Ege Özgün (PHYS/PhD)
ozgun@fen.bilkent.edu.tr
Cynic is a band from Florida that drastically changed things in the metal music movement. Their ’93 debut “Focus” became an inspiration for dozens of bands. With their ever-growing and ever-changing musical style, Cynic is one of the most significant bands to have been pursuing a career since the late 80s.
Cynic was formed in 1987. Although their early thrash/death metal demos are ok, Cynic’s signature sound came with the later demos and of course the stunning “Focus,” which was recorded in 1993 after a two-year delay. Originally, “Focus” was planned for release in 1991, but the album was recorded later because of two setbacks: first, founding members Sean Reinert (drums) and Paul Masvidal (guitars/vocals) appeared in Death’s famous ’91 record “Human,” and after the tour supporting the album, had problems getting their equipment back; and second, as a result of living in one of the most adventurous places possible in terms of weather, one of the band members had his house destroyed by a hurricane.
When “Focus” first came out in ’93, its reception was not that good. Most listeners and magazines criticized the album harshly. Well, later they understood they had been very wrong and at that point started glorifying it. The record’s controversial quality was due to its highly innovative nature, featuring a combination of death growls and vocoder vocals, electronic parts, use of the Chapman Stick, jazz progressions, continuously changing signatures, syncopated drumming and much more. Actually, Reinert and Masvidal had given signs of all this in Death’s “Human” two years earlier, but “Focus” was on a completely different level. The use of vocoders in the vocals was a huge innovation in itself, and many bands followed this path after Cynic. One of the earliest uses of vocoders in metal music was by the Canadian techno-thrashers Voivod in their ’87 album “Killing Technology,” but it was just some tiny parts dropped in here and there, whereas Masvidal’s vocoder vocals are the focus of the compositions. The death growls were performed by Tony Teagarden, because Masvidal was in danger of losing his voice (the result of trying death growls without proper training, I guess).
After the magnificent “Focus,” the band recorded a demo under the name “Portal” (this work was later reissued as “The Portal Tapes” by Cynic) and then disbanded. Principal members Paul and Sean took part in different projects. Then, in 2006, Cynic reunited, and two years later recorded “Traced in Air”(TiA).
TiA is a transition from “Focus” to a more atmospherically based and less metal-like sound for Cynic. It still includes the death growls (this time by Tymon, who, together with Robin Zielhors, the live bassist for the TiA tour, formed the band Exivious), but the overall feel of the album is more spiritual, I would say.
Then came the EP “Re-Traced,” which includes more electronically oriented versions of some songs from TiA plus one new song. I have to say that this was a very Ulver-like move.
A year later another EP appeared: “Carbon-Based Anatomy.” Now the transition is complete, and metal music can only be sensed in the band’s attitude while performing the riffs.
Last year, Cynic released their third full-length album, “Kindly Bent to Free Us” (KBtFU), which I can say is the best thing they’ve done since “Focus.” Although I like every single work by Cynic, this is the one that can be most closely compared to “Focus.” “Focus” and KbtFU are very different musically, but they both carry the genuine riffing and musical freedom of Cynic. It’s pure genius.
Cynic is a very special band: they were one of the first to fuse jazz and death metal, they were the pioneers of progressive death metal, and, with their ever-changing musical style, they are surely one of the most important music acts of the last three decades. So naturally I recommend them to everyone. Stay connected to music.