Suspyre-When time fades

Sensory
2008

I got this disc a few weeks ago and it went into the stack of "need to reviewed" for a while. I don’t know if it’s the slightly dark fragmented artwork or the swirling logo, but for whatever reason I had it in my head that these guys were going to be a death metal band of some sorts. When I grabbed the disc to give it a spin I saw what label they were on and knew that I been wrong about their style because I now figured that they were going to be progressive metal. Indeed it took all just a little while or so into the opening track “Possession/The Negative” to realize that I was in for a fantastic ride through some well-crafted progressive metal. Certainly this band easily displays a confident and adventurous take as they shift and swirl through passages with some seriously spectacular technical skills. Right away a number of tracks remind me of Dream Theater with the way they hit very precision guided moments and just as quickly speed off into these brain numbing tangents. Although it’s certainly safe to say they are a little heavier than Dream Theater. Even though they wear their progressive badge proudly and delve into some jazz there is still a definite air of metal all throughout the proceedings here. They do an excellent job of weaving and connecting all of the pieces and their proficiency with the strong structures really gives the music a great deal of texture. The only hang-up I have is that they are not doing a whole lot that's new, despite how well played it is there is still a constant sense of having been here before. Perhaps that's minor in the face of the fact that almost everything they are doing is stunning and enjoyable.