Spheric Universe Experience

I

n 1999 guitarist Vince Benaim and his friends: bassist John Drai and a drummer simply known as Sam decided to form a progressive metal band. They gigged around southern France under the name Gates of Delerium, but were limited by the lack of keyboards or vocals, so keyboardist Fred Columbo was brought on board in 2001 along with vocalist Alex. Now using the moniker Amnesya, they played some live shows and recorded one demo.

The band then split in 2002, leaving Benaim, Drai and Columbo alone to continue under the name Spheric Universe Experience.

After eight months of writing the band had enough material for a full album and a demo was home-recorded using session vocalist Frank Garcia, who was brought in on short notice, literally days before recording. After the recording sessions Garciia joined the band full time.

The band then began recording their debut album Mental Torments, using session drummer Volodia Brice but in 2003 drummer Nico "Ranko" Muller joined the band. Mental Torments was subsequently released in 2005 with many critics complaining it lacked production quality. Their sophomore effort Anima followed in 2007 with the production issues apparently fixed.