SPHERIC UNIVERSE EXPERIENCE -

SPHERIC UNIVERSE EXPERIENCE - ANIMA - SENSORY  
Anima is the second album of the French progressive band Spheric Universe Experience and is the account of a band that situates itself at the softer, lusher and more ambient end of the prog range. If Threshold and Zero Hour are the harder end of the spectrum; Pain Of Salvation and Spocks Beard are at the softer end of things then it is the latter category that the Frenchmen belong. The compositions are elaborate and precise in terms of timing and notes, which is exactly the type of production part producer Tommy Hansen (who has worked with Helloween and Pretty Maids in the past) has given the band. Guitars, keyboards and loud drums swim in a maelstrom of tones with the band inserting many nuances like backing vocals, sampled voices and the like. It is a rich landscape of musical expression.
As if ordained, like every band in the genre, Anima has its share of instrumentals and pieces reminiscent of Dream Theater. Spheric Universe Experience is probably less technical and more harmonic than average however. Further typical of prog this is an album of adequate quantity with eleven songs and 65 minutes of music all of it anchored by the tenth track The key where the French words add an eerily appropriate atmosphere. - Anna Tergel

SPHERIC UNIVERSE EXPERIENCE - UNREAL - SENSORY  
The whole world of French progressive metal band Spheric Universe Experience falls flat for this reviewer. The band does indeed allude to a mixture of Dream Theater and Pain Of Salvation - two esteemed bands - yet to put it in plain language the Frenchmen do not grab one. The band is boring. Let us dig deeper. S.U.E. is indeed a technical, complex and a proficient act. The inventive patterns, overdubs, layers of vocals and music as well as the different styles show off a band that can handle its instruments and multiple intricacies. Having said that, nothing on this album asks for a repeat listen, make one amazed or invite a conversation. Think of this group as a road. While travel on it is possible, the asphalt ends at a dead-end and the scenery is marginal. What the road does have, however, is multitude of twists, turns and curves. Think of the styles, the piano, organ, keyboards, new age segments or the lounge music. Singer Franck Garcia is average for this sub-genre, but betrays no issue enunciating or outright weakness. Unreal is not one of Sensor’s better releases. - Ali “The Metallian"