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Those of you with a love for neoclassical progressive metal are strongly advised to seek out "A Great Divide" from New Jersey's SUSPYRE. The group's sophomore release is a 70-minute epic of virtuoso playing, enchanting melodies, and wild prog metal jams that'll have your head spinning for hours on end.
Divided into two multi-part sections, "Opus II: Alignment of Galaxies" and "Opus III: The Origin of a Curse", the album is truly an adventure that takes the listener through a plethora of moods and emotions. The balancing of wind and string instruments with traditionally heavy prog/power metal sections is exceedingly well done. More than just a talent showcase, "A Great Divide" offers the listener a little bit of everything, including wonderful melodies on songs like "The Singer". Guitarists (and multi-instrumentalists) Gregg Rossetti and Rich Skibinsky are axe gods of the highest order, flying all over the frets and playing off one another with grace and ease. Quite honestly, the musicianship and arrangement skill is off the scale on the disc.
The stunning jazz and orchestral/classical segments are many. A break for vintage jazz keyboards (think mid-period MILES DAVIS recordings) on "The Singer" is fantastic, as are alluring saxophone parts on "The Spirit" and "Alterations of the Ivory". In fact, horns are heard throughout and are awe inspiring every single time they appear, a case in point being the 10-minute "Galactic Backward Movements", a prog, jam to die for. When the act launches into one of several full-on, up-tempo prog/power tracks, the result is nothing short of ass kicking. "April in the Fall" is one such catchy tune with groove, power, and finesse all wrapped into one, the bits of organ particularly attention-grabbing. The same can be said for the double bass driven "Subliminal Delusions" and fiery closer "Blood and Passion", the former offering an especially tough riff to boot. The orchestral sections on any number of tunes are expertly arranged and never out of place or reeking of excess.
"A Great Divide" is an honest to goodness prog metal juggernaut. You will be amazed at how a bunch of youngsters can play like this and write songs so thoroughly captivating. It is scary to think what the future may hold for SUSPYRE. I would not be surprised to see a label like InsideOut or Sensory snatch up these talented folks. - Blabbermouth.net - Scott Alisoglu
This one really clicked on the second listen. Suspyre is a new progressive power metal band from New Jersey. I have to admit I had no expectations that this would be much of anything. I was really shocked - the production is first rate (no idea where it was recorded but they did a good job). Musically speaking The Silvery Image emphasizes larger than life symphonic arrangements that remind me of Rhapsody but with a neoclassical infusion of Symphony X. The occassional burst of speed evokes Angra. There are really nice touches throughout the disc - flute and choir. There are some great unison lines between the two guitarists. Vocals from Clay Barton are rock solid in the Russell Allen direction without sounding like a clone. I think you will be in for a real surprise here - highly recommended. - Laser's Edge
Suspyre
This band is a Prog/Power group based out of New Jersey, and easily stole the show tonight in terms of technical abilities and tightness of performance. I really dig the sound of these guys. Nothing but positive thoughts about these guys really, and the music scene around here could do with a lot more bands like this. I picked up a copy of their CD "A Great Divide" afterwards. Their set list was a lot longer than it looks, a few of these songs being of hefty length.
Set list:
1.Distant Skies
2.Crimson Shade
3.Last of the Survivors
4.April in the Fall
5.Apex
6.Serpent I Am
7.Blood and Passion - Maiden33
Discography
The Silvery Image (full LP) - released 2005, re-released with bonus track March 2008;
A Great Divide (full LP) - released March 2007;
When Time Fades (full LP) - to be released September 30, 2008
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Bio
Formed in 2001, Suspyre's brand of melodic metal can be attributed to the band members' wide range of influences. These talented, young musicians from New Jersey have discovered an energetic and gifted way of combining progressive rock and symphonic metal with classical and jazz fusion.
October 24, 2005 marked the release of the band's first full-length album,The Silvery Image . Response to the album was so good that the band was signed to Nightmare Records and followed up with the release of their next album, A Great Divide, in March 2007. This effort was more diverse in every sense of the word: long, complicated passages are offset by simpler and shorter pieces; straightforward rhythms alongside super-imposing odd time meters; microtonal clusters and just intonation works around and between 12TET. Listeners will note a balance and interplay of heavy riffs, lush and delicate as well as dissonant/energetic orchestral parts, classic prog and a tasteful use of pastiche. The album hit the top 2007 prog metal album charts on websites such as USA Progressive Music, ProgPalaceRadio.com, and Beyond Ear Candy.
To further their goal to develop and perfect their fusion of varied musical inspirations and influences, Suspyre has recorded a third album, When Time Fades..., which was released on Sensory Records on September 30, 2008. This album is a groovier piece of art with a bit more metallic crunch, and even more variety in the song styles, including an acoustic piece. No one can accuse this band of being formulaic in their composing. When Time Fades... has set the bar even higher than the band's previous albums, not only in music creation but also in the artwork done by Gustavo Sazes (Firewind, Dark Empire, Mystic Prophecy) , and featured guest artists that include drummer Charlie Zeleny (Behold...the Arctopus, Blotted Science, Jordan Rudess), and female vocalist Trisha O'Keefe (Amaran's Plight).
Suspyre has created a large web following with over 63,000 friends on MySpace. They also have played overseas in the Netherlands at ProgPower Europe X.
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