### Susperia: Unlimited

#### 03/04/07 || The Duff

Susperia have gone through a number of transformations since their inception back in 1999. Easily considered a getaway band for ex-members of Dimmu Borgir and Old Man’s Child, their first first full-length “Predominance” was a brutal black metal onslaught mixed in with more straightforward elements, resultantly giving an outfit that might not have sounded entirely original enough to stand out from the crowd, but offered necessary promise for a flourishing career. After mixing in a hefty dosage of thrash into their material, Susperia gave their follow-up in the form of “Vindication”, an album that received mixed reviews on what it was worth and what it was trying to achieve. Personally, it was the release that introduced me to the band, yet I only acknowledged it as having been a quick fix before wanting to find something of more substance.

So now we come to their third effort, “Unlimited”, an album that has been given more than enough time to stew in the pot while Susperia navigated around the many difficulties of finding a new label on which to sign.

First things first (and I’m sure you’ve read this elsewhere), the band has lost all traces of being even remotely linked to black metal. Instead, we find a group opting more for the thrash side of things, while mixing occasional death elements. Athera even attempts to pull off some Halford-inspired, high-pitched wails on “Years of Infinity”. Surprisingly enough, he succeeds admirably. In fact, his entire performance as a whole has improved, making him sound far more comfortable behind the microphone. On their previous release, he sounded ill at ease, and alternating between his clean and growled vocals seamlessly appeared more often than not a frustrated effort.

That being said, on “Unlimited”, I do wish he would growl more often; he tends to stick to more docile approaches for the majority of the album. Sure, he has improved in such a domain, and comes across as truly fantastic for the most part; but I much prefer the rougher edge he has shown himself capable of presenting, at times reminding me of the ferocity expressed by Chuck Billy (of Testament fame).

The riffs, as already mentioned, range from catchy (to coincide with the choruses), to brutally crushing, to peacefully melodic. In fact, I don’t think I have the slightest qualm with any of the riffs and hooks presented here, making me wonder if the main issue I have with this release is in fact the vocals, sections belonging to certain songs (such as “Situation Awareness” and “Devil May Care”) don’t agree with me at all. The drumming by Tjodalv is flawless in its execution (as to be expected), and the production attributed to the entire product is of a very high standard indeed.

My favourite cuts off the album include the first three, “Off the Grid”, “Years of Infinity” and “Home Sweet Hell”, as well as the final three tracks. Well fuck me! I had no idea I enjoyed so much of the album. Some of the lyrics are stupid in places, such as the babbling on about the existence of Unicorns (I kid you not); but that is the only gripe I have left.

With “Unlimited”, Susperia have secured yet another adequate release under their belts while maturing and generally becoming far more confident in their approach to writing material. However, although their thrashier leanings combined with catchy choruses galore is a step up in making the band more interesting, I question whether another outfit of this sort is really what we need, let alone how many times I’ll actually want to return to subject myself to the “Unlimited” experience, afterall, there are much better bands to be found out there. Whatever, I guess I’m just being a dick.

Highly recommended for fans of Testament and the likes, and an overall big thumbs up to the band for both the music, and the (once more) kickass album cover.

7 Rob Halford wannabes out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2004
- Label: Tabu Recordings
- Website: www.susperia.net
- Band
- Athera: vocals
- Cyrus: guitars
- Elvorn: guitars
- Memnock: bass
- Tjodalv: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Chemistry
- 02. The Coming Past
- 03. Situation Awareness
- 04. Devil May Care
- 05. Off the Grid
- 06. Years of Infinity
- 07. Home Sweet Hell
- 08. Mind Apart
- 09. Beast by Design
- 10. Untouched