SPHERE - Homo Hereticus (MASTERFUL Records - CD 2012)
When I first have found out the news about the
release of Sphere’s “Homo Hereticus” CD I thought this is a new, only recently
formed band, but surprisingly I was wrong and it turned out that Sphere is
active since 2002 and after the demo 2004 they have released an album in 2007
(“Damned Souls Ritual” for Empire Records). Shit, I’ve been living in UK at
that time, so that may be one of the reasons why I’ve never heard of this album
before this morning, from the other hand though I’ve never been really so
bothered about all those CDs, which Empire was adding to their famous magazine.
Anyway, 2012 welcomes Sphere back to the scene with the second full length
album, “Homo Hereticus”. CD is limited to 666 copies and I cannot really
understand the reason for such a small quantity of this pressing, maybe
Masterful Records don’t believe they’ll be able to sell more copies than that…
Who knows. I can tell you one thing – if you’re looking for quality death metal
from Poland, then get this album before it’s too late, otherwise you may be
regretting it when all of those 666 copies will be gone.
The band plays death metal, what to some of you
may be a reason enough to get the CD right now, but it may as well be one to
avoid this CD – depends who you talk to hehe. Polish death metal has definitely
grown a lot since the early 90’s and nowadays stands firmly as one of the most
exciting scenes on the globe, but at the same time it still hasn’t been getting
as much praise as the Swedish, Dutch or American bands… Which is just a matter
of taste, of course. Definitely most of the Polish death metal bands have been
choosing the way of more technical and fast, but still relatively obscure and straight
forward playing, something on the verge of old school and more modern styles.
It’s like most of the Polish bands wanted to be technical, but not over
complex; fast and brutal, but without the monotony and to keep the right
balance between that and the memorable riffs and song structures. And I guess
Sphere’s music is exactly like that. It also has plenty of fragments, which
have a definite old school touch, but also many, which sound more modern and
sometimes also technically advanced. The band really goes through the varied
methods of death metal destruction, incorporating a wide range of paces and
riffing. Of course those of you, who’re into such bands as Deicide, Vader,
Sinister, Stillborn will find here more than everybody else. And trust me,
there’s some seriously brutal neckbreaking metal going on, with such tracks as “Forever
Sworn to Blasphemy” for instance, which opens the album with killer riffs full of
insanity and violence. And the same can be said about such tracks as “Third
Scent Carcass” (fast as hell!), “Psalm to the Dark One” and “Homo Hereticus”. Not
necessarily they’re just fast all the time, because the title song is more mid
paced and has almost groovy riffs here and there, but it’s still very
aggressive and merciless, something what will just make you bang your head
without remorse.
“Godless Profanity” from the other hand brings
some slightly more melodic and catchy riffs, which is OK… And one of my
favourite tracks on the album is “War”, and this song is just pure violence,
played in ultra fast tempo and with very simple straight forward attitude, just
a basic riff and as the whole it even reminds me those tracks, which Marduk did
on “Pazerdivision Marduk” LP. You know, it’s the relentless aggression, fast
pace all the way through and constant bombarding, which ends within two minutes.
And to make the album even more varied, there’s “Sadistfucktion”, which is
almost punky and very much sounds like Impaled Nazarene, especially with those
pervert lyrics! Some of you may find this song as a nice interruption between
another cannonade of fast death metal, but personally I didn’t like it and I think
this is the weakest part of the “Homo Hereticus”. Anyway, some of these songs I
mentioned are quite short, what makes them even more uncompromising and right
in your face and definitely Sphere will not let you fall asleep. And the fact
that there’s an intro before every song doesn’t let the album lose any of its
energy and aggression.
What I don’t like about Sphere’s second album
then? Well, first there are some (luckily short and just few) vocal parts, in
pig squealing style (in “Third Scent Carcass” and “Godless Profanity” for
instance), which I don’t find as necessary and they just piss me off. I would
rather not find them here, especially as the normal growl of Analripper is…
hmm, arse ripping hehe! What else? Well, although I like Sphere’s music and can
say that all these songs are very good, I may still miss a little bit more,
something what would really nail me to the ground. It’s the same feeling, which
I have when I’m listening to Stillborn’s albums. They’re very good, definitely
worth having and listening, but it needs slightly more to cause pure chaos and
devastation.
Uhhh… I don’t know whether Sphere will get much
exposure and attention of the scene around the globe with “Homo Hereticus”.
There are many better bands around, including few more significant
representatives of the Polish underground, so few of you may not be really
bothered with what Sphere has to offer. But I seriously advice you to check
“Homo Hereticus” anyway, as this is very solid and in many parts impressive
effort, which definitely stands above the vast number of mediocrity of the
present metal and has enough to offer to feel satisfied and content. So, if you
dig all those underground releases from small bands and small labels, but still
aim for quality, then get “Homo Hereticus” without hesitation.
Final rate: 70/100
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