Back in 2005, we reviewed “The Silvery Image” that was a stunning release that received 4 ½ stars on our site. SUSPYRE is back in 2007, with their new CD called “A Great Divide” and our expectations are high.

It really hard to believe that the state I live in, New Jersey has two of the premier progressive metal bands in the world, SUSPYRE and SYMPHONY X, both bands with the same style of music that is over the edge reaching heights of success yet both having a trademark sounds that are different.

I feel this time around with “A Great Divide” the music is more technical and you have to really take notice of the expertise in musicianship. Rossetti guitar work is masterful. It has a classical style and when he hooks up with Rich Skibinsky keyboards it drives the songs. Each song is a trilogy and has a story with critical breaks, which gets you thinking what could be the next turn. This is a lengthy CD lasting a little over 70 minutes of strong progressive music.

I would say half of the CD is instrumental with some breaks of vocals, so if you looking for a CD chock full of vocals don’t look here. But if you like powerful theme music and have a good imagination and like hearing a musical dream this CD is way above par.

One of the best tracks is “April in the Fall” this is one of the most powerful songs on the CD and array of turns in direction with aggressive guitar work bounding your ear to the speaker and suddenly coming to and end. It’s followed up by another good track “Subliminal DeLusions” which once again the guitar work is amazing and the vocals give the song full body.

The second half of the CD is geared towards fans that like uplifting vocals and for myself I liked much better than the first six tracks, but all in all this is a great CD and should be enjoyed by progressive fans.