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Susperia: Cut from stone

06/09/11 || revenant

One of the things I really love about Global Domination, both as a reader of the other staffers’ work and as a member of the forum, is learning about new bands, checking them out and finding a heap of great music you might otherwise have missed. I already mentioned earlier this year how The Shadow introduced me to the excellent Hellbringer, and now I take a look at another band I learnt of through this site: Susperia.

I realize that Susperia is not exactly an obscure band, at least not in Europe, but I really only got my first introduction to them through Euthanatos’ “Attitude” review back in 2009. Have I mentioned lately how good that man’s music taste is? It’s excellent, just so you know. I mean it. Really. And I’m not just saying that because he recently threatened to build a device to stab me in the face through the Internet after I slagged his taste in my recent Iced Earth review, he put me onto a lot of great records when he was on staff.

Onto Susperia then, a band I find to be at times quite exceptional and at others completely mediocre. In the time I’ve spent listening to Susperia, I just haven’t been able to get over the inconsistency in their albums. If anything, they remind me of my high school report cards: shows excellent potential but fails to deliver upon it. Well guess what teachers/cunts who wrote that? I now have a good job and probably earn more than you fuckwad teachers do, so you can all eat a dick.

My problem in high school lay in laziness, but that’s not something I would attribute to Susperia. Their problem lies in the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a clear definition of what they’re aiming for. Are they a thrash band? Are they a melodic metal band? Groove? Metalcore? All of the above, and then some, and I’m not just talking from one song to the next, I mean all in the one song. Just check out “The Clone”, which leads with some massively cool grooves before kicking up the pace to being a neck snapping thrasher with harsh vocals that eventually lead into a cleanly sung melodic chorus. Well executed yes, but dislike one of those elements and the impact is lost.

For me the best of Susperia comes when they go all out on the thrash attack before swinging into a catchy melodic chorus. “The Clone”, “Life Depraved” and “Brother” are the three finest examples on this disc, all having great thrashy mayhem mixed with fine melody. But interspersed across the album are a number of weaker tracks that just don’t quite hit the mark. “Between the lines” follows the winning formula but doesn’t quite deliver the goods. “Release” is more a traditional melodic metal track that fails to bring any excitement whatsoever, and “Bound to come” is falsely named, because most certainly won’t.

To sum up my feelings on Susperia, and this album in particular, I’d have to say I do like it, but I want to like it more. I like the vocals, whether they be the Chuck Billy-esque harsh vocals or the clean stuff. The guitars lay down some cracking riffs and monster grooves at times. I even think the drumming is tastefully done. What I just want is a more consistent delivery. I could deal with the rapid and constant changing song styles without any issues, but when it leads to inconsistency in the quality: no.

If you’re a thrash fan and haven’t checked them out yet, by all means do so. They are a band worthy of your attention, but as yet don’t strike me as a band who can step up to the A leagues. “Cut from Stone” is a pretty good album, but I just can’t shake the feeling they could have done better.

7,5

Information
Released: 2007
Label: Tabu
Website: www.susperia.net
Band
Athera: vocals
Cyrus: guitars
Elvorn: guitars
Memnock: bass
Tjodalv: drums

Tracklist
01. More
02. Lackluster Day
03. The Clone
04. Distant Memory
05. Release
06. Life Deprived
07. Between the Lines
08. Bound to Come
09. Under
10. Brother
11. Cut from Stone

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