July 2022 Feature Release - The Horde Edition

Another month flies by, which means it's time to select a new feature release for The Horde. As it's my turn to choose, I've gone with Pestilence's Spheres album from 1993. I personally feel that this is an extremely underrated release that gets unfairly criticised for moving away from what the band were doing previously. I won't say any more than that though, as I'd love to hear other's honest opinions of it.

It would be great to read what you all think of it either below or in review format.

https://metal.academy/releases/1223

I can still vividly remember the day I picked this CD up very shortly after release. I'd been a hhhuuugggee fan of Pestilence's previous album "Testimony of the Ancients" so I had very high hopes for its successor. I had no idea of what to expect going in though so I was as surprised as anyone with the band's new direction which took some huge creative risks through the full integration of jazz fusion influences into their signature death metal sound. Atheist had already gone down that path a couple of years earlier with their classic "Unquestionable Presence" album but this was a very different kettle of fish sporting a totally fresh take on the concept.

As Ben suggested above, "Spheres" was almost unanimously panned within underground metal circles at the time but we never really paid a lot of attention to what the masses thought & both found the sheer ambition & creativity of this album to be nothing short on invigorating. I don't think there's any doubt that Ben's enthusiasm was a little more intense than my own though & this revisit has reminded me of why. You see, while there's no denying that Pestilence deserve a lot more credit for their bold adventurousness here, there are plenty of moments that simply don't work too. You'll find overly complex rhythms that push the musicality limits a little too far, cheesy & dated sounding synth lines that sometimes clash with the metal riffage & intentionally off-key leadwork that crosses over the line into sickly territory but then there are also some stunningly angular riffs that remind me of Swiss tech thrashers Coroner as much as anyone & some wonderfully entertaining jazz drumming & bass playing to accompany Patrick Mameli's signature death growls which I'd loved for many years by this stage. Tracks like "Soul Search" & "The Level of Perception" are up there with the band's finest work but other pieces seemed misguided & over-ambitious & fell on their own swords in the name of art (see the jazzy "Personal Energy" or closer "Demise of Time"). It's intriguing stuff. You can't deny that. But it's not quite fully realised in my opinion. The sentiment was right but the execution got a little bit ahead of itself. Perhaps Pestilence just needed another record between "Testimony of the Ancients" & this one to test the waters & try things in a less extreme format before taking the plunge? I think that's probably the case but credit where it's due because "Spheres" represented one hell of a side-step for extreme metal.

There's no denying that "Spheres" was unfairly crucified by the metal public who weren't quite ready for this sort of experimentation from one of their death metal pin-up boys at the time but for me "Spheres" represents a very brave move from a well established band that were always looking to take death metal to its next logical step. The positives comfortably outweigh the negatives & I generally find the experience to be thoroughly rewarding with even the parts that failed to gel earning brownie points for ambition. Don't believe everything you read about this record because it's well worth your time.

For fans of Death, Atheist & Cynic.

4/5

Well that was... unexpected. I'm a big fan of Pestilence's first three albums, but I had never listened to this last album of their first iteration before this month's feature. I am aware that it is an album that has split the Pestilence fanbase and is less well-regarded than their previous releases. I can understand why that is and if I had been a Pestilence maniac at the time I would probably have agreed. Of course I am more open-minded these days and more understanding of bands wanting to try new directions rather than forever recycling the same old tropes. But even so, it genuinely took me by surprise and marks a major departure for the band as they tried to produce a unique record that may have taken death metal in a new direction.

Even the tracks that sound most like Pestilence's earlier works sound different, coming off more like metal-era Killing Joke than Morbid Angel with a hint of an industrial sound to them - and that is only the beginning of the departure! I believe the band cited a number of influences for Spheres, among them Bill Bruford and I would suggest Robert Fripp too as I can definitely hear a King Crimson influence on tracks like The Level of Perception and Soul Search. The album as a whole is more progressive and technical than you would ever expect from a band with Pestilence's previous output, being far more ambitious songwriting-wise than almost any other metal band of the time.

All this is even before we discuss the short pieces that mark the band's biggest departure from the norm. Aurian Eyes is a classical strings-led short piece of chamber music, Voices from Within sounds like a piece from Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack album and Phileas is a gentle guitar piece. In addition the four-minute track Personal Energy is a love song to seventies English prog and my personal favourite, the title track, is a sublime mix of death metal and space rock. I'm not sure that I have heard another album quite like Spheres and certainly not from the early nineties and you know what, the more I listen to it the more I get into it. Departure for Pestilence it may be, but a dip in quality? I think not.

