SUSPENDED ANIMATION DREAMS

This is definitely a very recommendible work! SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE, a band that i first checked out in a well-known web site specialized in metal, has finally released their first album, "Suspended animation Dreams", an opus i can easily find close to bands like... well, no one. Their EP "Temporary Psychotic State" was a fine work mostly of Doom Metal nature, with some touches of PINK FLOYD, PORCUPINE TREE and ANATHEMA, and also really close to Gothic Rock... In this debut full-lengh album the Doom Metal roots are vanishing, allowing the entrance to some Neo-Prog, Psychedelic and some Post-Rock moments (By this i mean the hints of RADIOHEAD melancholy). Definitely a band that is more focused in emotions than in intrincacy... A very good Dark-side Prog work...

Highlights: "No place ike Home", Six Strings to cover fear".

Oh... what a Masterpiece. The first time I heard this I nearly fell off the chair... It was jus like if all of my fvourite bands had melt together to forom something absolutely new and never heard... Rock, funk, jazz, death metal, gospel choirs, dark, classical... Progressive in its purest conception. Here it is not important who is the fastes guitarist or the drummer playing 9 bassdrums and 17 snares. Here what really matters are the emotions. And they rule in the "SAD" universe. To name a song would probably be a crime beacause I'd then have to name also all of the others but the 14 minutes of Awake are something that goes beyond words, beyond any classification, only to take place in that marvellous universe called Art. But as I already said, the same thing could be told of "No place like home" or "Six strings to cover fear". Everything perfect, music as it should be, in my opinion. Obviously you could also not share my opinion. but then I'd think you've heard the wrong album.

Wonderful album mixes doom, death, prog and some jazz metal into one great energetic display. The more I listen to this album, the more I like it. Grows on the listener in leaps and bounds. Very unique album from the great End Records, check out this one and some of their other great bands. Paul Kuhr from November's Doom provides a nice mix of death/clean vocals.

Before listening to this album the first time one should certainly expect the unexpected since the music we get offered here is absolutely impossible to categorize. Though usually being filed under progressive metal only 15 % of its contents in fact can be considered metal. Truly there are quite a few death metal type of growls, but those ones are very well woven into a fine drapery of lounge jazz, ethnic tunes, progressive rock, pop and who knows else type of music. Actually I'm not aware of ever having heard a similar record than this one (though I dare claiming to have a broad knowledge) and the only band sounding that much eclectic that comes to my mind is DISCUS from Indonesia. But the big difference to them is that Subterranean Masquerade succeeded even better since their record is much easier accessible than theirs. It's really big fun to listen how these musicians manage to merge all those different genres together to form a truly unique piece of modern art. Very often styles are changing a couple of time within the same track without making it sound blatantly or unbearable for the ears. Instead the songs here sound highly enjoyable, at times almost harmless and unspectacular.

"For the rest of this session, you might ask yourself 'Am I going crazy?"... this announcement after the opening intro speaks for the whole album. "Wolf Among Sheep (Or Maybe The Other Way Around?)" for example starts with acoustic guitar and whispering vocals before developing into a mournful solo on electric guitar, then a few growls for a short while which are soon thwarted however by warm string arrangements. The electric guitar returns uniting with the acoustic one later on, then there are enjoyable clean vocals combined with strings and the track finishes with a faster paced guitar solo. "No Place Like Home" is a blend of folk and ethnic tunes on flute, oriental type of vocals and jazzy piano sounds. "Kind Of A Blur" offers dreamy piano and string sections next to rather pop-ish sounding choir singing but despite its obvious simplicity this song is nonetheless a great one. In "The Rock'n Roll Preacher" we get to hear heavy guitars, a piano playing lounge jazz, acoustic prog reminiscent of the 70's and growls partly combined with sax tunes. "Six Strings To Cover Fear" is the only track here in a common prog metal vein and though being the easiest accessible one far away from being a dropout, quite heavy and sinister, but very strong. "Awake", longest track with 14 min consists of an awesome mix of orchestral sound, pleasant female vocals, heavy frowning growls and jazzy sections. Last track "X" is then a welcome recovery from this roller coaster trip and a perfect closure for this excellent album.

