The first thing to be said here concerns Susperia’s lead singer Athera, who suffered a heart attack in March. I wish him a speedy recovery. Judging by the comments on the web sites, everyone within the Metal community wishes him well too, a fact that Athera has recognised in the spirit of a true Metal warrior. That’s the Metal community.
Susperia are the epitome of Metal, having started as a sort of “supergroup”, if I can put it that way, with ex members of Old Man’s Child and Dimmu Borgir amongst others. The 2001 album “Predominance” reflected those influences with a hard-edged, industrialised and yet original Black Metal sound. Things have moved on and whilst the early work wasn’t without melody, the 2007 album “Cut from Stone” was more
commercial and grooving in its style, with, in my eyes and ears, more than a hint of Metallica about it. “Extreme metal with twists” is one description I read, and that fits the bill perfectly.
“Attitude” continues with that rounded sound and in many ways it is the consummate Metal album. The first track “The Urge” captures the spirit. Starting as if it means business, it has all the right attributes and conjures up the Metal image: power, darkness, headbanging, swinging hair, the smell of black leather. There’s melody too, and those with the Metal philosophy are invited. And so it goes on, and in a way that’s also the problem with this album. It’s really controlled and tight as you’d expect of a band with such a pedigree, but it’s very clinical and lacking in those twists that its predecessor had. To say there’s nothing wrong with it makes it sound boring and it’s not. It’s alive. “Live My Dream” is faster than “The Urge”. The ferocity of delivery and level of rage can’t be faulted.
“Welcome to my nightmare, let me draw you in … the writing’s on the wall” is the rather hackneyed intro to “Elegy and Suffering” but the blastbeats are like a pneumatic drill and it’s a good Metal song. “Another Turn” and “Mr. Stranger” are good driving, rocking tracks. “Mr. Stranger” ends in a more subtle and mellow fashion and maybe we needed more of that and some more distortion to play with our minds and push home the ferocity. The final track “The One After All” has a certain controlled languidness about it but it’s the same, tightly controlled formula which is fantastic if you want the same formula.
“Attitude” is a good album from an accomplished band but for me it didn’t have the colour and depth that “Cut from Stone” had. Yes, it’s good but neither exciting nor outstanding.
http://www.susperia.net
http://www.myspace.com/susperiafans
http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
