Instead, Kindly Bent to Free Us finds Cynic fully embracing the spacey progressive rock and strong melodic sensibilities that has steadily infiltrated their songwriting over the years. Throw some poppish hooks into the equation and the patience of the average metalhead will surely be tested. However, blasphemous abandonment of their metal roots aside, Kindly Bent to Free Us is not all that bad an album. Listeners that have enjoyed the brave artistic twists of Cynic’s post-reunion career and have come to accept the changes to their sound will likely get on board with at least some aspects of this occasionally excellent but flawed album.

Firstly, the album still contains the songwriting and musical hallmarks of Cynic version 2.0, albeit in another altered form, with the tricky time signatures, jazzy undertones and combined virtuoso talents of the trio prominent throughout the album. So instrumentally speaking, there’s plenty of good stuff on offer. Unfortunately the songwriting doesn’t always stack up across the album’s 8-track, 40-minute duration. And while none of the songs are downright terrible in any way, the songwriting in general is frustratingly patchy and the execution is certainly not as smooth as expected from the veterans.

This is also the most vocal-centric release of Cynic’s career, and at times the approach stifles the impact of the band musically, while to put it simply, some of the vocal melodies are a tad flat and deflating. Not to say Masdival can’t hold a tune or stamp his mark vocally on a song, it’s just that Cynic have always shone the brightest as an incredibly fluid, technically advanced unit with a knack for creating challenging and memorable compositions. Therefore the vocoder-infected vocals work much more productively as a contrasting aspect rather than focal point of their music. This flaw isn’t a deal breaker but occasionally it hampers the impact of the songs, and for many Masdival’s increasingly soft and dreamy vocals might be a bit too tough a pill to swallow.

Opener “True Hallucination Speak” is propelled by buoyant riffs and a jazzy current, driven by the exceptional rhythm section and some pleasing vocal melodies, before the second half of the song drifts a little too far off course, failing to capitalise off the impact of its stellar first half to deliver a knockout blow. Meanwhile, the infectious “Infinite Shapes” and spacey grooves of “Gitanjali” are both solid tunes peppered with stirring moments, building towards a more substantial climax or pay-off that never eventuates, leaving the songs loitering in a frustrating, unfulfilled limbo. The album’s biggest misstep comes via the lacklustre closing track “Endlessly Bountiful”, ending the album with a whimper. The song is an atmospheric snoozer with annoying vocal melodies and a lack of interesting musical ideas.

On the plus side, the musicianship is uniformly outstanding, with the intricate drumming of Reinhert, and fluid, show-stealing bass playing of Malone standing toe-to-toe with the inventive, dexterous guitar work of Masdival. Some of the instrumental passages flow like liquid gold, and the album as a whole has a chilled out, dreamy vibe that coupled with the progressive angles and complex musicianship results in a musically challenging but laidback listening experience. And when the album hits its peaks, the valleys don’t seem quite so low, such as the more rousing moments on “True Hallucination Speak”, or the dazzling musicianship and ethereal melodies of album standout “Moon, Heart, Sun, Head”. The urgent prog-rock flair and propulsive rhythms of the excellent title track recall the stronger moments from Traced In Air, and although the unshakably catchy “The Lion’s Roar” will be too sugary for some tastes, for the rest of us it’s a snappy slice of pop-infused prog with hooks to burn.

In the end Kindly Bent to Free Us comes across like a transitional album for Cynic and perhaps a gateway to greater things to follow. Amongst the album’s issues, the meandering songwriting misses the mark too often and fails to make the most of some promising ideas; the semi-androgynous vocals don’t always work; and the production is surprisingly flat and devoid of any real sonic power. Yet despite the album’s flaws, Cynic continue to create challenging, engaging progressive music and Kindly Bent to Free Us features enough diamonds in the mix to marginally overshadow its shortcomings.

Back by popular demand nearly fifteen years after the release of the band’s seminal debut Focus, CYNIC has again proven why it has always been regarded as one of both metal and progressive rock’s go-to touchstones for creativity, vision and unparalleled musicianship. Traced in Air has met to rousing applause in the time since its November, 2008 release, being called “beautiful” by The New York Times and “one of the best albums of the decade” by Guitar World. The album reunites the prodigious CYNIC team of guitarist Paul Masvidal – respected worldwide as one of progressive rock’s most innovative players – and major-league drummer Sean Reinert. Produced by Grammy-winner Warren Riker (Down, Santana, The Fugees), Traced in Air not only stands up to CYNIC’s masterful debut, it pushes the band’s unequaled style and sound – a seamless meshing of traditional metal structure with both jazz and fusion – into altogether new realms.

With the upcoming tour, CYNIC will continue to prove to music fans that there is little to none of its recorded output that the band cannot re-create in a live setting. A taste of what to expect can be experienced now as new songs from Traced in Air have been posted online at this location.

In addition to Masvidal and Reinert, CYNIC features bassist Sean Malone, guitarist / vocalist Tymon and live bassist Robin Zielhorst.

“elaborate prog rock…strikingly beautiful and aggressively ferocious” – OC WEEKLY
CYNIC U.S. tour dates:

April 15 Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues
April 17 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
April 18 Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory
April 19 Missoula, MT @ Wilma Theater
April 21 Fargo, ND @ The Venue at Playmakers
April 22 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium
April 24 Sauget, IL @ Pop’s
April 25 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
April 26 Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
April 27 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
April 28 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
April 30 Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls
May 1 Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
May 2 Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection
May 4 Providence, RI @ Lupos at the Strand
May 5 New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place
May 7 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
May 8 Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights
May 9 Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock
May 10 Norfolk, VA @ The Norva
May 12 Springfield, VA @ Jaxx

Fie to Cynic for making that prospect nigh impossible to achieve.

Traced in Air is a great CD, one that embraces those pieces required to create it in relatively equal measure (though listening for the bass in some songs is like playing hide and seek with the invisible man). But I feel as though people look to Cynic for the wrong thing, what with the “death metal” tag, which may result in some incendiary comments to come flying their way. The only thing keeping the death metal iron branding Cynic’s ass is the inclusion of the sparse guttural vocals, which seem obligatory considering the band’s influence during the Renaissance era of the genre. They aren’t bad, they just hearken to the olden days, back when the world was young and death metal was keeping the 700 Club on high alert. Besides, the vocoded Masvidal strains and melodies serve their purpose well enough alone, save “Integral Birth” where the growls and robo-chords are layered to a surprisingly powerful effect.

This is certainly one of the most bombastic albums I’ve heard in a long time; no song on the album clings to any musical idea for an extensive duration. Soft, harmonious moments collide and interact with the heavier, drum-focused sections and amalgamate into pieces that rarely become tiresome exercises in technicality. Masvidal’s guitar wizardry is still jaw-dropping, as is newcomer Tymon Kruidenier from Exivious, and when Sean Malone’s Chapman stick gets pushed up enough in the mix, it is awe-inspiring. But Sean Reinert’s drumming is the inarguable star of the show, flourishing with interesting fills, subtle cymbal work, and brain splattering double bass, all under the guise of bizarre time signatures.

There are some knocks I can find against Traced, namely “The Unknown Guest” and its inclusion of a Sanskrit mantra chant, which has less to do with relevance and more to do with songwriting. Buddhism and meditation is an important facet of the band’s songwriting, but the shift in polarity at those moments is so drastic it listens like a palpitation rather than part of the pulse. However, the rest of the Cynic listening experience remains relatively untarnished, and for every nit I could pick, it still wouldn’t detract from how awesome Traced in Air is. Cynic 1, Yancey’s shitty jokes 0.