THE SILVERY IMAGE

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The Silvery Image is the debut album from American progressive metal band Suspyre. I´ve had this album for a couple of years but never really gave it a chance. I´ve listened to it a lot over the last couple of weeks though to make this review. The album was released in 2005.

The music is progressive metal but there are lots of power metal tendencies in the arrangements which means that Suspyre´s sound is closer to classic symphonic heavy metal than to the Dream Theater school of progressive metal. The album starts with a synth orchestral intro which reminds me of Rhapsody and then into the first song Father of Hate which is pretty fast and energetic. The song melodies and the way Clay Barton sings sometimes reminds me of finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica but Suspyre is not as sophisticated IMO. Synth is a big part of Suspyre´s sound on The Silvery Image and I must admit that the heavy use of synth does kill the energy after a while. The music simply becomes too trivial. The Breath of Gloria is a bit different though as it is a semi ballad song with sax. It´s a bit too cheesy if you ask me.

The musicianship is good. There is no denying that these musicians can play their instruments. Singer Clay Barton is a classic high pitched heavy metal singer who sometimes reminds me of good old Michael Kiske from Helloween. Clay Barton is very skilled, but he doesn´t stand out from other singers in progressive metal.

The production is massive and you´re not left much room to breathe. Full on symphonic progressive metal attack.

The cover artwork gives the music away. A perfect suit for Suspyre´s sound.

As such this is a good progressive metal album. High quality compositions, great musicanship and a good production. Suspyre fail to capture my attention for long though and their music does become a bit generic after a while. I can only hope for a more personal touch to their music on future releases. The 3 stars are well deserved though as The Silvery Image is a quality product.

2.5 stars really...and I'm getting a little bit tired listening and reviewing albums of bands that remind me of other original ones...SUSPYRE are such a kind of band...From the very first listen SYMPHONY X comes to mind but this isn't a good copy at all...The album stars really strong with a couple of good tracks but as it unfolds is getting really weak...Also some RHAPSODY OF FIRE neo-classical arrangements are obvious but the comparison between the two bands is unfair...Needless to say anything about ''The Battle of Gloria'',haven't heard such a cheesy ballad by a prog band for a long time...I'm not impressed by SUSPYRE'S debut at all,hopefully their second release is a lot better...If you're looking for true prog metal try PAIN OF SALVATION or RIVERSIDE instead...This one is only for SYMPHONY X freaks who can't get enough of that sound!