It is a certainity that Sphere do not produce the most old school sounding death metal around. And in addition to that, ''Homo Hereticus'' is not the most orginal death metal release either. Despite all these, I must admit that Sphere require more attention due to their supremacy in songwriting compared to several other bands. Hailing from Poland, a monster of a death metal scene, especially when we look at some of the old school acts, Sphere are an obscure act, that require more attention. While their brand of Cannibal Corpse-esque modernized death metal is utterly not very original, the refreshing sound is undeniable and tastefull. The music never ceases to stop in speed and the complexity of the riffs are well-done with blasting drum beats bashing ears from behind.
''Homo Hereticus'', has a variety of fast-paced riffs that come and go very stridently, and thus flow easily since the song lenghts never go above four minutes. As far as brutality goes, the album is an instant win, so long as the flaws in the other depratments don't take it down in quality. At this point the real question is raised: Is brutality everything? Clearly, the answer is no. However the album some other good qualities that negate the whole album from complete destruction. There is a good amount of thrash influence in the music as most of the riffs are thrashy and are mainly based on the simple, one dimentional thrash indicators such as palm mutes and also some violent chord-driven riffage which may draw roots on punk and hardcore though the main aspect of the album is the blatant brutal death metal sound, recognisable with the pertetual assault of invidious and chaotic tremolo chugs aswel as typical tempo-varied drum beats accompanied with harshly muted chords. That leaves the small amount of old school tremolo descendage, one element to spice things up. The album may border to some more melodic and modern sounds at times, but do not fear as these moments happen at seldom.
The ridicolously titled ''Sadistfuktion'' along with ''War'' are tracks which attain a high amount of energy and ferocity though only because of their sheer lack in lenght. These tracks mostly play a hardcore influenced game, with the hardcore punk influence showing more prevalence than the death or thrash influence. The tracks are played in a straightforward way, with little complexity but a superb boast of crushing punk attitude. The lack of complexity in these songs shouldn't make people sad, since almost every other tracks has a good deal of musicianship, noteceable from all the technical elements that are thrown in the mixture. The technical sense of the riffs sometimes grow to a certain point where it almost sounds chaotic, like black metal, but any fan of brutal death acts like ''Decapitated'', ''Cannibal Corpse'' and alike would simply take it as a grain of salt. The good thing is that ''Homo Hereticus'' still musters a fairly good amount of energy especially with the ridicolously hilarious bassy vocal tones appearing at random places throughout the album.
In the end, I have come to conclusion that Sphere require more attention and exposure only if they progress in quality with each album. ''Homo Hereticus'' is miles away from the worst though a little more originality and less frequent playbacks would never kill. The modernised sound is something is that I have enjoyed since its dose is not overused. To siply end things, ''Homo Hereticus'' is a good album that fails to go too much above average. There is a decent variety of riffs, but it is simply nothing any fan of old school death metal would enjoy to the fullest, while a brutal death metal fan may find it slightly less intimidating.
Highlights:
Vengeance's Core
Holistic Paralysis
Forever Sworn To Blasphemy
Homo Hereticus
Rating: 80,5%
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