Hope my description doesn't sound too much alienating for most readers. Just trust me, the music doesn't sound by far that messy like it might seam. Everything fits together somehow in a great miraculous way and after a couple of spins one has the impression to listen to the most normal music in the world. Certainly this record won't please everybody; metal heads will find little here to be satisfactory and those having problems with growling will find only parts of it enjoyable. Nevertheless it's an excellent and unique one IMO and I'd highly recommend it to anyone having an open mind and a broad musical taste.

This was perhaps the first prog metal I ever came into contact with and boy was I lucky to discover this gem. This album features an amalgamation of several different genres - seemlessly, it's got jazz, death metal, prog and space rock and not only that it takes some of the best parts from each.

The albums starts out with the very chilled introductory song, a very fitting preface. The second song wolf among sheep (or maybe the other way around) is my favourite song on the album and also simply one of my favourite songs, it starts with a very beautiful acoustic section with a nice warm organ, a very good chord progression and some excellent harmonised vocal work. Then the song is cast into a burning pit of sludge and death metal whilst still retaining the musical complexity of the previous section (it has piano in this part and by god it somehow works), and then the release and we are greeted with some great violin work. Fantastically written music, very melodically rich, very dark and very rewarding.

No place like home is another fantastic song, a jolly song with some great harmonica and other stuff (invokes images of wind in the willows for me) and then we're cast into the pit with the death metal again but it is again melodically rich and tempered with violin and then we are sent into our warm cosy spacey world again.

Awake is the epic on the album and it too is a great song - melancholy, amazing female vocals throughout with some great vocal soloing going on around the 9 minute mark. it also degenerates into an ethnic freakout after some symphonic goodness and we end on a metallic note.

X is a great finale, beautiful, spacey, awesome black chick singing, climatic solo to finish it all off - outstanding.

A very very interesting, rewarding and different album recommended to most prog fans, I was a huge fan of this even when I didn't like metal at all that's how diverse this album is.

Avant-garde Metal at its finest.

Incredible output by this very Non-prog metal band. I say that not because they aren't progressive, but because this band/album is so much more than a generic prog metal band. If you're biggest complaint is that there's no thought/emotion in prog metal, this is an album you must own. It's not only extremely out there in many regards, but the songwriting is gripping and poetic. Just take a quick glance over the instruments used here. I'd like to think of this band as the doom version of Kayo Dot, in order to give some kind of comparison.

Wolf Among Sheep has an amazing impromptu chorus in the middle with lush chords and a quirky spring like sound that will have you dazzled. Despite the craziness that ensues, its incredibly well formed to keep a sense of structure rather than random ramblings that many avant style bands might fall into. What's most important is that there's enough here to keep you guessing, and to keep you coming back to the album searching for more.

I can't think of too many other projects pulled off like this with what seems like such ease. One can hope to expect many more outputs by this band of the same quality, as they have outstanding potential. A real gem in the field.

Wow.

I discovered SubMasq some time ago, yet it wasn't until recently that I had aquired their album. To say the least, I was more than pleasantly suprised with this little musical abomination of sorts. Though I am already a huge fan of many bands that could concievably fall into the same category as this band (Mr. Bungle, Estradasphere, Kay Dot/maudlin of the Well), I find a distinct voice and style present in this CD, as well as the band as a whole, considering the plethora of Bungle-esque bands that seem to plague the whole scene, and the paradoxically unambitiious bands that plague this "unique" genre.

