Suspyre have recently issued their second full length long player, A Great Divide. Now signed to American label Nightmare Records they have a bit more of a chance to reach a wider audience than before. One look at the track listing shows that this is a grandiose affair. Comprised of two “suites” and clocking in at over seventy minutes, Gregg Rosetti and crew are not fooling around. With an hour and ten minutes worth of music you can bet that there are a ton of subtleties inside the individual songs. The nine minute opener The Singer has a section where it sounds like Gregg is drunk dialing a booty call at 2 AM with his guitar. Yes, that is a strange simile but the dissonant tones in this passage fit in well. Vocalist Clay Barton shows enormous vocal range and ability right when he opens his mouth. In fact, I think he sounds even more forceful than before, maybe the good reviews of The Silvery Image have given him more confidence. Akin to Russell Allen (sorry for the Sym X comparison guys, I know you’re sick of ‘em) in the sense that he can be delicate and soft and then nary thirty seconds later he’ll sound like a raging fury. But that is not all in the musical arsenal of Suspyre. Credited as a session musician, the bass playing from young up and comer Noah Martin (ex- Lilitu / Blood Promise, ex - Dark Empire, now currently in Arsis) is sure to turn heads, especially from die hard music aficionados that like to zone in on albums and analyze it as if it were a senior level music theory seminar. Rather than being relegated to thumping out the low end in basic patterns Noah goes off with twisting, turning, and contorting bass lines that complement the music as well as impress.

Gregg has got some balls on him, and some King Kong sized ones at that. In an era where even progressive metal bands are eschewing melody for the sake of Pantera like heaviness he busts out a saxophone on few occasions throughout A Great Divide. Surprisingly during Galactic Backward Movements he whips it out right in the middle of two scorching solos. The orchestration that was sprinkled lightly on The Silvery Image is a garnish no more. Lush strings and accompanying choir vocals push the grand and epic feel of the album towards the listener with strength and power. During the first half of the album there is only one song, the ballad The Spirit that isn’t at least eight minutes long. April In The Fall breaks the mold and is a more “guitars and drums” type of song. The epic lashes are reined back and Suspyre uses this opportunity to create a fist in the air power metal gem in the vein of Angra.

What I like most about A Great Divide is that it has variety. There are grand swooping monster epics, speedy and punchy numbers, and organic powerful ballads. Suspyre is one of those few bands in this genre that have the ability to arrange and structure their musicianship with the needs of the song. There are no moments of painfully extended and unnecessary soloing yet the way that each person plays their role in the song speaks for them.