FROM THE ASHES...

Sphere of Souls is a young band from Holland delivering a solid prog metal with catchy pieces, but as whole something is missing. The band was formed by an ex member of another dutch prog metal band Sun Caged - André Vuurboom who plays vocals and ocassionaly some guitars. He also has been invited by Lars Eric Mattsson to do some vocal parts on his album War from 2005. Sphere of Souls release 'till now only one album in 2006 named From the ashes. The music is very well structurated and well compose, with catchy pieces and nice interplays between guitar of Anand Mahangoe and the keys of Joost Van den Broek. They did a great job here being the most important part of the album, at least is how I see them. Another thing to mention is that the voice of André Vuurboom fits very well in this kind of music, he has a powerfull voice shifting from powerfull range to mellower aproach. The best example whre his voice truly shines is the firts three pieces: the titled track From the Ashes..., Sweet Sorrow and a mellow piece Loss ( is a dedication in memory of his father), the rest are ok but don't expect to something excellent, only good. Something is bothering me on this album, where the voice turns into a robotic one, to plastic to industrial, on couple of pieces is unlistenable, the sound is not I want to hear on these pieces. Now as a whole is a good album, no doubt, but don't expect to something groundbreaking or never heared befor. Anyway From the ashes desearves 3 stars , maybe the next album will be better or at least as good as this one. Not really recommended but if you want to check this band you wont be dissepointed, worth couple of spins.