Venial Sin
Sphere of Morality

According to Roman Catholicism, a venial sin (meaning "forgivable" sin) is a lesser sin that does not result in a complete separation from God and eternal damnation in Hell. A venial sin involves a "partial loss of grace" from God. They do not break our friendship with God but injure it. This is what this portuguese quintet call themselves, does that mean they are not as evil as most bands described to be some kind of death metal? Sphere of Morality is what they have named their debut EP which has a sphere on the cover, I say EP but it is 36 minutes long which in my book is an album even if it only has six tracks. So, what to expect from this album then? if the cover is any indication it would have to be progressive death metal which is just as they are described in the press info even though it also states that they cannot really be described by labelling them to some genre, their music is more complex than that.

And yes, these sinners do go down the complex route which means varying quite slow death metal like the one we hear from bands like Unleashed with quite progressive touches and everything in between, it goes down to progressive rock stylings at times, is very melodic at other times, half brutal at other times and we get a lot during these just over 36 minutes and the first impression might end up a big confused. Although it clears itself after a few listens and overall this complex musical variation is held together in a decently cohesive whole albeit there are some parts that feels a bit fragmented. If you don’t like your music challenging I would say that this album is not for you, it requires some time and attention due to its complex nature.

Any good then? I would have to say yes, it is good maybe not as good as it could have been as there are some parts that does not really add up which makes the whole suffer. I think that the main strength of this album is the potential it show, the potential of this band and what might be possible if they manage to create something that melts together a bit better which is something you might expect some experience can be beneficial for. I would say that the inexperience of the band is what slightly lets this album down, not that it is bad in any way but you sort of feel like it should have been better, there should have been something more. And I say album because EPs should not be of album length, I hope the fact that they call this an EP doesn’t mean that they will make an album that plays for over an hour because I don’t think this kind of music can be interesting for that long.

Anyway, if you like a bit more complex extreme metal this really should be your cup of tea as there are some really fascinating ideas in this release. It is an exciting prospect of what to come and for me this becomes more of a teaser of an interesting career than a release to really read too much into, it shows potential and it shows a band with a creative vision and a desire not to sound like everything else and that is great. Sphere of Morality is a quite good EP, or album as I prefer to call it, it provides a musical adventure and if we look at it as a movie there are some plot holes but as b bit of entertainment it still works really well. But what it really does is build an interest for whenever this band is to release their debut album and that is something I hope will happen very soon as I am eager to see what they can manage with a bit more experience under their belts. Until then Sphere of Morality will work quite well.

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