From the slightly eerie opening, to the brilliant outro song "X", this album really does it's job, wonderfully, of keeping the listener intrigued, and possibly slightly confused. Though there are a myriad of seemingly unrelated genres here, they seem to mesh together wonderfully. In reality, the only reason this band might be called "metal", or in this case "Prog Metal" is the interladen metal riffs, and the growled vocals. Though it obviously has it's influences from heavy metal, Opeth being a large influence, from what I can garner, it also has a vast pallette of musical influences that it draw's from. Song's like 'No Place Like Home' having a Middle Eastern World Music flare, to the strangely upbeat and interesting Rock and Roll Preacher, throwing in some nice Jazz implements near the end of the song. Even it's mainly metal oriented songs are laden with other influences, and strings are abundant throughout the whole album. (I must add, on somewhat of a side note, that the Harmonica solo at the beginnimg of NPLH is brilliant)

As an overall concept, the lyrics are difficult to decipher, and the story is odd and confusing, yet, it adds to the mystery and oddity of the whole concept. Though decipherable, the strange lyrics are one part of the whole mystery of the concept, as confusing as Tomer intended it to be. It took me several listens to fully grasp the lyrical content of the album. At first, I thought the lyrics (those that I could decipher, mind you) were somewhat juvenile or un refined, but after several listens, I found them to be quite intelligent.

All in all, an incredible find for me, and something I will look forward to in the future.

9.25/10 Stars

Eclectic music (well, also even a bit of extreme metal)

1. Opeth-like guitar passage, then smoothly jazzy Pekka Pohjola, vocal harmonies and different kind of instruments - so what we can expect for this album could be gentle retro prog and atmospheric (metal?).

2. Mild metal comes to picture with mild death metal vocals, and for example with modest violin the mildness maybe makes the song very harmonic and the moods can change freely.

3. Catchy weird heavy rock at the start(for example the beginning with only rhythmic and melodic singing like the briskness of "digging myself"), then heavier and more airy dresses, but the same concept of flowing. Reminds me of those common progressive rock oriented band in the clubs that wants to entertain everyone. Well, instrumental parts can be quite soft here, but the overall is a piece of art that has fairly enough different moods and for example the great piano and oriental feeling (including violin) at the end of the song makes it special and my favourite.

4. Kind of A Blur is like symphonic pop, instrumental movies fanfare music. Nice melodies and celebrating choir at the end. Says nothing to me.

5. A ridiculous heavy rock imitation right from the beginning, at least the sounds are rather awful, and somewhere it sounds.. gothic "death" rock, well I take Babylon Whores as representing the genre. But again, there's much more (basic things I've described earlier here) in this song. Piano reminds me even of Supertramp (and the symphonic pop in the bigger art concept). Song includes also some happy pop choirs in and the title "The Rock N' Roll Preacher" describes well the thing I see here. Though the song is not rock and roll. There's also some more ambient part with weird sounds, and right after that at seven minutes there's the real avant-gardism that I like much and actually haven't heard much like this: a bit funky soft sax still with simple drum rhythm and death metal vocals (reminding me of rap) in a layerly atmospheric symphonic pop form. And right in the middle, there comes a peculiar guitar solo, melody with very odd pitches and sounds reminding me of surf rock. THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO HEAR.

6. The "symphonic pop" continues, but starts to sound folk metal, then it becomes to meander always without a warning: stronger epical melody, and the heaviness reaches its top when I hear the first double bass drumming. More traditional death metal stops or turns to violin and drum oriented and almost carnivalic. There's also more landscape painting, and all in between you can imagine of basic avant-garde metal band. This song is very good and when it's maybe the most diverse here this far, I think it's also the most harmonic.

7. First almost approaching to math metal, then slower atmospheric metal with female, choir (nice a bit odd harmonies!) and male vocals. At this point, at the latest, the band shows to be eclectic, and that's what makes it special. This is a long song and for example the choir comes again with nice and weird harmonic melodies and the thing is growing big, violin in the final. In the end, there's also quite fast space rock combined to melodic heavy metal, or that's the partition I get, thought the total is maybe more music like eg Amorphis (well, there's much more, and unfortunately these rhythms and melodies (here and before) are very usual even for the kinds of Opeth)

8. As a pop, this is great. Female singer a bit like Dido, very gentle and with soul, and this is very atmospheric piece, and this is progressive rock, mostly instrumental. Conclusion for the album. I like the last moments where I hear something like people counting by shouting.

