I guess it was inevitable and now, in 2011, it has come to pass. Yes, the last vestigial traces of death metal that were present on Cynic’s last album, 2009’s ‘Traced in Air’ have finally been eliminated from the band’s sonic make-up. Here in the present, Cynic are quite simply an atmospheric progressive metal act. And you know what? It doesn’t matter one bit. Even on 1993’s ‘Focus’ debut, the growled vocals had something of the afterthought about them and the riffing always had more in common with Megadeth or Forbidden’s thrashed-up tech-stylings than the bludgeoning attack of their more deathly contemporaries. ‘Carbon-Based Anatomy’ picks up nicely where ‘Traced in Air’ left off and propels the band’s sonic approach a little further forward whilst never losing sight of their fundamental roots – trippy, progressive, tastefully technical and glittering with ethereal ambition, this is a wonderful little EP.
From minute one, it is immediately clear where Paul Masvidal, Sean Malone and Sean Reinert are coming from – embracing completely their inner hippies and doing their best to take us, the listener, into spiritual space. We are treated to washes of ambient sound and ethnic chanting before ‘Carbon-Based Anatomy’ gradually fades in with the sort of bubbling, captivating bass line that the instrument was surely invented for. Malone (bass) and Reinert (drums) work in perfect sinuous harmony here, fused like conjoined twins. Masvidal meanwhile describes sparse guitar fragments, intoning his customary high-pitched vocals over this simmering backdrop. It’s an interesting song, slow-burning, restrained, refined and showcasing a band unafraid to experiment even within their own brand of already quite eclectic cosmic metal.
We then move into a brief instrumental interlude before ‘Box up my Bones’ crashes in on a wave of jangly, optimistic riffing. Again, the bass/drums anchor the tune in phenomenal fashion allowing the effortlessly talented Masvidal to deliver swathes of melodic lushness. The songwriting is pretty much impeccable, the dynamics perfectly poised – the only niggle is that Masvidal’s vocals can occasionally get a little too syrupy for comfort (his pronunciation of ‘need’ in the chorus is a personal bugbear) but really is an aside. ‘Elves Beam Out’ is the final ‘proper’ track here and is probably the most straight ahead (and therefore least captivating) of the songs on offer – as you can probably guess though, its still pretty bloody good. A few minutes later, it’s all over and we’re then just left to contemplate a higher plane of consciousness as an ambient soundscape drifts to fade.
It isn’t long but ‘Carbon-Based Anatomy’ highlights once again that in this age of mediocre, beige, plasticky sound-a-likes, Cynic are one of those bands to be treasured. Never willing to play the game or take the easy route, if this taster is anything to go by it surely acts as a signpost to these guys continuing to evolve onwards to even greater things – and given the standard of their work thus far, that is no mean achievement.
http://www.cyniconline.com/
Frank Allain
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