lukretion French prog metallers Spheric Universe Experience (S.U.E.) have been around for a long while now. Guitarist Vince Benaim put together the band back in 1999 and their first official release dates back to 2003. After their 2005 well-received debut full-length Mental Torments, S.U.E. started gradually distancing themselves from the Dream Theater / Symphony X’s brand of prog metal that they had pursued at the beginning of their career, veering towards a more commercial form of groove / alternative metal. Their fifth LP Back Home is a literal return to the roots, as the band embrace again with full power their progressive metal influences.

While the new album falls squarely into the classic prog metal genre, S.U.E. have retained some subtle elements of their foray into alt / groove metal territory. The guitars are chunky and sometimes have a djenty feel to it that one immediately associates with the modern progressive metal sound of bands like Haken. Singer Franck Garcia has the classic high tenor voice that is characteristic of the genre, but there is a modern flavor to some of his melodic lines that brings to mind bands like VOLA or Voyager. Meanwhile, keyboard player Fred Colombo alternates classic orchestral flourishes with futuristic sounds that are well suited for the sci-fi concept that runs through the LP. This mixture between the old classic prog metal sound and a more modern and alternative take on the genre is the element that distinguishes this record from many similar others.

Fear not, however, Back Home delivers all the progressive goodness that you would expect to find on a classic Symphony X or Dream Theater’s album. There is plenty of muscular, complex riffs that however never lose sight of melody. While the music is strongly guitar-driven the keyboards play an important and prominent harmonic role too. The rhythmic section (comprised of new members Romain Goulon / drums and Julien Negro / bass) is boisterous, with plenty of drum fills and bass solos. The vocals are forceful but melodic. The melodies are not overly catchy, however, and it takes a while before they sink in. This and the complex song structures imply that Back Home is not easy-listening material and it requires a considerable investment in terms of time and attention on the part of the listener before it can be fully appreciated.

A further challenge comes from the fact that S.U.E. have followed a sort of pedal-to-metal approach when they wrote the nearly 70 minutes of music for this album. There is hardly any moment of respite as one goes through the record’s 13 tracks: it’s a sonic assault through and through, with constant fast tempos, hard-hitting riffs, and relentless drumming. There are some drops in tempo and intensity here and there, but not enough to let the listener properly catch a breath. Inevitably, listening fatigue sets in pretty quickly and by the time I reached track 9 “The Absolution pt 1”, which is the first proper break in the album’s flow, I was a spent force.

However, this is mostly me not being overly enthusiastic about this particular brand of prog metal where “more is more” all the time. But I know there is a market for it – hell, there has been one for over 30 years! –, and S.U.E. undeniably give other bands that cater to it, even the most prominent ones named earlier, a run for their money.

DippoMagoo One thing I’ve always found interesting is tracking the evolution of a band throughout their career, seeing how much or how little change their sound goes through overtime. Being willing and able to evolve your music is very important, to avoid becoming stale, but there have certainly been many cases over the years where trying to evolve has led to great disappointment for longtime fans. I also find it interesting to see how bands respond after releasing a particularly divisive album, one that alienates many of their longtime fans, while attracting some new ones, seeing whether they decide to shift away and make it and done deal, or if they double down and try and make it work in the long term.

One particular band that attempted a rather big shift in sound years ago is the French progressive metal band Spheric Universe Experience. The band started as a fairly traditional prog band along the lines of Dream Theater and Symphony X, with slight hints of power metal here and there, and their first two releases Mental Torments and Anima were particularly well received. I noticed a slight change in direction to a more modern sound on their third release Unreal, but then in 2012, with their fourth release The New Eve, the band changed, switching to a somewhat alternative metal influenced sound, with more down-tuned chugging guitars, and an attempt at more straight-forward, accessible songwriting, with some very pop, influenced choruses. Needless to say, the album was very polarizing, with many longtime fans being quite disappointed, and the band went quiet for quite a long time afterward. Skip ahead nine and a half years to 2022, and the band has just released their fifth full-length release, Back Home, whose name is both a reference to the space-themed concept, involving humans who left Earth long ago finally returning home, as well as being somewhat of a metaphor for the band themselves, looking to come back home to their prog metal roots. As someone who enjoyed their last two albums somewhat, but wasn’t overly impressed, I was quite intrigued by Back Home, and was hoping it would be a return to the glory days of Anima, while having an identity of its own. Needless to say, the band did not disappoint me!

