Cynic — Kindly Bent to Free Us
With 3 years since the "Carbon Based Anatomy" EP, and a full 6 years since the last full length "Traced In Air", Cynic has returned in 2014 with a new ethereal progressive jazz rock opus titled "Kindly Bent to Free Us". Stating that he prefers concise, dense concentrations of art, his releases are infrequent, short and compact, with even the full lengths "Traced In Air" and "Focus" being less than 40 minutes. This newest album is actually their longest ever at 41 minutes.
It's extremely difficult to review a Cynic album after having listened to it for less than a week. Masvidal's music is about as complex, technical and dense as humanly possible, yet with a certain melodic and thematic consistency and coherency that is lacking in today's technical bands, who tend to jump from idea to idea and genre to genre on a whim.
Masvidal has certainly mellowed with age, and though the chugging, arpeggiated guitar playing on this album has strong roots in metal, all of the vocals are delivered in a croon that would not be out of place in your average alternative rock band, and never exceed a 'mezzo forte' dynamic. Indeed, the echoes of Paul's forays into pop songwriting as Aeon Spoke continue to be felt throughout this new material as they were on the "Carbon Based Anatomy" EP.
Clearly someone who could write a bizarre, novel progression of strange chords if he so chose, Masvidal seems more inclined to settle into anthemic, tried and true classics, in favor of the emotive moment and easily remembered refrain. Though still occupied with weighty existential ideas of cosmic scope, he wears his heart on his sleeve more than ever, and the music resonates with gung ho new age positivity, encouraging words and descriptions of a benevolent universe. While I'm more a cynic (no pun intended) than he is, I appreciate his sincerity and attempt at good vibes. I still roll my eyes a little as he chants "Endlessly bountiful!" in the final piece, joined by a swelling chorus to accentuate the triumph.
As with every Cynic album, the strongest point is the incredibly delicate and precise interplay between Masvidal and drummer Sein Reinert, whose touch has lightened and become increasingly dynamic, tasteful and jazz inflected since he played on Death's "Human" album. These two virtuosos have been playing together off and on for more than 20 years, and the incredible sync between their headspaces allow complex ideas to blossom, flourish and sound completely natural. Longtime bassist Jason Gobel is more noticable than he was on "Traced In Air", and the trebly 'pop' of the fretless lines brings back fond memories of "Focus", by far the band's most bass driven material.
If I was to complain about one thing on this record, it would be Masvidal's vocals. While his vocal melodies are gorgeous, maze-like and multifaceted, his singing itself simply lacks the range and depth of every other instrument in the mix. I appreciate the emotions he is putting forth, but he's something of a restrained and monotonous singer. This mattered less on the previous recordings, in which his voice was typically vocoded or processed to a larger extent, and actually on "Carbon Based Anatomy" he really seemed to belt it out a bit more, with some grit to his tone, so it's possible he's capable of putting forth a more energetic performance, but as it is, his voice is the obvious weak link to me. This isn't enough to damage this album's perfect rating, however, there's just too much incredible instrumental and compositional work on this album for that.
Though it hardly feels like I'm listening to the band that created "Focus", really there's no reason it should, and the progression from "Traced In Air" into the melodic rock songwriting of "Carbon Based Anatomy" and this album has been totally fluid. Becoming accustomed to something with so many elements, ideas and emotions in play in such a short space can be an awkward process, but I'm sure I'll be listening to and loving this album for years to come, and I've no doubt I'll consider it the equal of any Cynic release since their reunion ("Focus" is more difficult to compare to, as it exists in a different realm entirely). As with any Cynic release, this comes highly recommended