PESTILENCE — Spheres (review)

PESTILENCE — Spheres album cover Album · 1993 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Time Signature
Voices from within...

Genre: jazz death metal (yeah, mama!)

When it came out, "Spheres" took most of the metal community by surprise, because it was so different from anything the band had done before, and, with its outspoken jazz fusion influences, very different from death metal in general. And most people did not respond well to that surprise, reflecting the fact that many humans - even metalheads - by default, cannot handle changes very well.

Eventually, the world started to appreciate the album, and now it is probably among the most revered progressive death metal albums. Sadly, this appreciation came too late, and the album was a huge commercial flop, causing the band to break up. Ironically, "Spheres" ended up the standard by which subsequent Pestilence releases are held - unfairly - up against.

The music blends jazz fusion with death metal, and sounds like nothing before it, or after it. It really is original, but - like all other Pestilence releases - it is based on the use of compact riffs which, however, are pretty spacey and have a sort of fluidity to them. The jazz fusion influences are quite outspoken both in the riffs and in the guitar solos, which generally sound wonderfully weird.

While I am a big fan of the music itself, I am not a big fan of the vocals, but I have gotten used to them, and I cannot imagine how the album would sound with another vocalist. The production also sound a bit flat, and combined, the vocals and the production are the main factors why this album can be difficult to listen to in the beginning, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the music itself, which is wonderfully mindboggling without actually being overly technical.

An album shunned by many due to its "differentness" in a time when almost all death metal bands sounded the same, "Spheres" belongs up there with the few other outstanding technical death metal classics such as "Symbolic", "Unquestionable Presence" and "Focus". It certainly is one of my favorite death metal releases.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Caedes Animarum Deathcore
INVISIBLE SPHERE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Empty Doom Metal
BONGRIPPER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Shadowflame Deathcore
BREATH OF SINDRAGOSA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Iniquitous Deathcore
SINISTER SECTOR
Buy this album from MMA partners
Untoward Perpetuity Deathcore
AND HELL FOLLOWED WITH
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 2 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 2 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 3 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed