Pestilence-Spheres

Metal Mind
2007 re-issue

This was the fourth and final release from Pestilence and originally came out in 1993. This band started out as an early death style sound and a bit of a speed for the sake of speed approach. Like a number of band playing that style they became a little bored with that style and tried to branch out some. For this album the band attempted to integrate jazz and ambient music in with metal. In some ways this album reminds me of Celtic Frost’s “Into the pandemonium”. Not so much the specific sound, but rather the amount of old style that they blend in with new sounds. However unlike Celtic Frost this album doesn’t completely work. Surprisingly it’s not because of the new sounds, but it’s lack of impact is due to the simplicity of the metal parts and shortcomings in the production. The vocals are fine, but the guitar parts are toned done from the band’s previous efforts and at times the simplicity of these pieces robs the music of some overall strength that could have been present. The production also gives the guitar a rather stripped down sound that just makes most of the songs sound like demo-tracks. The underproduction also makes the metal parts sound rather awkward in comparison with the other styles that are mixed in. However, several listens had me thinking that the songwriting approach wasn’t that far off in bringing about an interesting twist. On several tracks I could feel myself being drawn in by their layered approach, but I had to allow for the production shortcomings. I think that the band was not entirely off track with their ideas, but the production hindered the outcome and they could have fleshed out some their ideas more as well. This re-issue includes several bonus tracks and a booklet with lyrics and background on the album.