I would like to give this album even four stars and I was just giving two when I realized it would be bad thing for "Six Strings to Cover Fear" and other great things here, or actually, the concept and, well, strangeness of for example pop things. Weird, haha.

An instant classic

This album, and band for that matter, is really hard to categorize. It is definitely original, and that is about as good a compliment as I can give. The genre blending is like nothing I've witnessed before. Pop, Jazz, Blues and Extreme Metal are intertwined in the most casual way. Bands blending genres to this extent, however, tend to do it at the cost of good melodies. That is not the case With Suspended Animation Dreams. The melodies are really sticking to my brain once I got them under my skin. Aside from the regular rock band set up of drums, guitar bass, synth and vocal, there are also used trumpets, mouth harmonica, violin, choir and female chanting vocals. But the melodies are that which holds it all together. Even in the parts with growling vocals, every word is as clear as day. It is almost a pop felling lying underneath it all. But it is spiced up by the elements taken from other genres. A truly genuine mix is what this is.

It starts out with an intro, before Wolf Among Sheep kicks in. This is a very pop sounding melody that builds for over 5 minutes before a wonderful progressive metal riff kicks in and finishes of this great opening track. Following this the next songs spews out melodic pearls as No Place Like Home, with its jazzy feel, and Rock And Roll Preacher, which is more in the alley of alternative rock with some growling here and there. The most extreme song is Six Strings To Cover Fear, which is the only song with more metal elements in it than other elements. This song is filled with technical guitar riffs, double bass drums, accompanied by both death and black vocals. Following this power outlet is the song Awake. Another great melody, that starts up with piano and growling. Imagine Tom Waits screaming his heart out behind a piano with a couple of headbanging guitarists in the background, and you are not too far off. That is before the violin, choir and chanting female vocals kick in towards the end of the tune.

This album should appeal to extreme metal fans as well as progressive rock fans. The melodies alone should appeal to any fan of good music. Whether you buy, borrow, download or steal, do yourself a favor and get a hold of this album. It is an instant postmodern classic.

'Suspended Animation Dreams' - Subterranean Masquerade (8/10)

I had been hearing some great things about this album for a long while before I got around to listening to Subterranean Masquerade's 'Suspended Animation Dreams', and once again, my my musical network has not let me down. Although often called a progressive metal, or avant-garde metal band, there is alot about them that does not fit any of those labels. Suffice to say, 'Suspended Animation Dreams' is an eclectic effort, but it ultimately gives off a lasting impression that keeps me coming back. Although aspects of the band's sound feel somewhat half-baked in comparison to the sheer perfection they reach with others, Subterranean Masquerade's first- and to date, only- album deserves an invested experience from any adventurous listener.

You may have heard of the death metal elements that Subterranean bring to their music, but a listener who may be turned off by death growls should not be thwarted. Of the hour or so length, only a fraction is lent to metal, or heavy things in general. As a whole, Subterranean go for a prog rock sound that's hard to pinpoint in any prog trend. Their music can be acoustic and folky, or jazzy. As one may guess from a track title lie 'Rock n' Roll Preacher', there are also straight up 'rock' moments, where there's nothing particularly weird going on, and the music has an upbeat feel to it. Often, the mellower side of the band could draw comparisons from Pink Floyd. No mistakes made, however; 'Suspended Animation Dreams' is a challenging album, and there is not much out there that sounds like it. Although a listener will likely not confront something they perceive as being totally 'abstract', the fact that the wide range of sounds are all within the course of one album makes the album quite a handful to digest all at once.

