Review of Susperia - Predominance

With past endeavors such as Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon & Old Man's Child looming over the heads of Tjodalv and Cyrus, scrutiny of their latest release Predominance through comparison shall be inevitable. Susperia have been dubbed a black metal band, which personally I would have to disagree with. Avid listeners of black metal could argue through the night on what elements do compile a black metal band. In the end only agreeing on a possible handful of traits and even then I would have to believe never coming to a complete conclusion. Susperia on one hand do possess a few of the obvious qualities but ultimately I would have to class Predominance as a straight up death metal release. The urge to sacrifice a water buffalo and drink its blood under the light of a full moon just isn't there after repeated listens of Predominance. Which is generally a telltale sign that I have my hands on a stellar black metal release. Who knows someone could be arguing this factor right now. Susperia however have managed to form a release that does stray from the patented sounds of the above mentioned bands. Creating a heavy well thought out release that at times does crush through excess. Tjodalv's drumming performance is merciless from beginning to end. The strongest attribute within Predominance indeed. The guitar tracks are solid lacking none in the eyes of heavy. Athera's vocals are nothing less of modern metal standards, at times mixing in clean accents. The overall feel of Predominance is that of Millennium Metal but in the end still lacks the discipline of a hands down masterpiece. Susperia's future attempts should merit the likes of a masterpiece, for they have a grasp on all the elements that do produce successful metal. Bottom Line: Susperia's Predominance will be right at home in your CD collection, possibly right next to Amon Amarth's The Crusher

The first thing I'd like to point out here is that I really dig this band. I truly admire the way this project molded together, and I see them being around for many years to come. The expectations had to be high considering the level of talent displayed in this band, and I will say these metalheads from Norway have come through by delivering a tastefully crushing album in their debut release Predominance. With black and death metal arguably in control of today's 'underground' metal scene, hearing good thrash metal has been hard to come by. I wouldn't necessarily say that there aren't any good thrash bands still in existence, but I have no choice but to consider Susperia as being one of the genres' front runners with this debut album. It started when Tjodalv, former drummer for Dimmu Borgir and Old Man's Child, got together with Cyrus who had been doing session work providing guitars for Satyricon and Old Man's Child. There was an immediate connection between the two and they started writing songs together. Now it should not be news to anyone with even the slightest metal knowledge that the bands mentioned above have made a name for themselves over the years. With that being said, the other three musicians who would eventually join the band were more into the American thrash scene admiring bands like Overkill and Testament. I would have to categorize this band as being part of the latter. Though not nearly identical to the two previously mentioned thrash bands, they are in the same vein. They wanted to go back to the roots and release a true metal album without keyboards, female vocals or any orchestras lurking in the background. These guys waste absolutely no time and start to crush right from the get go. I Am Pain, which has become one of my favorite tracks, blew me away from the first time I heard it. Starting out with a powerful and chunky riff, it isn't long before Tjodalv is stomping away at his double pedals demonstrating the skills that make him one of the most solid metal drummers today. Then again, I find it hard to even discover any poor metal drummers these days. All these bands have kick ass drummers; it just boggles my mind. The guitar riffs are some of the most entertaining I've had the pleasure of hearing. Containing speed, chunk and plenty of hooks, I always find myself drawn to the slick song structures. The singing touches on the common death growls mixed with the clean style also used by Chuck Billy (Athera's favorite vocalist) on Testament's Low, Demonic and The Gathering albums. The simplicity of it is this. Like I said earlier, I believe Susperia will be around for a long, long time, but I see no reason why any of you should wait any longer to buy this album. It had me hooked from the start with songs that continuously play through my head after the ride is over. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how this band evolves and if they can live up to their debut release. At this point, they certainly have my vote of yes. Favorite Track: Specimen

Release Details

Susperia

Predominance

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