Band:	Quantum Fantay
Album:	Terragaia
Style:	Progressive rock
Release date:	April 2014

01. Journey To Earth
02. Azu Kéné Dékké Leppé
03. Desert Rush
04. Aargh
05. Instant Karma
06. Chopsticks And Gongs
07. Indigofera
08. Yah Roste Fooroap
09. Cowdians
10. Journey From Earth

Terragaia has been a much awaited album for me. Space rock, much like any genre, is vast in its multitude of bands and digging through diluted quality is something I don't particularly fancy. However, occasionally I come across a more interesting band that sticks with me and Belgian instrumental collective Quantum Fantay's heavier take on space prog is one I've enjoyed immensely in the past.

This is already Quantum Fantay's fifth studio album in about a decade and it carries on sufficiently well from the predecessor. I was initially slightly disappointed with Terragaia because it felt less exciting than I wanted it to be, but that's what you get when you're overenthusiastic about something. As time tells, this feeling has passed and the album has become a thorough joy. You shouldn't read into it that the album is hard to digest. On the contrary, it's very accessible and entertaining fun.

Terragaia is not your boring ethereal space exploration at Kubrick's pace. Instead it's an exciting, heavy and dynamic journey through space rock soundscapes; always changing and always in flux. The strong rhythm section forms the backbone of this album. You've got to love those bass lines and that precise drumming keeping the pace up. As is the norm of the genre, synths hold a very prominent position and are key to creating proper atmosphere, though they often work hand-in-hand with guitars when those lay back heavier riffs.

However, as the album sort of has a concept of some green and two-nosed alien's trip to, around, and from Earth, it's the addition of folk instruments that make it distinctly interesting: flute, marimba, djembe, ocarina, banjo, harp, bagpipes, etc. Granted, these aren't used all at once, but they are present throughout the album and are used to create respective native, oriental or western vibes. It makes for a varied layer on top of the underlying atmosphere of synths, and gives the songs character.

I wouldn't really know how to compare this album with others in the space rock genre. I just don't know enough about it. However, if you think that this genre is boring, here's the band and the album to prove you wrong. This album is full of great tunes and I think "Cowdians" is just one brilliant example you can find there. Those who like synth-heavy stuff won't be disappointed with it.