Cynic

WAIT – The End of Noise Review

By Kenstrosity on February 9, 2022 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 24 comments

“Time WAITs for no sponge. This apparently holds true for my unfortunate green friend to my left, the sands of time quite literally gushing out of his be-hourglassed noggin. The oddly disturbing artwork depicting this surreal injury translates to the weird and wacky, grungy prog-death stylings of Baltimore’s WAIT (short for We are in Transit). A supergroup of sorts, the trio pulls from the pool of live performers who jammed for acts ranging from Cynic to Defeated Sanity to Obscura, so it comes as no surprise to me that debut album The End of Noise promises to be a twisted and technical affair.” Difficult commute.

Epiphanic Truth – Dark Triad: Bitter Psalms to a Sordid Species [Things You Might Have Missed 2021]

By Huck N Roll on December 16, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2021, Black Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, 28 comments

“A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum this year; I started listening to a handful of albums that had the black metal tag affixed to them. I don’t know if it was my mindset, the evolution of musical taste, or the fact that some of this music was actually really good, but three of these albums made my list (four, if you count the sweet little Sea Mosquito track), and today I’m going to tell you about my second-most favorite of the bunch: Dark Triad: Bitter Psalms to a Sordid Species, by the mysterious collective called Epiphanic Truth.” Psalms for the poor.

Cynic – Ascension Codes Review

By Kronos on November 26, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 36 comments

“If you aren’t familiar with Cynic… I guess just fuck you? Look at another website, loser. If you are, I can tell you right off the bat that the Seans are dearly missed. I’m not familiar with the role of Malone & Reinert in shaping the band’s ambitions, but Ascension Codes does seem like a case of Masvidal just running with it and trying to make the most Cynic-ass record he could without them.” Rise and get weird.

Obscura – A Valediction Review

By Angry Metal Guy on November 18, 2021 in 2021, Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 203 comments

“In my review of Diluvium, I argued that the core of the band’s sound had become a super-tech melodeath band. And, as it turns out, my analysis was right on the money. Despite a (second) mass exodus that led to guitarist Christian Münzner and bassist JP Thesseling rejoining the band, A Valediction doesn’t present a more abstract and progressive Obscura. In fact, it’s the opposite.” So, is that a good thing?

Deviant Process – Nurture Review

By Felagund on October 25, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 49 comments

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: technical death metal can be a fickle mistress. For a genre so overflowing with talent, much of the actual music can come across as rather soulless, and despite all the intricacies, a lot of releases appear surprisingly formulaic. In short, I’ve been burned before. But then I look to recent releases from bands like Alustrium, Symbolik, and Allegaeon; releases that serve as a potent reminder that not all is lost, and that when the tech-death hits, it hits hard. It was with this sunny outlook that I plucked Nurture, the latest release from Deviant Process, from the promo pit.” High hopes and technical problems.

Our Oceans – While Time Disappears Review

By GardensTale on December 4, 2020 in Reviews, Progressive Rock, 23 comments

Five years have come and gone and the Dutch trio, whose resumés include Cynic and Exivious, have finished their new offering, sporting a notably more drab cover than its predecessor. Is this an ill omen, or is that judging a book by its cover?

Coexistence – Collateral Dimension Review

By Felagund on October 24, 2020 in Reviews, 50 comments

“Technical death metal can be a fickle mistress. She can lure you away with promises of sublime virtuosity, only to bombard you with a cacophony of disjoined solos. She can entice you with the siren song of a bold sci-fi concept album, only to present you with a sub-standard Spawn of Possession clone. Despite this, there’s a lot of great tech death out there, but you have to be willing to separate the 8-string wheat from the 7-string chaff. So where does Coexistence fit in with their debut album Collateral Dimension?” All tech, no peace.

Cryptic Shift – Visitations from Enceladus Review

By Eldritch Elitist on October 17, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 68 comments

“While I’ve traditionally identified as a basic black metal bitch, my listening habits of late have hovered firmly above death metal territory. The art of the Big Dumb Riff has held absolute command of my Spotify search bar, and it’s all thanks to the diversity the genre pool has spawned in over three decades of evolution. Just as I finish my most recent round of dick flattening at the hands of something as unflinchingly savage as Black Curse, I know I can hop to the opposite end of the technical axis to enjoy similarly aggressive highs in a fresh context. Cryptic Shift’s debut is about as far from something like Black Curse as you can imagine on the caveman riff spectrum, but those same thrills are all here.” Up Shift’s creek.

Exist – Egoiista Review

By Huck N Roll on September 12, 2020 in 2020, Reviews, Progressive Metal, 14 comments

“It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I heard of Exist. However, this Baltimore band has been around for over a decade, with their debut EP coming out back in 2010, and Egoiista is the group’s third full-length release. Most of the material here was conceived at the same time as the band’s last album, 2017’s So True, So Bound, and has been honed and refined over the past few years. Max Phelps is the leader here. He had a brief stint as guitarist in Cynic earlier this decade, and one can definitely hear that influence at times on Egoiista. This is a modern progressive metal album in the sense that it makes use of plenty of instrumental dynamics, and plenty of clean/harsh vocal transitions. Plenty of bands do this; not all succeed. So how about Exist?” Leggo my Ego!

Gomorrah – Gomorrah Review

By Grymm on March 19, 2019 in 2019, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, No Light Records, Reviews, Technical Death Metal, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 218 comments

“Confession time: I am not the biggest fan of technical death metal. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the classics, such as Death and Atheist, as well as choice cuts from Cynic. But the genre as a whole suffers from either too many scale acrobatics, or way too much chugging on the low string on a 7-, 8-, or even 9-string guitar to even warrant such a overly abused tag such as “technical.” In other words, technical metal bores me to tears most of the time. You know what doesn’t bore me, though? Canada’s Gomorrah.” Smile back at this death.