4.5/5

I did my review, here's its summary:

Dutch band Pestilence made a brilliant evolving revolution in the European death metal scene in the late 80s and early 90s. First they were thrash, then death, then tech-death... Then came top-notch original progressive death metal in Spheres, making the many elements that were in their first 3 albums possible! Patrick Maneli and co. bring their music to more imaginative realms beyond comprehension, despite disapproval from heavier fans and the band doubting their future, leading to their 15-year split. I really mean it when I say that I just found what might be my favorite Pestilence album and a true motivation to get me listening to this band full-time. Sure the music disappointed earlier extreme fans who prefer Testimony of the Ancients or earlier. While that album is great too, Spheres has a better understanding in attracting attention with its unique sound, and it would make open-minded listeners want more. It was a risky yet intriguing move for the band. Whether the consequences were good or bad for them, they've never lost their stylistic essence. Spheres is quite a spacy through dynamic thrash-ish prog-death, plus a few ambient interludes, and was the band's last attempt at changing their style into something phenomenal before their long hiatus. The album has placed this band in the tech-death league along with Cynic and Atheist, thanks to their combination of space and extreme. A unique masterpiece before their disappearance from activity!

5/5

I am less than shocked to find out that Spheres is a contentious album among the Pestilence fanbase. "A death metal album that isn't thirty nonstop minutes of guitar chugging, impossible drum fills and beats, and a relentless display of unintelligible/inaudible vocals? 0/10!" sounds like something that a typical death metal fan would say when they hear this album for the first time.

But as I have said on numerous occasions, if these elements don't amount to anything, then their usage is lost on me; just an audible assault from a band looking to invade your space, but not do anything to make you remember them within moments of the album's conclusion. This is not the case for Spheres by Pestilence. The production is super clean given the compositional technicality on display, the counterpoint between the guitars and synthesizers is superb. And the structure of the album is immaculate; never letting you get too caught up in either the technical death or the spacey atmospherics. As for the songwriting itself, I find it highly engaging as well. Like with most death metal subgenres, it is not dependent on melody, but rather short motifs, and most of this album use motifs conceptually, so their return is memorable.

This album gets the tag of technical death metal with regularity because of the band association, but I don't hear much of that at all. This certainly feels more like a progressive death metal album, as the "technicality" is brought in through complex song structures/forms instead of instrumental wankery. It takes the groundwork applied by Atheist a few years earlier on Unquestionable Prescence and amplifies the progressive tendencies with it's space ambience and jazz interludes, but also incorporates them into special metal tracks. Is it as good as Unquestionable Prescence? That's hard to say; Spheres is a more complete space opera than Atheist's, but Unquestionable Presence has more death metal implantation, making it stand out more. Perhaps this record surprised me more because of the band it's associated with and their previous output. And in writing all of that I feel like I've convinced myself that Spheres is better that Unquestionable Presence.

So fuck it hot take right now: not only is Spheres by Pestilence the bands best record, structurally it is a better space opera than Atheist's Unquestionable Presence.

9/10

The success of the first three tracks on Spheres is their ability to constantly apply layers atop of each other for a real tense death metal experience. Although upon first listen, the stabs of synths were not a popular inclusion, they soon cemented their relevance on repeated listens. Likewise, the undulating leads need some attitude adjustment also to understand the relevance of them.

Multiple Beings has an almost jaunty tempo with enough jazzy interludes and atmospheric keys to keep things interesting. Blooping and looping leads over an audible bass line truly mark an album highlight. Vocally, the record is a total match for Schuldiner and there are a lot of comparisons to drawn with Death overall across Spheres. The synths add a level of majesty that is not present on Death’s Human or Individual Thought Patterns though. The depths they plunge proceedings to is a really refreshing angle on most progressive death metal of the time.

The tracks have a great sense of space to them, like a conscious effort has been applied to ensure that all parts have the room to contribute. Although there are many things going on at any given time things never sound muddled or conflicted. Unfortunately, after the first three tracks I start to get problems with Spheres. I am not a fan of interludes on most albums in all honesty and although there is an argument to say that the interludes on here are far from out of place, they just break up any sense of cohesion for me.

The arrangement of Soul Search is not the best to my ears either and for the first time those synths are starting to grate a bit. The palette-cleanser that is Personal Energy, is an interesting if not altogether enjoyable concept. By far the most jazz-influenced of all the tracks, this brooding piece deploys some odd chanting vocals alongside the raspy death metal ones whilst fully exploring the bands repertoire of musical talent. Clearly, there is some effort by use of the interlude that precedes and then follow Personal Energy to make a statement on Spheres. In all honesty, I am not sure what the intention was, but it ruins the album for me.

After the middle section I sense a dip in quality and the synth solo on the title track – the standout moment on an otherwise very dull track – is a push too far me. Penultimate track Changing Perspective (final track proper) is a relevant title for how I feel about this album from track four onwards. It starts so strongly but fades away quickly.

2.5/5