Cynic- Kindly Bent to Us (2014)

Cynic- Kindly Bent to Us (2014)

Yes, you can tell me that Cynic is not a metal band anymore, how cool they were never your typical death metal band, how cool that they started their first years as a band by renting themselves as tour and session musicians for some of the top Florida death metal bands of the era, like Death and Atheist, shaping their amazing musical skills, and thus becoming something else, metal, maybe they are not, heavy, yes they are, a completely satisfying musical trip with a powerful instrumental interplay that completely sets them apart from other band at the moment. 

Perhaps Cynic greatest move and worst one for the death metal crowd was eliminating the guttural vocals from their mix, replacing them with Paul Masvidal more ethereal and completely human ones, they have managed to write amazingly catchy songs that easily stayed in the mind, and this achieved at the same time that they deliver incredibly arranged complex tunes, something rarely seen played this well this days.

Kindly Bent to Free Us is an amazing record, amazingly executed and never compromising not even an ounce of their incredible music skills, the band sound full here, they sound strong and confident without their death metal past, growing into some kind of jazz of prog like powerful project, they might not be a band anymore, as guitarist Masvidal and drummer Sein Reinert are the only permanent band members of Cynic, and with a session bassist who does a wonderful job in the person of Sean Malone, is ironic that Cynic, with all those years as session men, ended up recruiting a session bassist, but truly, the work of Malone is an amazing one that leaves us hoping he remains in the band in a permanent way.

Kindly Bent to Free Us is an undoubtedly prog recording, although I hate the term, Cynic recording is very close to classic prog rock, the kind displayed by Yes or Genesis, although there is a big influence in Masvidal guitar playing, coming from top guitarists like Robert Fripp, and John McLaughlin, close to prog, but at certain distance form it, Masvidal has grown to become an impressive guitarist full of resources, who never seems to repeat himself, always improving on every theme, and as if this wasn’t enough, a very decent vocalist.

On the other side Reinert is a mind blowing drummer, he might be the part of Cynic that reminds heavy and close to metal as his double bass drumming sometimes shakes the whole structure, but a versatile man he is, turning into colorist and adding the songs another dimensions via his resourceful drumming.  

Opener True Hallucination Sphere showcases the bands vocal arrangements, putting them closer to something like Yes, of CS&N, rather than Obituary or Pestilence, Masvidal guitar leads proficiently the actions, the man knows when to restrain himself in order to let the song breath and when to make his six string scream furiously, and that’s one of the magical things on his playing, as he goes from calm, to intense soloing in a matter of seconds, leaving us breathless all the way, well grounded by Reinert stellar hard as hell drumming, who might be a powerful reminder to all metal heads that Cynic can blow Muse far from here anytime they wish.

Masvidal guitar is catchy as hell in the opening notes of The Lion`s Roar, and along Reinert emphatic drumming, the band becomes untouchable, that and Sean Malone tremendous thundering bass, a man who plays those four strings in a very impressive way, giving the chance to Masvidal to fly high as an eagle while Reinert beat everyone else to dust.

Cynic might be a trio, but their complex arranged songs remain dense and dreamy at the same time, their composition might live in the prog rock realm, but the band`s superfluous talent transmits something immediate and accessible to their music, and the clean sound giving to them by their producers clearly give us a chance to enjoy their great passionate way of playing, displaying muscle in an almost cerebral way, never falling into metal clichés and integrating prog rock great instrumental progress and beauty.