Describing the music Fantômas creates can be a difficult job. But anyway, here’s Daniel the bold reviewer giving his best shot at it.

Each Fantômas album is a new experience and this time we find the four piece all star band, formed by Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), Buzz Osborne (Melvins) and Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk and other 100 projects) experimenting with old cartoon effects and music.

Suspended Animation was recorded at the same time that their previous release Delìrivm Còrdia, but it is completely different. Delìrivm Còrdia was a one hour song in which several soundscapes flowed slowly from one approach/style to another, but in Suspended Animation we find 30 one minute songs that will maintain the listener in continuous awe and surprise from start to finish.

In Suspended Animation Fantômas mixes Metal (specially Tharsh), some Jazz moments, some Ambient moments, loads of cartoon sound FX and Pattons’ always amusing samples and effect altered vocal assaults, (not to mention a perfect production that allows the listener to enjoy all of the album's details) in order to create one intense album. Now, don’t let the cartoon effects make you diss the album thinking it’s just childish and ridiculous and pretentious, this album has more hostility than a Cannibal Corpse album, more innovation that any band you would dare to mention and enough awesomeness to keep you coming back for more and more.

While most of the bands focus their songwritting on creating memorable melodies, killer riffs and amazing hooks and working their songs around them, Fantômas manage to craft songs with all of those elements but with a major difference: their songs aren’t based on them; and that is what often frustrates the listener. Fantômas will grab a motherfukin’ amazing Thrash riff for three seconds and just when you were starting to headbang to it, they’ll drop the riff and just start mixing ambient music with vocal effects, and just when you were thinking on relaxing to it, they’ll throw in a Death Metal section; and that’s how all the album goes. So bear in mind that if you to want relax to ambient buy an ambient album, or if you want to headband, get a Thrash album, because Fantômas isn’t about that. Fantômas is about experimentation, about creating never heard soundscapes, and about providing something absolutley new. So remember, when hearing Fantômas don’t focus on specific sections of the song, but manage to appreciate it as a whole, and don’t lament when they “dropped that killer riff”, instead think on what type of a genius you have to be to jump from a Thrash riff to an ambient section, to a Jazz break down, to a Grindcore section in matter of seconds, and to actually make it work.

While this type of music isn’t for everyone, you could really find an aweosme surprise if you approach this band in the correct state of mind, and if you focus on understanding what they try to create instead of wanting them to do what you would like to hear.

Mike Patton & Co. have proven once again that the avant-garde throne is theirs, and that they’re without a doubt musical geniuses.