Customer Reviews

Traced In Air

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Cynic's "Focus" was an under-the-radar cult phenomenon that changed the shape of modern metal. Nobody had ever produced a CD that sounded even remotely like it before, and truly no one has since. Technical and Progressive Metals have grown and matured and played off of ideas expressed on that disc for over a decade, but not a single band (even Dream Theater, Spiral Architect, Canvas Solaris, Symphony X, Redemption, Aghora, Zero Hour, Blotted Science, etc) has ever equalled the musicianship and pure strangitude that was Cynic. They are not the only fathers of this genre, but they are more relevant than many are aware. That these musicians are together again after 15 years is awesome.

Ok, this is not Focus. If you thought it was going to be, you should have paid more attention to the words on the cover.

This is Traced in Air. And it is amazing. It is multilayered, beautifully produced and shockingly arranged. On my first listens I wasn't sure what to make of it, but that was equally true with Focus. As I hear it more, I am strongly feeling that it will actually eclipse its predecessor in my appreciation. Where Focus expanded on traditional songwriting structures with unheard of melodic layers and exotic effects, Traced in Air completely obliterates those structures from the very start. Here is the simple fact, from one who makes his living selling music, specializing in progressive rock and metal: I've heard most of what is out there, and there is nothing else like this.

Does that mean you'll like it? I don't know. It requires patience. It requires an open mind. It helps to have a metaphysical bone or two already. You probably won't move much the first time you hear it. Masvidal does not care what you think of it. He does not care if you want a 70 minute disc to get out your ya yas. He doesn't even adhere to the standard dogmas of Tech Metal that his own work helped to create. This is not about time signatures or note values. It is an epic wave of sound. Traced in Air is just over 30 minutes, and it is another piece of Cynic's journey. Tag along if you dare. It is an amazing work of art.

I love it, and I think I'm going to go listen to it again now.

After reading some of the reviews of this album across the Internet, you might get the idea that Cynic have turned into some kind of emo collective vice a band that ever had anything to do with metal. That's certainly the impression that I had before the album finally arrived at my door. I was actually sort of reluctant to listen to it for the first time in fear of how utterly awful it would be. However, after having actually listened, I can only assume that such sentiments were sourced from extreme skepticism and/or pessimism towards the band's ability (or inability) to faithfully follow up on their moderately overstated debut, as opposed to any kind of objective reality. I mean, While it isn't really a note for note reiteration of Focus, Traced in Air sounds like - for better or worse - exactly what I would have expected a second Cynic album to sound like.

On one hand, you have just about everything in this album that solidified Cynic as a "unique" metal band back in 1993. The robotic vocals, unorthodox compositions, strange guitar solos, melodic bass presence, organic drumming, overly spiritual lyricism, excruciatingly detailed cover art, and so forth. Even the running time is about as pathetically short as that of their first album, Focus. The simple catch is that the degrees of emphasis that the band has placed on these elements have changed somewhat. Primarily, the guitars are focused on melody over riffing, and the vocals are now almost entirely sung in that clean, processed voice - the rasps are still there, but they sort of just meld into the music and fade away to the point of being barely noticeable. The production is modern and clean, which as far as I'm concerned can only benefit a band when the musical focus is atmosphere and technical intricacy.

On the other hand, if you were never really partial to the idea that Cynic were a metal band to begin with, this album will do nothing whatsoever to convince you otherwise. On the contrary, it will probably just prove your point for you and nail the coffin shut. Purists might as well not even bother, because if anything, Traced in Air is some kind of avant-prog rock album with metal influences - and honestly, anybody who was surprised by this development has likely not heard a single thing that the original Cynic members have done over the last 15 years (i.e. Portal, Aeon Spoke, Gordian Knot, solo albums, guest appearances, interviews, et al). The writing has been on the wall for a long time.

All of that said, it's a little hard to make a final determination as to which album is actually "better". Focus has several things going for it - for one, it has the advantage of being truly unique. Before Focus, nobody (as far as I know) was making music like that. After Focus, enough copycat and tribute bands spawned to turn a thing of relative obscurity into a popular commodity, relatively speaking. As a result, Traced in Air isn't really as impactful today as Focus was yesterday. Although, thankfully, when you're the one that started something and set the bar as high as Cynic did, you can still usually do it better than all the people who have since copied you, which Cynic have done - so I'll give them credit for taking a worn out sound and infusing it with life. Second, there is a significant difference in terms of musical divergence. On Focus, Cynic's music was split between the metallic, the limber and organic, and the spiritual. No greater examples exist for me than the songs Uroboric Forms, Textures, and Sentiment, respectively. These songs were, and still are, monolithic and peerless. Traced in Air doesn't have anything like those songs. There's nothing on the album that mimics the power and drive of Uroboric Forms; nothing that brings to mind the supreme intricacies of Textures; and nothing that presents the absolute grandeur of Sentiment. There are no extremities on Traced in Air. There is nothing that made me say "Holy crap!" the way that Focus did. Instead, Cynic seems to have found some kind of happy middle ground where all musical elements are content to simply intertwine and sit... and sit... and sit... until the final moments of the album fade away. Lastly, for whatever reason, the bass is nowhere near as prominent on Traced in Air as it was on Focus - this can only be a bad thing, as Sean Malone has an uncanny ear for melody and rhythm and listening to his interactions with drummer Sean Reinert has always been a highlight for me on any recording where they play together.

