Band:	Linear Sphere
Album:	Manvantara
Style:	Fusion
Release date:	July 07, 2012
A review by:	Milena

01. Origin
02. Manvantara
03. Cycle Of Ages
04. Inner Flame
05. Reset Realign
06. The Dawning

Linear Sphere is a band of Brits who were all involved in music since an early age, and who have a passion for genre fusion and making their music as diverse and interesting as possible. You can guess what they've set out to play - elaborately technical, intricate progressive metal of the I-hope-that-guitar-was-eighteen-years-old-type and tracks averaging at around seven minutes. Yup, it's the "highbrow" music your punk rocker friends warned you about.

For their second album, they've opted to tell us the story of Man's spiritual evolution and take us on a dark journey through the ages. The man responsible for the esoteric lyrics and concepts is the same man who delivers them in the studio - the band's vocalist Jos. Just like Metal Storm's Undercraft, who reviewed their debut some seven years ago, I found it very hard to acclimate to his theatrical, supernatural villain/mad scientist approach to singing. On occasions when he employs his "natural" voice and when the vocals don't lay so heavily on top, my listening experience betters.

Musically, Manvantara is quite interesting, and in a similar vein to the Arch/Matheos effort of 2011 (to use a recent reference) - dark, modern, intense prog, mostly guitar-oriented, with the bass (occasionally a chapman stick!) and drums stealing the spotlight sometimes, and atmospheric keys brightening the tone in select moments. But just because it's interesting doesn't mean it's engaging by default. I've spun the album many times, since, in theory, it is something I should like, but I find it to be one of the albums that completely "deny" me as a listener. If a piece of music is supposed to take me on a journey, I'd like to be a part of the story, and not a passive recipient to whom the story will be told. Whenever I play it, I feel like I am going to the prom with a wonderful guy and then sitting in the corner under corny decorations and watching him have all the fun in the world. However, there might be other more appreciative girls in the crowd he's chatting up, so look the album up if you're interested, it might pay off for you.

Favorite track: "Inner Flame"