The musicianship here is strong, though lopsided. Taking a look at the 'cast' for this album can go to indicate how many instruments are actually at work here. There are horns, saxophones, and harmonicas. Considering that this is a metal album, it takes some memorable songwriting to have it all fit together well, and Subterranean Masquerade do not disappoint on that front. Some of these instruments make a cameo for a moment only, and then leave, and it would have been nice to hear some of the most promising elements, such as the harmonica, a little further developed. There are Paul Kehr's vocals are arguably the most distinctive aspect of this band, a lower-register voice that carries alot of emotion and warmth to it. Where Subterranean Masquerade ironically loses some of their intensity is actually the metal portion of their sound. The metal guitar tone sounds a little weak, and it generally feels less well-executed and powerful than its mellow counterpart. Although they are labelled a 'prog metal' group, 'Suspended Animation Dream's greatest feature are the warm, often acoustically driven prog rock they make. Thankfully, that's where the band devotes most of their time, making Subterranean Masquerade's debut a winner.

Ok. I found this album from my Spotify recommendations?seems interesting enough?loved the cover?loved the name?i'm gonna live blog while writing so it'll probably feel a bit disjointed?hope we'll like it.

Suspended Animation Dreams: The album opens up with a great acoustic guitar melody accompanied by background voices, sets the atmosphere, and then?out of nowhere, when you least expect, a fairly jazzy saxophone solo enters, rapidly accompanied by classic prog metal vocals and flute?this is a full on prog record from the start and amazes me with only two minutes?this song definitely prepares us for an amazing progressive journey 9/10

Wolf Among Sheep: This one continues in the way the first amazing song build up? but with rather disappointing vocal melodies?yet greatly followed by some good prog metal guitar fills and when you think things can't get any better?it doesn't?the problem of many good prog metal group arises in this record?unnecessary brutal vocals and sadly covers up the sheer beauty of the violin melodies of the record. The guitar reprise following afterwards with some good wankery is still good, but this song clearly can not keep up with the expectations that the first song created on me. The repetitive post-rockian guitar line doesn't help to make the song interesting either. A solid song, good for a headbang towards the end. 6/10

No Place Like Home: Great and maybe a bit folky vocals accompanied by harmonica melodies that might as well come from a western movie starts the song fairly interesting and the transition to more metal territory via spoken lyrics are great? brutal vocals does not seem out of place but nonetheless unnecessary again. Opeth influences are evident in the contrasts between death metal parts and acoustic clean vocal parts but they are fairly good at that?spoken lyrics definitely create a cinematic atmosphere and the acoustic/piano part following that part continues that opeth influences in a greater scale but this time?it actually feels good?drum fills are definitely the defining part of this section and the guitar solo is praise-worthy and surprisingly similar to some melodies of my favorite post-rock band mogwai until it reaches its climax where it goes full evil?loving the instrumental part. Final proggy wankery with eastern vocals are interesting enough and the drummer does his job quite good. A lot interesting then its predecessor. 7/10

Kind Of A Blur: Happy piano melodies that remind me of John Lennon's Imagine?wonder where this song will go to?and SYNTHS AND VIOLINS great transition?it's funny that a classic prog fan just finds these little prog moments more memorable than metal moments in a prog metal moments. This album is definitely greatly cinematic and this song is definitely a proof of that?Evil saxophones are back again! Great drumming again and this song's getting more and more interesting?It's a bit sad that i'm enjoying these short proggy fillers than allegedly epic prog metal pieces in the album?hope it won't continue like that. 9/10

The Rock N Roll Preacher: This one gets a +1 just with the name?hope the song itself can exceed my expectations. Started with good noisy guitar melodies and a metal riff..Yes! Loving this riff?more interesting than the first two long songs? Vocals remind me of Led Zeppelin and this..of course?my friends?is always a good sign. Brutal vocals are again bit boring and out of place?but clean vocals and "dat riff" are sufficent to make this one a fairly good one. Ah yes?acoustic guitar transitions?these sections are marvellous in this record and this one is great as well?really reminds me of Opeth's Damnation?female background vocals are also pretty cinematic and again effective?The atmospheric part?although good again?gets pretty boring after a while?but it pays off with the continuing brass melodies and accompanying guitar solo?so happy and fun?pretty good song! This record sets a great mix 8/10

