Cynic - Traced in Air[views:1865][posts:18]________________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 1:33am - Conservationist ""] When death metal was born, people said that death metal was incompetent musicianship and crass subject matter. The second generation of death metal, led by Pestilence and Atheist, tried to disprove that with technical music that incorporated the influences of progressive rock, jazz and classical. Since that time, progressive metal has become a big hit with people who want to think they're musically educated. Most of it leans toward the jazz side, because this requires less of an ability to plan into the future and make a unique structure; you add a jam session to metal, which is easy and fun, so musicians love it and fans have something to be pompous about. "Traced in Air" plays into the worst of this tendency. Cynic has genericized themselves by pandering to an audience they know drools more over technicality than songwriting, and so have taken their technique from focus, mixed it up with generic jazz-prog-death, and have overplayed every single aspect of it so the CD is literally dripping with "prog moments" -- but like a stew, the more stuff you toss in, the less distinctive the flavor is. We now have generic jazz prog-metal, complete with cliches. Drums are ridiculously overplayed; subtlety is dead, but you'll spot that technique even if you're dumb as a lichen. These musicians seem less interested in writing metal than in playing jazz under the guise of metal. You can hear the conversation now: "They went nuts over the last album, and now the market is finally huge! Let's make it big with this next album, just make it jazzier and stuff it full of hot licks and drum fills." I think people will listen to this for six weeks, then six months later be unsure when they stopped listening to it and why, yet not want to pick it up again. What a disappointment. Sadistic Metal Reviews 11-07-08: AC/DC, Soulfly, Cynic, Disfear, Katalysm, Scott Kelly, Devourment, Gridlink |
| __________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 1:38am - tomx nli ""] album's amazing. get over it. |
| _________________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 8:59am - corpus_colostomy ""] i respect the album, but this is not metal and i dont like the cd. this is more along the lines of prog/rock/pop imo. furthermore this release seems disingenuously 'highbrow.' its a cliche in and of it self. if i wanted something like this i could be just as satisfied by listening to some jazz and some yes, circa close to the edge years. if i ever wanna listen to the real cynic ill pull out the demos or focus. |
| __________________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 9:01am - FuckIsMySignature ""] i agree weith corpus. gave it one listen then lost complete interest. focus still dominates though |
| _________________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 9:27am - MillenialKingdom ""] I don't think they'll be able to top Focus and I'm ok with that. I haven't listened to Traced In Air much. I just don't have the interest. |
| _______________________________ [Nov 8,2008 1:05pm - zyklon ""] This album rules |
| ____________________________ [Nov 8,2008 1:21pm - mOe ""] i dig this album but I agree...its barely metal |
| ______________________________ [Nov 8,2008 1:44pm - rbss ""] Wow I'm happy I enjoy listening to music and don't give a shit about genres. This record is fucking godly. Your reviews are far too referential to genre, imo. I have noticed this in the past as well. |
| __________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 2:13pm - tomx nli ""] lololol anthony WRONG this isnt metal needs moar balstbeatz |
| _________________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 2:18pm - corpus_colostomy ""] rbss said:Wow I'm happy I enjoy listening to music and don't give a shit about genres. This record is fucking godly. Your reviews are far too referential to genre, imo. I have noticed this in the past as well. lol... |
| _________________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 2:20pm - corpus_colostomy ""] tomx%20nli said:lololol anthony WRONG this isnt metal needs moar balstbeatz nope, i prefer yes and other seventies prog rock / fusion jazz to this kind of stuff because thats where all the siqqest blasts are. |
| _____________________________ [Nov 8,2008 2:32pm - blue ""] one of the best albums of 2008. |
| ______________________________ [Nov 8,2008 2:43pm - rbss ""] corpus_colostomy said: rbss said:Wow I'm happy I enjoy listening to music and don't give a shit about genres. This record is fucking godly. Your reviews are far too referential to genre, imo. I have noticed this in the past as well. lol... I believe in judging music with as few preconceptions as possible based on concrete criteria: songwriting, musicianship, originality, etc. Allowing preconceived notions of genre and style to overly color an opinion seems fruitless and irrelevant to me. In the case of Cynic, I view the new record as four incredible musicians coming together after 15 years to make a beautiful piece of art that represents where they're at in their lives and careers. It's most important to focus on the ideas and substance of a record, not abstractions like genre. |
| ________________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 2:59pm - Conservationist ""] rbss said:I believe in judging music with as few preconceptions as possible based on concrete criteria: songwriting, musicianship, originality, etc. Allowing preconceived notions of genre and style to overly color an opinion seems fruitless and irrelevant to me. If you read the review, it says the record is shit regardless of genre. I wouldn't vote for Barack Obama if he was white, either. Categorical thinking can fool both ways -- by denying the relevance of artistic movement (sorry, "genre") or by overly affirming it. I agree many people make too big a deal of it, esp. brutal dm and tr00 kvlt blvk m3tal kidz. |
| _______________________________ [Nov 8,2008 4:17pm - zyklon ""] Obama is half white & didn't need your vote anyway |
| _________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 4:23pm - Dankill ""] I've heard a lot of people say it's not as metal sounding as Focus, but brilliant anyways. So, I don't care, I'm gonna grab a copy regardless. |
| ________________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 6:51pm - Conservationist ""] Dude, this shit has zero -- fucking zero -- on Thelonius Monk. Even if it weren't pretending to be metal, it would blow ass. A homeless schizophrenic who just got done being anally raped by the entire police squad and control group at the experimental AIDS drug clinic has greater karma than this piece of shit. New Cynic = semen-dripping fraud. In six months, you'll agree. |
| _________________________________ [Nov 8,2008 9:12pm - archaeon ""] THIS CD ISN'T FOCUS. IT SUCKS fucking dumb, This CD rules. |
| ______________________________ [Nov 8,2008 9:17pm - Hoser ""] This is an OK album...not great by any means imho. |