Subterranean Masquerade

Suspended Animation Dreams
The End Records

10/10: Jazz, doom, growls and prog all in one neat little package

8 Tracks

Tomer Pink is a genius. Think of this as a somewhat experimental album for the tired metalhead - while this is NOT a very metal album, it was definitely created by metalheads breaking through the boundaries of the genre. This is one of those albums that you will appreciate when you're in the right mood for it. I will admit, the first time I listened to this album, I really didn't appreciate it all that much. However, later after a long, tiring day, I popped it into my CD-player and wow! Everything about this album just clicked into place right away.

A highly introspective album, Suspended Animation Dreams spans an impressive breadth of emotions and moods - from soaring and uplifting to a certain dismal, sorrowful loss, it's a great disc to unwind to at the end of a day and just soak in the rich splendour that SM has crafted here. Despite its mellow nature, the songs have enough character that they will soon stick in your head instead of droning on as one long indiscernible piece. How do you intersperse a horn orchestra, jazz trills, a string section, gorgeous piano interludes, 70's bluesy-rock guitar solos, some sort of rainforest-flute-thing (?!) plus a plethora of instruments in just the right spots to add atmosphere without being pretentious? Listen to this album for pointers.

Scattered throughout the clean vocals are Paul Kuhr's trademark almost soothingly low growls, a Pink Floyd-esque female solo and an unobtrusive backing choir that compliments and accents the selections remarkably well. As a wonderful treat, also guesting on the album is Kobi Farhi of Orphaned Land (think of a more exotic-sounding Mikael Åkerfeldt!)

To a certain extent, it is reminiscent of mellower version of Novembers Doom on their older album "The Knowing" and will definitely go over well with fans of Anathema, Opeth and Pink Floyd, as well as with non-metal music fans. Suspended Animation Dreams is powerful enough to conjure up all sorts of past demons and loves, ghosts and new realities. But as the quote in the CD sleeve warns:

"All characters are fictional so there is no one to blame
Don't raise your hand for questions; the answers are for you to search."

Tina Sequeira