There are essentially two versions of Cynic and a vast aural chasm between them. I was quite familiar with ‘old school’ Cynic as one of my friends used to play their 1993 album Focus all the time in his car. I’m convinced the CD player was glued shut.. I grew to like it though. I’ve never claimed to be a huge metal fan, I’ve seen many metal bands live at festivals, but I’d rarely listen to them at home. What I liked about Cynic’s Focus was that it wasn’t your average metal album. I mean, it had most of the metal elements – chugging guitars, screamed vocals and smash-up-your-house style drumming – but there was a faint jazz and progressive undercurrent mixed in with the metal DNA, which put them on a different pedestal to what I’d consider the norm.
Following Focus came a very lengthy hiatus for Cynic, credited to musical in differences in the band, and various members dicked around with various side projects. In 2008 Cynic reunited to release their second album Traced In Air, which was met which extremely favourable reviews, most notably for it’s uniqueness and execution. It wasn’t a million miles away from Focus, but it was evident time away had expanded their limits resulting in a very technical, complex album.
So what about the new album? Well, Kindly Bent To Free Us is something I’ve never heard before. I’d walked into this review after listening to most of Cynic’s discography, expecting to at least have something to compare the newer material to. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s as if I was mentally crossing off any potential link I could make. So I prepared for a second listen and this time went in with a completely open mind.
Opening track “True Hallucination Speak” is like water, constantly moving and impossible to hold in your hands. The first thing you notice is frontman Paul Masvidal’s vocal style. The screams are gone, replaced with a cleaner, softer touch. The trademark Cynic vocoder is still active, but it’s something Masvidal works with rather than gets consumed by. As a result his vocals are both slightly distant yet entirely coherent. Thankfully his guitar playing hasn’t falted and in Kindly Bent To Free Us he demonstrates some of the most complex (without overdoing it) riffs you’ll ever hear. A prime example is on the song “Gitanjali” which features a very prominent, shifting bass line which carries the majority of the song. You start to really appreciate the bass more and more with each passing track, something I don’t often associate with modern rock albums. To tie it all in is Sean Reinert’s precise and tight drumming. He really does deserve to be mentioned when discussing great drummers of the world.
Songs such as title track “Kindly Bent To Free Us” and “Moon Heart Sun Head” are like vast, swirling watercolour paintings. Just like if you moved your eyes an inch you’d see a different picture. The true beauty of the two tracks are their endless complexities which all form a matrix of different sounds and styles. Closing track “Endlessly Bountiful” is like a mountain range, it’s central peak awash with crashing drums and guitars, followed by a dipping gradient before silently closing out. The lyrical content on the album is consistently abstract quite like Masvidal is reading from a transcript between the sun and the moon.
Overall, Kindly Bent To Free Us was a very difficult album to write about. I’d made the mistake of having expectations or to try and pick out things I’d recognize, but honestly nothing prepares you for it. It’s an album that is expertly crafted and full credit must go to it’s architects. Cynic have totally shifted from the metal masses and should now be seen in a whole new light. Kindly Bent To Free Us is nothing short of exceptional. It’s beautiful, moving and has enough ferocity to be entertaining, but it also carries a certain stillness to reflect on.
Rating: 5/5