Six String To Cover Fear: Starts with a very good and melodic guitar riff played side by side with brutal vocals and strings?nothing creative or interesting going on in the first couple of minutes?seems like a straightforward metal song?but use of strings is still great?feels like ne obliviscaris?song starting to get interesting?although we see some other acoustic sections?slide guitar solos and things like that?this song feels like a really straightforward prog metal with nothing to offer and definitely the weakest of the album so far?guitar solo is pretty good though 6/10

Awake: The epic. Clocks at 15 minutes. Starts with a fairly cliche prog metal riff but the sudden transition to a chilling piano melody points towards a more unpredicted piece?entrance of female vocals are amazing and piano/guitar/drum trio with the vocal melodies are just evil?great?surprisingly brutal vocals don't feel forced and the metal guitars following them is pretty good too?Can't. Resist. Headbanging? The guitar work is stellar. Strings are again used effectively.. Seriously?the amount of work put on the instrumentation in this record is worth a praise?strings are hair-raising and definitely one of the top moments of the album?flute transition is also amazing?feels pretty eastern with the rhythmic instruments helping out?jazzy guitar melody enters?soon transforms into a more ravishing guitar solo and then vocals just drift you away while a pink floydian female vocal solo section just kills you in the spot?marvellous and enchanting?climax of the record. Reprise of the string melody transforms to a full-on guitar explosion (feels quite opeth-y again) "Wake up!From! This! Dream!" growls the vocals and the background is filled with voices?and song rushes towards its ending with the same riff?.slowly fading out. Best Song Of The Record. 9/10

X: Album Closer? Opens with a piano melody?These guys are good with piano openers for sure?Acoustic guitar/jazzy female vocals that feels like they are playing a lounge cd?similarities with Opeth's Damnation continues?pretty straightforward?but not bad?good guitar solo again. 6/10

Definitely not a bad record?one of the good avant-garde metal albums that i've heard. Not an expert of course but could have done without brutal vocals but songs like Awake and Rock N Roll Preacher and litte filler songs with great instrumentation are definitely a huge plus.

7.5/10

1. Suspended Animation Dreams dry guitar, schoolyard crisis in the background, the cinematic before its time and a jazzy sax which comes to discredit, an Indian flute but where are we? 2. Wolf Among Sheep arrives in a latent, lascivious, oppressive, calm atmosphere, but Paul in a calm growl calls out to us; violin afterwards, laughter, hilarious as I like; a delicate acoustic piano arpeggio which gives into the Andalusian, a plaintive guitar, a must for a sound apart between dark, melodic and progressive; 3. No Place Like Home with this paradigm between the sensual jazzy side and the growl voice for their differences, for the Opethian research of the time when certain progues refused to admit it; slow post dark rock variation which drifts into a Balkan atmosphere with the sinister violin 4. Kind of a Blur airy piano interlude followed by the appearance of the violin à la RONDO VENEZIANO, solemn, emphatic, majestic 5. The Rock N' Roll Preacher returns to dark rock where the growl voice is sung and discredits; is it beautiful or unbearable? break with guitar arpeggio, cymbals and melancholic drift, languorous phrasing, angelic choirs, piano on a soft rock ballad which will flirt with the sounds of PINK FLOYD; return with trumpet and growl confusing again,

6. Six Strings to Cover Fear in the atmosphere of KING CRIMSON, quickly broken by this howl to which you will have to get used, otherwise you will stay on the platform, and you would have to with the progressive space which comes afterwards, long melancholy doom rock lament with a fruity, divine guitar solo; 7. Awake for the epic piece, a quarter of an hour of reverie, wandering, travel, musical amalgamation; 5 minutes and we set off on the distant wanderings of Mike OLDFIELD, the violin and piano variation becomes symphonic, airy; 11 minutes and the return to heavy rock which leans towards the wonderful BELIEVER, also avant-garde; brief innovative 8. In short, there's nothing better to cultivate your ear.