What does Traced in Air have going for it? Primarily nostalgia, I guess. Massive amounts of long-time fans are probably so elated at the very existence of a second Cynic album that any obvious shortcomings end up swept under the rug. The cleaner production also makes Sean Reinert's drums sound that much more impactful and his cymbals that much livelier, which is awesome, because I've been an unwavering Sean Reinert fanboy ever since I first heard the song Textures. Traced in Air also has the advantage of surpassing just about every other band that has tried the amalgamation of technical metal and jazz-like freestyle adventurism in Cynic's absence.

In the end, I can't say that I was surprised by much of anything on this album. I've long had a vision of what a second Cynic album would sound like - molded by my own desires and by the sounds of various member side projects - and Traced in Air is pretty much it. It's Cynic, man - without a doubt. It isn't as glorious as past efforts, but it's Cynic. Traced in Air is a natural progression, and it should have been obvious to anybody that's capable of reading between the lines.

This is an amazing album and is for anyone who appreciates complex, melodic music. It is not "Focus 2," so if that's what you're expecting, forget it. This album sounds like a band who has taken 15 years to mature as musicians and song writers and aren't concerned about sounding metal for the sake of it. This album is a 34 minute auditory epic journey and I love it every step of the way.

Being a big fan of metal, my initial reaction to Traced in Air was negative. Cynic was never super brutal or heavy, but they had a death metal edge on their first album that is missing on this one. In fact, it sounded at first like emo-influenced prog-metal, and struck me as less adventurous than the jazz-death-metal of Focus.

But after a few listens, I stopped caring. The songwriting on the album is just that good. Whereas some of the riffs on Focus's songs were unmemorable, every single riff on Traced in Air is golden. The instrumentation is intricate, and the music is passionate. Just like on Focus, the lyrics are very spiritual (with plenty of influence from Hinduism and Indian spiritual philosophy in general). I am not a spiritual person, but these are some really good lyrics. The production is surprisingly good, and does not suffer from the usual clipping that plagues many modern rock/metal releases.

There are a lot of music artists who make emotional music. But very few of these artists are able to support such emotionality with appropriately gripping music (hence why I'm not a fan of emo or any whiny music for that matter). But Cynic did it on Traced in Air. You have to give this album a chance. It's practically a spiritual experience, and one of the best albums of the decade.

As most people know, Florida has become famous in the metal community for creating bands like Death, atheist, Obituary and other death-metal oriented bands that are just heavy as f**k. Then came along Cynic in the early 90's w/ a few demos that created an all-out eargasm of the most technical metal anyone had heard. no jazz parts, no messin' around .. just awesome death metal technicality. then surprisingly only a few songs from the demo era ended up on their debut release "Focus" which by that time the band included fusion jazz parts in songs, a voice decoder and lyrics about things that the metal community probably never heard before.
Plagued by horrible pairings on tours (I remember seeing them open for Cannibal Corpse and practically being booed off stage) so that did not help this unique band that needed exposure to a wider audience.
The Focus cd was the only offering officially sold by the band and they became a cult hit among the tech-metal community and Cynic actually began recording under a different name , Portal.
Like many bands who change their sound drastically over time (can anyone say metallica?) this must be one of the few bands who had the decent sense to change their name. Portal had female vocals and a much less progresive sound which sounded more mainstream. If people thought that was bad they branched off to Aeon Spoke and other bands which put them squarely into mainstream w/ almost no prog-metal moments at all.
Then Cynic surprised everyone w/ a recent reunion tour which was sadly only an overseas affair even though they are from the USA. This tour introduced a new song called "Evolutionary Sleeper" and fans were chomping at the bit for more new cynic stuff.
So...Masvidal and Reinert went in to the studio also with Sean malone but SM is studio only and will not be part of any tours. Jason gobel had prior commitments and handed over his guitar duties to Tymon.
With all of the above being said if anyone was a true Cynic fan following them from their demo days to the newer off shoots of cynic no one should really be surprised at how much the sound has evolved into less metal and more atmospherics.
I completely agree w/ others on here that :
1) only 30 minutes of music is a shame. It means you could basically fit the focus cd and the new one onto one blank cd and just over an hour worth of material over 15 yrs is almost hard to comprehend for such a cult-status band.
2) since Cynic is celebrated as a tech-metal icon you'd think there would be more crazy changes and time signatures but that is not the case. this cd gets to be straightforward after awhile and that is a shame with members of this kind of technical capability.
I still think this cd is head and shoulders above what most bands put out these days so i still give it 4 stars. I really was hoping for more "uboric Forms" type of stuff but this is more new-age metal sounding then death technicality. If you follow the band from the start I don't think you'll be too surprised at the outcome but others may wonder what all the tech-metal hoopla is about if they only hear this cd.
Either way, I can't wait to see them live! Hope this review helped.
PS - a limited edition boxset is available overseas for this album. Also, check out the artwork. It is a fantastic update from the same artist who did the Focus artwork. He stuck with the same theme but updated it and i think the artwork and the music go hand in hand. Great idea to stick w/ the same theme but give it an updtaed look, just like Cynic's sound.