While I enjoyed The New Eve the first few times I heard it, an attempt at revisiting it in advance of this album immediately failed due to the abysmal opening track “Shut Up”, so I was hoping this album would help make me forget about that and be a fresh start for the band. Thankfully, that is very much the case, as this feels like a slightly updated take on their Anima sound, representing a return to a classic prog sound with a bit of a futuristic feel to it, complete with some very technical, often aggressive guitar work and a pretty strong focus on ambient keyboards. As expected, there are a ton of extended instrumental sections, including a few entirely instrumental tracks, and these bits tend to be very impressive, with some very technically impressive work from the musicians, while also having some great melodies and some of the solos are truly breathtaking. At the same time, there are also plenty of hard-hitting riffs, upbeat keys, and soaring melodies to help hook the listener in, and I find the band strikes a nice balance between being complex and showy, while also having slightly more accessible songwriting than on their first two albums, with some very strong vocal melodies and some excellent choruses. There are also plenty of speedy power metal passages, often with a slight thrash feel to them, and there’s quite a bit of variety to the album, with a nice mix of very heavy tracks, some lighter tracks that fall into more melodic prog territory, and some very complex tracks. The band pulls everything off wonderfully, and despite clocking in at over an hour, the album stays consistently fresh and engaging the whole way through. I’d say while it’s mostly a return to their classic sound, the band has learned a bit from their experiments on The New Eve, especially when it comes to making some more memorable vocal sections, and obviously, Frank Garcia sounds excellent, as always.

While the rhythm section has been changed since their last album, with bassist John Drai and drummer Romain Goulon joining the band and both making a strong first impression, the core of the band remains the same as ever, and they’re certainly in top form on Back Home. The guitar work, in particular, stands out as being some of the best I’ve heard on a metal album in quite a long time, with Vince Benaim delivering plenty of awesome riffs, often falling somewhere between the crunchy, shredding style of Michael Romeo and the heavier, darker side of John Petrucci, especially reminding me of his work on albums like Train of Thought and Black Clouds and Silver Linings. The riffs are consistently great throughout, as are the solos and everything else he does. Keyboardist Fred Columbo also does a fantastic job, often being more in the background and providing extra flavor to the tracks, but there are times when his spacey keyboards become the center of attention, and they always sound incredible. I also love the more retro sound he uses on occasion, most notably a solo section on “Senses Restored”, where he goes for a sort of NES videogame style sound, which is cool! And of course, vocalist Frank Garcia has always been an important part of SUE’s sound, and he stands out even more on this album, being given plenty of room to showcase his smooth, powerful, sometimes animated vocals. He mostly stays in a mid register, but he does get to for some high notes on occasion, and they can get pretty epic. The production is also perfect, and everything in general sounds fantastic.

I won’t do a fully detailed song-by-song review here, since there are plenty of tracks and fully discussing some of them would take a long time, but I will list some highlights, as always, as well as give a general overview of the album. Following The New Eve, this album needed a strong start to avoid one of the biggest issues that the previous album had, and thankfully the band pulled through this time, with the brief intro track doing a great job of setting the tone with some very nice ambient keys, before giving way to some heavy guitars near the end. The opening track “Final Fate” is also fantastic, offering a mix of some very aggressive riffs and some strong vocals, with a very hooky chorus, as well as excellent instrumental work all around. The first huge standout, though, is the lead single “Where We Belong”, a progressive power metal track that alternates very fluidly between intense, guitar-driven verses that move along at a frantic pace, as well as a soft, very melodic, and catchy chorus with some fantastic vocal melodies and a very strong performance from Garcica. It also has a beautiful instrumental section with a bit of a Queen feel to it, which is also fantastic.

