I should have listened. Oddly enough, I had just grown tired of trying again and again the feeble abomination of Spheric Universe Experience on a constant revolution, so when the paranormal got involved, it was time to finally bag this abhorrent slab and let the necromancers have their fun. Unreal is simply unreal to the ears - desperate and lacking, mediums everywhere feel this entity serves with all the force of a broken Ouija board.

Unreal contains few of progressive metal's typical woes (wankery, unoriginality) within, but Spheric Universe Experience fails to cash in on this golden opportunity. Why? Copious amounts of nu-metal are to blame. Yes, this CD has more in common with Devildriver than it does Dream Theater at heart, the band utilizing riffs and patterns which chug and wail, sound almost identical, and generally lack anything listenable.

Things, however, do not look up beyond such a massive observation for obvious reasons. Basically, whenever the stop-start chugging and atmospheric keyboards run out of fun, Spheric Universe Experience puts a chorus on repeat and calls it good. One will clock out of consciousness before "3rd Type," guaranteed. Essentially, the group's egocentric neutralism towards anything observant or solitary in identification drags Unreal and its instrumental spirit through lost plains and redundant territories which seem laced in banality, once again lost within a bastardization of itself. Still, the focus remains on lyrical themes of specific paranormal phenomena, which, although interesting at heart, can only aid the effort to a trivial extent which doesn't cure the musical curse. Head-on collision in progress!

But once cognitively viewing the record's formulaic depression, there's little doubt Spheric Universe Experience made a nugatory effort to achieve a dynamic, structured sound, instead relating to the status quo of progressive metal's bowels. Items which should provide decent contributions such as the drums and Spheric Universe Experience's obsessive need to powder their material with keyboards, keyboards, and more keyboards once again provide nothing important overall. However, it should be extensively noted Franck Garcia's performance is absolutely stellar throughout despite his failing surroundings. The vocalist's range of talents save this record from becoming an utter failure with awe-inspiring pitch control, falsetto, vocal range, and a voice which just sounds too cool for Unreal. Overall, Spheric Universe Experience better thank the stars they have such a phenomenal singer; it's truly the only blessing our boys conjure.

If you look beyond the basic symmetry and occasional passable moment of Unreal, you shall quickly discover not even psychic abilities can manipulate this sucker into enjoyable territory or beyond mediocrity. More so, bands like Pathosray or Suspyre have altered the traditional norm of progressive metal into actual progression, and a needed aspect of true evolution was abandoned by Spheric Universe Experience for this tepid, staggered attempt at sensationalizing the modernization of progressive metal even further. Fancy keyboards and nu-metal chugging can't hide what's really going on during Unreal.