SUSPENDED ANIMATION

To start, you don't have to be a guitarist to enjoy this album, for example I'm a bass player and I liked this. Of course if you love shredding you'll like this a lot, but this album is NOT all about shredding. In fact, as I always said, Petrucci finds a very good balance between the shred parts and the emotional parts. You really have to appreciate this, and for me, I needed a lot of time to enjoy this album completely because of all the complex structures and different solos. Obviously, this is a heavy guitar-centered album with phenomenal playing (hey, dudes, it's Petrucci!), with super technical moments and times when he finds his soul; and also a very, very good base: crushy drums and accurate bass, to finally make this a very solid album. The best tracks for me are:

"Jaws Of Life": this was the starter of the album and the first song I heard from it, via ProgArchives, and left me completely amazed and wanting to but this disc. Kicks your ass off with a ver heavy and low riff, then all joins when drum and bass explode into the mix. Another similar riff in 5/4 (a lot of odd time signatures during the album) enters with a dark guitar melody, that arrives to the emotional 'chorus'. Then alternated parts lead us to an amazingly enjoyable rocking solo, with an 'orgasmic' moment during the end. Great song!! If you like metal, you'll find yourself headbanging to this all around, believe me. The rhythm guitar work here is essential to the song, IMO, so I wouder how would they pull this off live if they're a trio. What a pity the mp3 streaming of this song is not here any more.

The following track is "Glasggow Kiss" which has a characteristic folky and metallish melody that will be in your head for days. In fact, here Petrucci finds his soul again with very different and well thought and INNOVATIVE solos and melodies. Another song to be amazed by this incredible guitarist.

The fourth song is "Wishful Thinking" which is way more softer and features a very pleasant melody that will touch your heart. This one is way more poppy and I believe if there was a voice, this could be a hit because it's extremely catchy! Really the song finiches at around 5 minutes, but then it all calms down and the guitar enter very quietly and goes getting power and speed until Petrucci goes completely mad and starts playing SO fast that I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Impressive. That part has absolutely nothing to do with the song but it's highly enjoyable as well.

"Damage Control" is very, very good as well. The song progresses perfectly and shows John's abilities as a composer. It starts with a great rocking 4/4 riff which then goes 7/4. The rest is a sucession of parts with great transitions from the heavy moments to the magic moment which can be considered a 'chorus', and again the feeling on the guitar takes place there. The main solo is introduced by a very Metallica-like riff, and rocks very loud! Damn great song!

"Lost Without You" is the quietest composition here and can be considered a guitar oriented ballad, and, well, this is all about playing with feeling and features great guitar solos as well as an unexpected bass solo in the middle. Very good.

Overall, a very good instrumental album that can be enjoyed by anyone specially DT fans, Progressive Metal lovers and shred metal fans, that proves again that Petrucci is one of the best guitarist of recent time.

Rating: 3.4/5