Susperia - Predominance

(Originally published in Chronicles of Chaos in 2001)

Tjodalv left Dimmu Borgir because their intense touring schedule was incompatible with his personal responsibilities. Now he's playing in Susperia, signed on Nuclear Blast and currently on tour with -- you guessed it -- Dimmu Borgir. Maybe not the biggest change after all, but at least there was a change in music. Susperia doesn't play symphonic black metal like most (myself included) expected. _Predominance_ opens with a riff similar to Immortal's latest album, and Susperia continues with 100% synth-free thrash/death metal throughout the entire album. Cyrus, their lead guitarist, has composed good songs with plenty of interesting and dynamic riffs. Vocalist Athera impresses with very varied vocal work and Tjodalv has continued to improve as a drummer.

They have recorded the album in The Abyss and although the production differs a bit from the usual of that studio, there are no big surprises. That's not a bad thing, though; The Abyss sound fits well with guitar-oriented metal. Overall, this is an even and enjoyable thrash album and it is obvious that they got signed to Nuclear Blast for reasons other than Tjodalv's presence.

Original score: 8/10. Fair then, more like a 3.5 now. Which is still "very good".