CYNIC EP Review

Cynic – Carbon-Based Anatomy EP

Season Of Mist, November 2011

9/10

Reactivated progressive death metal band Cynic is becoming harder and harder to classify as their music continues to drift off into towards complex space rock with each new release. Although their origins are in death metal, Cynic left that field behind with their return in 2008 with Traced In Air. You’ll be disappointed if you’re expecting a return to the heavy and bizarre sounds of 1994’s Focus, but those willing to embrace this developmental journey will continue to be entranced. There’s really only three traditional songs on this six-song EP, as “Amidst The Coals”, “Bija!”, and “Hieroglyph” are trance-like interludes filled with chants and spoken word parts. The meat of Carbon-Based Anatomy is the title track, “Box Up My Bones”, and “Elves Beam Out”. “Carbon-Based Anatomy” features jazz-inspired drum fills everywhere underneath a simple bass and guitar line that only gets interrupted by acoustic passages that build into solo that is the track’s climax. “Box Up My Bones” is easier to grasp, and also follows a heavy acoustic rock sound. Things get a little weirder with “Elves Beam Out”, but its rhythmic chorus brings a sense of heaviness back to the mix. I admit to feeling a little let down with Traced In Air, but Carbon-Based Anatomy shows a maturing of Cynic’s new direction where the band sounds more comfortable and confident. The doors are wide open for fans of progressive rock in the mold of Porcupine Tree and The Pineapple Thief to embrace Cynic, and I’m already eagerly awaiting to hear what the next record with sound like.

Cynic performs tonight, Sunday, November 13 at Station 4 in St. Paul with support from Metal Blade recording artist 3 and locals Iron Thrones.

CYNIC - June 1994, Des Moines, Iowa (Remastered)

I posted this classic Cynic show a while back, but I thought with their upcoming show I'd try my hand at improving the audio quality of this. What you have here is a complete show from the Focus tour while supporting Cannibal Corpse and Sinister in June 1994. Focus is one of the most ground-breaking progressive death metal albums recorded. I've never been able to nail down the exact date of this show (June 18, 1994 is my best estimate)! I saw this tour in Chicago at the Oak Theater, however, I wasn't present at this show. A couple people who were at this show have been in touch with me, but they have no record of the concert date. For this remastered edition, I took the original video file transferred from VHS, boosted the volume, and tweaked the sound a bit. The result is audio that is less heavy on the high end, and I was able to get rid of most of the annoying tape hiss that plagued the original version. If you listen to this on a decent set of speakers it will sound richer and warmer, and you can crank it up a bit. I've also included new cover artwork. Cynic is out on tour now supporting their soon-to-be-released EP Carbon-Based Anatomy.

Cynic performed all but "Celestial Voyage" from Focus, and here are the details:


Cynic
1994-06
Des Moines, IA, Two Rivers Music Hall
mp3@192 kbps


1. Veil Of Maya
2. I'm But A Wave To...
3. Textures
4. Uroboric Forms
5. The Eagle Nature
6. Sentiment
7. How Could I


The download link is here. As always, share and spread the good word, but I appreciate linking to this post rather than the download link.

Cynic performs Sunday, November 13 at Station 4 in St. Paul with support from 3 and Iron Thrones.

Cynic Returns To St. Paul

Innovative, progressive death metal band Cynic will return to Station 4 in St. Paul on Friday, July 30. Presumably this is part of a tour that has yet to be officially announced. After an absence from the scene for many years, the influential band released Traced In Air in 2009. The album was received enthusiastically, and this year saw the release of the Re-Traced EP which features reworked versions of four songs and one new song, "Wheels Within Wheels". Their last appearance at Station 4 while supporting Meshuggah in February 2009 was unfortunately disappointing. Cynic's sound was so bass-heavy and distorted that it was nearly impossible to enjoy the songs.

I previously posted the video and audio of a full-length classic Cynic concert from June 1994 in Des Moines. This was the only US tour done to support Focus while they were opening for Cannibal Corpse. Check out "Veil Of Maya" as go to my earlier post to download the entire show.

Cynic will be performing at Station 4 in St. Paul on Friday, July 30. Support will come from Intronaut and Dysrhythmia.

Cynic - Des Moines, IA, June 1994

Since I posted the video and audio of Cannibal Corpse from their June 1994 performance at the Two Rivers Music Hall in Des Moines, Iowa (view here), I thought It'd be shame not to post the performances of Cynic, Sinister, and Public Assassin from the same show. So here you get legendary progressive, technical death metal band Cynic playing nearly the entire godly Focus album.

The exact date of the recording is not known since this date was a late addition to the tour and is not listed on the official tour dates. Judging from the tour routing, Saturday, June 18 is the most likely date. A Saturday show would also be most likely since this was probably a matinee show due to the strength of the sunlight coming through the loading dock backstage. Although I'm not at liberty to disclose the taper, this is a first generation copy from the original source.

Here's the set list:

1. Veil Of Maya
2. I'm But A Wave To...
3. Textures
4. Uroboric Forms
5. The Eagle Nature
6. Sentiment
7. How Could I 

The video quality is excellent, aided by the fact that this was shot essentially in daylight. The audio quality isn't the best, but it's certainly very listenable. Probably a B overall. You can check out two of the songs here. Head on over to my YouTube channel to view the entire set. The txt file linked below has the download links for all video files (mov, H.264, 640 x 480) as well as the audio files as MP3 (320 kbps) or FLAC.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6GBFA5VJ 
If you want to share the download links, please link to this blog post!


UPDATE:  Here are new links to download the videos for "I'm But A Wave To..." and "How Could I".
"I'm But A Wave To...": http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DSBR1KMU
"How Could I": http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4ZNZQKWF
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