Next, are two more classic prog-sounding tracks in “Transcending Real Life” and “Senses Restored”. The latter has that excellent keyboard solo I mentioned earlier, and is an excellent track all around, while the former has some very tricky rhythms, which enhance an excellent chorus, as well as some very memorable riffs. Both are more moderately paced, but with a few explosive sections, and they alternate nicely between heavy and calm passages, which is a recurring theme for the album. The second single “Legacy” is a case study on the latter, being equal parts heavy, calm and melodic, with furious verses and a very wonderful, laid-back chorus.

The second half in general is a bit more laid back and melodic compared to the first half, though it does have two very strong heavy hitters in “Defenders of Light”, perhaps the most aggressive, most power metal influenced track on the album, as well as “Of the Last Plague”, which has a very angry feel to it, and it’s quite dark and intense throughout, with some very heavy riffs. Otherwise, there are plenty of instrumental tracks here, including the mostly ambient “Synchronicity”, which gives way to “The Absolute pt. 1”, a brief intro of sorts for the following track, which is largely ambient and keyboard-driven, though it introduces some choir vocals and symphonic elements, which are very prominent on both pt. 2, as well as the closing track “Dreams Will Survive”. Both of these tracks do a great job of alternating between heavier and soft passages as usual, and I find the latter has some of the strongest vocal sections on the album, especially a final chorus of sorts right near the end, following a stunning extended solo section. While the first two instrumental tracks are brief and mostly keyboard-driven, the four minute “Rebirth” is a true showcase of Benaim’s talents, as he alternates between furious riffs, epic solos, and some wonderful melodic leads throughout the track, with a bit of symphonic accompaniment for good measure.

Going into this album, Spheric Universe Experience is bad I largely had mixed feelings towards it, despite loving their second album Anima. For some reason, their two albums following that one left me with rather mixed reactions, and so I wasn’t sure whether or not the band just wasn’t for me or if those albums were just missteps. After hearing Back Home, I can officially confirm whatever went wrong with those two albums has not been repeated here, as this is easily their best since Anima, but I’d say it even surpasses that and is their best album to date. It offers up everything fans of the band should expect, with plenty of fantastic, super technical instrumental work, some very heavy riffs, wonderful vocal melodies, strong performances all around, and quite easily their best, most engaging songwriting to date. Longtime fans who were a bit disappointed with The New Eve should be very pleased with this one, while any prog fans, especially fans of Dream Theater or Symphony X, are also highly recommended to give this a few listens, as it’s sure to be one of the absolute best prog albums released this year.

originally written for myglobalmind.com: https://myglobalmind.com/2022/06/01/spheric-universe-experience-back-home-review/

adg211288 Anima (2007) is the second full-length album by French progressive metal act Spheric Universe Experience (herein S.U.E. for short). I first discovered this band through their more recent fourth album The New Eve (2012), which I think is a pretty excellent but rather modern sounding progressive metal album; one which may not appeal so much to the more traditional progressive metal fan.

Their second album Anima isn't totally traditional and by the book either, but will no doubt find more appeal to fans of acts like Dream Theater or Symphony X, than The New Eve. What we have here is actually what you could call a progressive power metal record, but that almost does the music on Anima a disservice as progressive power metal sort of implies that, above all else, it's a power metal album being dealt with. And that isn't really the case with Anima, which wears it's classic progressive metal influences on its sleeves and you could say turbo charged them with power metal style speed. The level of technical guitar playing is pretty damn high throughout Anima and I think that it's justified to say that S.U.E. deliver some of the best riffs in progressive metal and certainly they do a lot more with their music than most power metal acts. It's a progressive power metal record that's for certain, but a different kind to those produced by acts like Pyramaze, Vandroya, or even Wuthering Heights.