This album is a gigantic progressive journey from beginning to end, much like "Focus". The technical, jazz fusion style of guitar playing and innovative songwriting is still the driving force behind the band. That style of guitar playing does not take away from the catchiness of the songs however, there are many memorable elements to be found within, yet you'll find that they start presenting themselves only after multiple listens. So "Traced in Air" has become an album that has much to offer and doesn't do instant gratification. From the blissful harmonies in "Evolutionary Sleeper" to the incredibly melodic soloing in "The Unknown Guest", it is an album that will keep you coming back for more, and it will actually have more to offer on the next listen. "King of Those Who Know" is just incredible with its instrumental arrangements and the way the song is built up. The new Dutch band member Tymon Kruidenier provides one of the few things that reminds the listener of Cynic's death metal past, growling vocals which are most prevalent in songs like "Integral Birth". "Traced in Air" basically does what "Focus" did back in the day and expands on that, which is quite the achievement and pretty amazing. Yes, I would even go so far as to say that this album indeed surpasses "Focus" and does not bring any tarnish to its legacy. This is one of those mandatory albums that anybody that is into metal needs to buy this year.

It's incredibly difficult to know where to begin. This album is one of the most beautiful works of music my ears have been lucky enough to listen to.

Cynic is probably the most non-pretentious prog bands I've ever listened to. Some bands can fly so high that they completely lose the human aspect of the music and the become globs of highly technical crap on an emotional level even if they are beautiful works of art.

This album by Cynic has a distinct feeling; I wished I could grab a non-esoteric example, but anyone who has played the game series "Xenosaga" or "Xenogears" will have a good solid idea of how this album feels. It's incredibly spacey and atmospheric, and futuristic. The compositions are also completely organic, the only thing that might be considered a 'chorus' moment is the chant moment in "Unknown Guest."

Like I've been trying inadequately to describe there is an abstract quality to this music. If you've ever had the feeling when solving a math problem, that you knew the solution but can't write down why, that's what I came away with. There's a mystery here, one that can only be solved by listening to it many more times; not difficult. This is my vote for best album of the year.

I wasn't previously aware of Cynic as some of the reviewers here were. I dropped in Traced In Air and was impressed. I even surprised myself by hitting play and listening to the album in it's entirety a second time. As I listened I tried to pin the band's sound down. They have an outstanding drummer in Reinert. This and certain song structure reminded me of Rush. Although Reinert does the double kick drum when needed he also creates some killer rhythms reminiscent of Phil Collins. The album has some growling vocals but the majority of the time they are blended with Masvilad's almost angelic vocals. The talented guitar styling for the most part is more Jazz/Fusion than Metal. However, the songs are melodic with tasteful variations that keeps your attention. Absent on the album is any heavy distortion or thrash. All of this blends to create the experience that is Traced In Air.

Cynic, as a band, is very tight on this album. What I mean by that as complex as this album is the musicians bring their various parts together with precision. All the members are talented but you can't help being struck by the outstanding drums and guitar work. I hope it's not another 15 years before we hear from these guys again.

Every song is sophisticated and well organized. The only offset is that it's very short. Still a great CD, and you should probably experience it.

I already owned Focus when I found this and was more than greatly impressed. These men know how to play their instruments, and they have created a brand of music that is all their own. This album is a masterpiece of modern music, not to mention an awesome metal album. I even played it for my mother who can not stand hardcore at all. After a few songs had played, I said, "I will take it off if you want me too." She said that she didn't mind it at all, and that she could actually understand where they were coming from musically. That is not to say that it is easy listening. This is a hardcore classic that every headbanger should own. It is really more than that. This is something that people who do not even like hardcore could appreciate. It is a work of modern art, and pure genius.