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Susperia - Unlimited review



Reviewer:
8.0

77 users:
8.23
Band: Susperia
Album: Unlimited
Release date: March 2004


01. Chemistry
02. The Coming Past
03. Situational 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

This is weird, last time I checked out, Susperia was a Black Metal band that counted in their ranks with members of Dimmu Borgir and Old Man's Child.
Last time I checked, Susperia was a good band, but nothing memorable or worth telling to generations to come.
And last time I checked Susperia was signed to a different label, and not to Tabu Recordings, the ever-growing Norwegian label.

So, this is a totally different band or we have a case of double personality? The thing is that Susperia is not playing Black Metal anymore, in this, their third release so far, they went for a Thrash Metal sound, reminiscent of Testament and Pantera.
While some Black Metal purists may say that Susperia wasn't all THAT Black Metal back then, now you'll find that this is a fine piece of Thrash Metal.

The change is more obvious in the vocal delivery of Athera, who dropped his Black Metal rasp and went for a aggressive clean voice with some Death Metal grunts here and there. The guitar work is excellent, solid riffs and great leads are present in almost each song, also some more "modern" influences like undistorted guitars are also present.
The drumming, precise, spotless and flawless, just the kind of drumming you would expect from a guy who was in Dimmu Borgir.

Like I was saying before, from the get-go you got the feeling that you're listening an old Testament record (Low era), songs like "Chemistry" The Coming Past" and my personal favorite, "Off The Grid" will make you headbang like many people did along with the bay area scene.

Maybe some parts lack some aggression, and the record tends to become somewhat boring at certain point, but that doesn't take away the fact that this is a solid record that has a lot of great tunes, besides that the artwork and general packaging is just first-class.

The bottom line here is that Susperia bought something different this time, and the effort is much appreciated, and while some people may find the new musical orientation of the band somewhat disturbing, I think most of fans will be happy to know that this is the best Susperia album to the date.

Written by Undercraft | 14.06.2004





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