guitars, while Sidewalking is the first funky track, highly influenced by Level 42, William Burnett sounds even better than the well-known Mark King. A lot of special effects are used throughout this track, with at the end a nice interplay between guitar and keyboards.

The first rest point on the album is Natural Light, still funky but more easy listening and bluesy as the previous track. A very nice guitar solo and jazzy piano at the end.

Ambient music on First Kiss with some lyrical Floydian guitars, one of the progressive highlights of the album.

‘Eat First’ starts very jazzy, alternating with funky fragments, with again a very nice composition. All these musicians are very skilled, but they never forget the song, that’s one of their major merits . And those piano solos…this is Chick Corea at his best!

‘An unusual january’ is again a very jazzy up tempo track with beautiful piano solos.

‘December Gaze’ is dominated by captivating synthesisers, while ‘Tapestries’ is a nice acoustic guitar solo, reminding very much of Steve Howe.

Finally, ‘Paralysis’ is surely the most progressive track of the album, very symphonic with energetic keyboard playing in the style of the very best IQ. Full of rhythm changes, it should have last a bit longer.

You may have understood, this is certainly one of the discoveries of 2002. Sphere3 manages to combine a lot different styles with such technical skills, without losing themselves in endless solo escapades like so many jazz rock bands tend to do. The compositions are always well constructed, fresh sounding and original. I am looking forward to hear more of these guys.