Anima is quite a long album at just shy of sixty-eight minutes, but it never wastes a second of that time and is quite easy to take in a single listen. The production shows off all the details which is perfect for the sort of music that S.U.E. are playing here while the vocals by Franck Garcia are excellent too. I'm especially fond of the opening trio of tracks Sceptic, Being, and The Inner Quest. Being isn't really much more than an interlude, but the three compositions work so well together to show off S.U.E's progressive power metal style that they're made extra memorable for it. But the band keep up the pace for most of the album, only very occasionally dropping that power metal speed that propels the music along. I'm not sure I can name a more energetic sounding progressive metal release than this, and it's certainly one of if not the best progressive metal release I've heard from the last ten years and without a doubt my album of the year for 2007, despite many of my favourite artists releasing some of their best works that year as well (such as Anubis Gate, Rebellion, Helloween and Epica). Five Stars, but damn I'd give Anima six if I could.

666sharon666 Spheric Universe Experience's latest offering is The New Eve, an album which I'm sure has fanbase divider written all over it due to some fairly major changes in their approach to progressive metal. First off the album is heavily influenced by electronic music and when we're talking metal electronic influences can be a very hit and miss affair. Secondly the songs are structured much more traditionally and are generally shorter than those found on previous album Unreal, and exceptionally shorter to those found on SUE's first two albums Mental Torments and Anima. This is still a progressive album, which also contains some power metal styled fast riffs and symphonic touches in the background of several songs, but it's most definitely fair to say that The New Eve is less obviously progressive and requires many dedicated listens to pick up on the fine details.

It may feel, should you come to The New Eve after any of SUE's previous work, that the band has toned their sound down in order to appeal to a wider audience, or have sold out, but the truth is they've actually become more adventurous with their music than ever before. The previous albums were amazing, but The New Eve has them branching out into a sound which is a little more unqiue. That doesn't change that I see The New Eve as a fanbase divider, but despite some obvious mainstream influences that have crept into it The New Eve is the bravest album SUE have made yet. It's also their best, but not for that reason. The reason that it is their best is because every single song is as good as the last, with repeated listens only giving me even more of a high regard for the album.

Time Signature Escape...

Genre: modern melodic metal

Spheric Universe Experience are slated as a progressive metal band but, to be honest, I have had a hard time hearing exactly what is so progressive about this album.

Fortunately, adg211288's review of the same album pins down exactly what the progressive aspect of this album is, so allow me to quote from his review:

"On The New Eve Spheric Universe Experience plays the kind of progressive metal that is more song based without excessively long drawn out instrumental breaks and is made most progressive due to the multi-faceted approach to creating their music, drawing on a number of styles both within and outside of the spectrum of metal music, but keeping it formed around the traditional concept of how to make a song."

That is exactly the thing here. Not only are the songs on this album, well, song-based, they are also incredibly straightforward, building on grooves and melodies rather than technical intricacies and other typical progressive metal elements. Just take the opening track "Shut Up", which is a melodic and groovy straight forward modern metal rocker and very much a statement of sorts cementing that this is very accessible music.

As adg211288 points out, the progressive aspect of this album lies in Spheric Universe Experience's eclectic approach, as they draw on a variety of modern metal genres as well as non-metal genres, most prominently electronica and pop music. The interesting thing here is that what causes this album to ultimately be non-progressive to my ears is the progressive and exploratory mindset of the musicians. On this album Spheric Universe Experience have more in common with bands like Amaranthe, Raintime, Engel and Sonic Syndicate, because, like these bands, Spheric Universe Experience take the Gothenburg-sound, normally associated with melodeath, and redress it in more melodic and pop-oriented music. That being said, there are instances of more complex song structuring as well as rhythmic ambiguities and the more typical prog metal keyboard solos.

Anyway, while I really do enjoy the many very strong groovy and metallic riffs on this album, the electronica-oriented elements as well as the slightly formulaic melodic choruses do not sit well with me. The album is, overall, very enjoyable to me, though, and there is no denying that we are dealing with top notch musicianship.

If you are into accessible modern metal with a twist of pop - such as Amaranthe and Engel - then, by all means, give Spheric Universe Experience's latest album a listen. It is accessible and melodic, and the songs it features are very solid and well put together.