Send "Cynic " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Metalunderground |
 Cynic surprised a lot of people with their 2008 album “Traced In Air.” Their first album in 15 years veered away from the progressive death metal of “Focus.” There were still the death growls and bruising riffs, but the band seemed more comfortable with the layered progressive sounds heard on “The Space For This” and “King Of Those Who Know.” Whether the band has left their death metal in the past is unclear, but if this EP “Carbon-Based Anatomy” is what the future direction of Cynic will be, the metal community might as well be prepared for the shell-shock of “Carbon-Based Anatomy.”The band is now down to just founding members guitarist/vocalist Paul Masvidal and drummer Sean Reinert, though former bassist Sean Malone returns to put his unique mark on the EP. Less of a series of tunes and more of a solidarity of sonic art, “Carbon-Based Anatomy” will further draw the line between their fan base. Those who hoped for a heavier style moving forward from “Traced In Air” will scoff at the worldly instrumentals and lack of growls. It may seem odd at first, but when listening to their last album again after the EP, it makes sense. Most metal fans don’t like to see their favorite bands suddenly change, or tempt their audience with one sound before turning a new leaf, but Cynic has been building on this for years now. Looking back on it, “Traced In Air” was them testing the water, and seeing how people would react to a few non-death metal influences. The positive response to their second album gave the band a chance they could not ignore....full text |
| Revolvermag |
| It’s respectable to try something new in an established field. To do otherwise is to defer to comfort, and there’s nothing bold about that. Which is why it’s impossible to hate Miami prog-death metallers Cynic. With both their vocoder-heavy 1993 debut Focus and their spacey 2008 comeback record Traced in Air, Cynic have stretched the boundaries of death metal while trying to open the minds of its fans, and for that they must be commended. But with their new EP Carbon-Based Anatomy, one wonders if the band has strayed from one beaten path only to stumble onto another. Technically, the music on Carbon-Based Anatomy is fine, especially Sean Reinert’s drumming, which is both primal and intuitive, instinctual and multifaceted. And when Paul Masvidal and Max Phelp’s guitar parts do come together, they’re thoroughly odd and entertaining. But there is no metallic base to the EP, no bedrock on which to build its airy sprawl. Opener “Amidst the Goals” and the following title track feels less like they’re breaking death metal’s mold and more like they’re biting off Mono, Muse, and Asobi Seksu. “Box Up My Bones” has some interesting moments, but Masvidal’s clear vocals smack pretty hard of Damon Albarn. The spoken word piece at the end of closer “Hieroglyph” makes one think of a film student’s senior thesis. Maybe this paints an unfair picture; obviously Cynic don’t sit around in berets and turtlenecks smoking Galoise 100s and talking about “intangibility.” But where their previous efforts had a base in metal with a lean towards arty progressiveness, Cynic’s new EP tries to hard to straddle the line and winds up in limbo. Hardcore fans of the band will no doubt find something to like on here, but those seeking blood and thunder should look elsewhere....full text |
| Pitchfork |
| Think of Cynic as an expatriate from the land of extreme metal. As with other restless-spirit heavy outfits from Nachtmystium to Mastodon, you can still detect an original accent in the work of this L.A.-via-Miami band; but at this stage, they're speaking a whole other language-- call it pop-savvy prog. And on Carbon-Based Anatomy, Cynic's second EP since an outstanding 2008 reunion full-length, Traced in Air, they're communicating with remarkable fluency. Cynic's roots stretch back to the fertile early-1990s Florida death-metal scene. Before issuing their own proper debut, the band's co-leaders, guitarist-vocalist Paul Masvidal and drummer Sean Reinert, scored a high-profile freelance gig, backing Death leader Chuck Schuldiner on Human. The concise title of that 1991 classic belies its groundbreaking blend of ferocity and technicality-- not to mention its inescapable influence on the next two decades of chops-happy extreme metal. (A great-sounding reissue is out on Relapse if you're curious.) The pair quickly jumped ship, though, and got to work on its own definitive statement, 1993's rich, puzzling Focus. Even on this first LP, Cynic seemed to regard metal like a vestigial tail. Guest vocalist Tony Teegarden contributed anguished, growling vocals that recalled Schuldiner's, but Masvidal augmented his lines with a pre-Auto-Tune robot speak. And while the band indulged in outbursts of hard-hitting shred, they avoided death metal's signature blastbeats outright, favoring supple rhythms drawn straight from the jazz-fusion playbook. If Focus had an ugly-duckling appeal, Cynic's hybrid experiment didn't pay off fully until Traced in Air, which followed a 15-year hiatus. The comeback effort pushed metal even further into the background in favor of an increased melodicism; suddenly Cynic seemed like a new standard bearer for 21st-century art rock, flooring you with their technicality while mashing on all your bliss buttons. The record took what it needed from extreme metal (growled backing vocals), fusion (tricky turnarounds and ornate solos), and pop (open-hearted hooks). This was a band unmoored from genre but not adrift: The songs were pointing the way, rather than any regard for a clearly definable style. Underscoring that point, the band followed Traced in Air with 2010's Re-Traced, an EP that adapted four of the full-length's tunes in a calmer style, with the metal-- and, for the most part, rock-- siphoned out in favor of folky pop and electronica. It was a startling move, but the material held up....full text |
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