Prog fans will likely already have heard about, and be lamenting, the apparent break-up of legendary band/duo Cynic -- I say "duo" both because the core of Cynic has always been Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert, and because it seems to be the friction between these two that has caused the band to implode.
I don't know that I would want Cynic to continue in some other form, and if Sean and Paul's differences are really that irreconcilable then I don't know if I'd want them to even try to get back together as musicians unless there was truly some resolution for them personally. So: it seems that Cynic is dead.
What better reason to throw it back to their 1993 breakthrough debut album Focus for your Throwback Thursday track. Blast some "Veil of Maya" and wonder at how ahead of its time this record was.
Showing posts with label Paul Masvidal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paul Masvidal. Show all posts
Monday, 5 October 2015
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Wednesday: Cynic - True Hallucination Speak
After a delay of a few days, Cynic's Kindly Bent to Free Us came out this week, provoking metalheads everywhere to once again question whether or not Cynic can still be called a metal band.
Fans who lamented the less-heavy direction taken with Carbon-Based Anatomy won't find a whole lot of redeeming qualities in Kindly Bent to Free Us, and fans who dug Cynic's experimentation with space-jazz-prog likely won't care that death growls and robot vocals have been all but jettisoned in favour of a more organic approach. But I think both camps can agree: that is some fat bass tone.
A lot of metal bands, the bass sits way down in the mix, its lame recreation of the guitar parts barely audible underneath everything else. Not the Cynic of Kindly Bent to Free Us. All of the instruments in Cynic have always been on much more equal footing, and the time around Sean Malone's bass in right up in yo' face.
Album opener "True Hallucination Speak" is a perfect example. Malone's deft fretboard manoeuvrings are centre stage alongside the guitar, at times carrying a lot more of the load while Masvidal is being a little more hands off. Is it still metal? I don't know, but Kindly Bent to Free Us is growing on me like the wacky tree-shaped trippiness on the cover.
Fans who lamented the less-heavy direction taken with Carbon-Based Anatomy won't find a whole lot of redeeming qualities in Kindly Bent to Free Us, and fans who dug Cynic's experimentation with space-jazz-prog likely won't care that death growls and robot vocals have been all but jettisoned in favour of a more organic approach. But I think both camps can agree: that is some fat bass tone.
A lot of metal bands, the bass sits way down in the mix, its lame recreation of the guitar parts barely audible underneath everything else. Not the Cynic of Kindly Bent to Free Us. All of the instruments in Cynic have always been on much more equal footing, and the time around Sean Malone's bass in right up in yo' face.
Album opener "True Hallucination Speak" is a perfect example. Malone's deft fretboard manoeuvrings are centre stage alongside the guitar, at times carrying a lot more of the load while Masvidal is being a little more hands off. Is it still metal? I don't know, but Kindly Bent to Free Us is growing on me like the wacky tree-shaped trippiness on the cover.
Saturday, 30 November 2013
Exist - Self-Inflicted Disguise
Do you like fusion-metal band Cynic? Are you eagerly counting down the days until they release Kindly Bent to Free Us in February? Is the wait until Valentine's Day just too goddamn long for you? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then today's band might just be the methadone to keep you going until you can mainline some more sweet, sweet Cynic.
Said band, Exist, even have a Cynic-al connection: frontman Max Phelps is a member of Cynic's current live line-up, as well as being the frontman for the current line-up of Death to All, the Chuck Schuldiner-tribute group organized by Death-alums and Cynic prog-nerds Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert.
What all of this six degrees of separation stuff means for you is that Exist displays a lot of the same jazzy-sounding prog-metal goodness that can be found in Cynic's more recent work, making Exist a pretty tasty way to make it through the next couple of months. Have a listen to "Self-Inflicted Disguise" from Exist's debut LP Sunlight and see if it'll scratch that fusion itch for you.
Said band, Exist, even have a Cynic-al connection: frontman Max Phelps is a member of Cynic's current live line-up, as well as being the frontman for the current line-up of Death to All, the Chuck Schuldiner-tribute group organized by Death-alums and Cynic prog-nerds Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert.
What all of this six degrees of separation stuff means for you is that Exist displays a lot of the same jazzy-sounding prog-metal goodness that can be found in Cynic's more recent work, making Exist a pretty tasty way to make it through the next couple of months. Have a listen to "Self-Inflicted Disguise" from Exist's debut LP Sunlight and see if it'll scratch that fusion itch for you.
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