Band:	John Petrucci
Album:	Suspended Animation
Style:	Progressive metal
Release date:	March 01, 2005
Guest review by:	Ch'ti

01. Jaws Of Life
02. Glasgow Kiss
03. Tunnel Vision
04. Wishful Thinking
05. Damage Control
06. Curve
07. Interlude
08. Lost Without You
09. Animate-Inanimate

Petrucci gives us here a mesmerizing instrumental experience. All he needed was a guitar to make this album; imagine if he had 4 arms (we can sometimes wonder).

We can wonder where this album comes from, who is the unknown who released such an album to us. When we know it's John Petrucci, we're not the least bit surprised; for two decades already, the guitarist had amply shown that he knows what instrument he's playing. This time, however, the legendary guitarist decided to show what he is truly capable of by releasing this solo album, a real instrumental gem: an album that manages to take us into its musical universe for an hour, when few albums are capable of this.

Already, what struck me the first time I listened to this musical work was the very good sequencing of the music, between tracks with frantic rhythm and stunning solos alongside the more balladic songs. The musical structure of Suspended Animation is architectural, mastered, technical, developed; we sense through each of these tracks experience in the field as much as we do Petrucci's pure talent.

At the start of each solo, we wonder how far Petrucci can go, and especially how far he will take us. Each riff is captivating, either for its complexity and speed, or conversely for its calmness and efficiency. The tracks, as generally in this genre, are quite long, and this is not to displease us. While some progressive metal bands make long songs for the sake of being long, Suspended Animation's tracks don't go into frills, which allows the album not to lose its loquaciousness, and the riffs are interesting enough to not become boring quickly. For a progressive album, it's a great quality that allows it to stand out from the crowd.

I'd like to talk about the album's flaws, but I'll be quite brief: there aren't any. We could still criticize the album for its lack of originality; after all, we have already seen the same formula on the guitar in other groups. But that would be nitpicking; this album is what the guitarist knows how to do, but better. Petrucci wants to show us what he has in his stomach, and he accomplishes it. Listening to this album, we don't expect more than that. However, we still manage to be surprised. In any case, as someone who listens to progressive music quite often, I admit that this album took me by surprise.

Something I really like about this album is the fact that it ends as it started, with a bang: always so technical and masterful. The music does not exhaust itself, the album is constantly renewed, giving us guitar solos that are still dangerously good. Suspended Animation creates its own microcosm; by approaching the end of the album, it's like when one finishs a fantasy book which has immersed the reader in its universe for hundreds or even thousands of pages. By evoking this feeling, Suspended Animation proves that it is a quality album; it is the eschaton of this fictional world, a musical world that only certain groups manage to transport us to.

In short, this album does not prove to us that Petrucci is indeed a master of the guitar, that is obvious, Suspended Animation shows us that John Petrucci is a God of the guitar. The guitarist has managed to stand out from the crowd as a seasoned musician who manages to create quality in himself, something that few musicians attempt and even fewer succeed in. If you were hesitant to listen to it, no more, just go in with your eyes closed.