Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Močvara club / Zagreb / Croatia
Concert date: 09.07.2009
Attendance: 350
Ticket price: 120,00HRK / 140,00HRK
When I first heard the cult record Focus, which changed the genre of technical/progressive metal forever and influenced a good number of bands, and got over the initial shock, I told myself I simply had to see this band. Sadly that wasn’t possible back then, since the legendary Americans Cynic broke up soon after the album came out, or rather morphed into Portal (and Gordian Knot too). A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since 1994, and in that time the band’s guitarist and vocalist wrote music for TV shows, and he and the drummer founded the progressive rock band Aeon Spoke. The chances of ever seeing Cynic live again were, sadly, razor-thin. But in the general trend of broken-up bands getting back together, Cynic came back a good two years ago too. At first just for a few “reunion” shows, but the reborn, energized lineup quickly recorded a proper “comeback” album, the much-praised Traced in Air. My wish finally came true and I got to see Cynic as the support act for Opeth last December. And once you’ve seen Cynic live, you want more and more and more and more… The tour carried Cynic across the old continent once again and they landed at Zagreb’s Močvara. There was no way this chance could be missed!
This time the Croatians served up two support bands, and if I may take a little jab at the openers at the recent Quo Vadis show in Sisak (the Canadians), the pick in Zagreb was way better. First on stage was the local instrumental trio Eigenschaft. Stanislav, Viktor and Vladimir released their debut last year, capturing riff-fueled rampaging, guitar soloing and chaotic bombardment from the rhythm section, and that’s exactly what they delivered in a bit under half an hour. The guys had the luck of good sound, and it was great to hear every bit of this progressive metal trio. Eigenschaft can be quickly described as a slightly lighter version of the masters Blotted Science, and even though it’s “just” an instrumental three-piece, these guys have plenty to offer: interesting, colorful, dynamic prog metal that never gets boring!
The next half hour belonged to another set of locals, Forlorn Legacy. We saw the band’s vocalist Darko Etinger at last year’s Metal Mania with his other band Infernal Tenebra, but this time Darko showed up with his first and oldest group. The band ended its career last year on this very spot, at Močvara, and Forlorn Legacy “blitzkrieg”-reformed for this exclusive appearance in the support slot. Since forming in 1995, the Croatians have racked up four demos and released their debut Paths of Insanity in 2004. The lion’s share of the songs played came from that debut. Despite a long absence from the stage, the band was tight and confident, with Darko in particular keeping up great contact with the crowd. Unfortunately the sound was dreadful, crackling and whistling like crazy, and at times the songs were really hard to recognize. Live, Forlorn Legacy ran through their material in a good half hour. In the faster parts it’s inspired mostly by the Gothenburg sound of melodic death metal à la In Flames and At The Gates, while in the slower parts the band mixes in technical death metal tricks. They could have stuck with just Darko’s vocals, since guitarist Marizza’s delicate clean voice more or less ruins the choruses, but Forlorn Legacy put on a quality show and I hope it wasn’t truly exclusive.
And then we finally got the moment we’d all been waiting for. The roadies stretched huge banners with the creature from the Traced in Air cover on both sides of the stage, the unmistakable work of the exceptional artist Robert Venosa, who also created the unforgettable artwork for the cult album Focus. The techs hauled out the last pieces of gear, the eye easily landed on Paul Masvidal’s guitar effects rig, which you’d need a gun license for, and the tension only kept rising when you realized that in a few moments the great Sean Reinert would sit down behind the drum kit. The crowd clearly lost it when the Cynic foursome marched out and picked the opening track from the new record, Nunc Stans, as their hello. The intro alone set up the perfect Cynic concert atmosphere, the kind that carries you off to some unknown, ethereal realm, and the fantastic sound helped plenty, so good that you could easily forget you were at a live show and not in a closed room with headphones on and the record in the player. But Cynic are even more magical live, and seeing this legendary band in the flesh is an unforgettable experience. Quality always came before quantity with Cynic, and even though Traced in Air is only 35 minutes long, it offers far more than the hour-plus opuses of other bands. Through the footprints in the air we were then led by The Space For This and Evolutionary Sleeper, and then the focus sharpened back to 1993 and the band’s debut with the track Celestial Voyage. The effective projections fit Cynic’s imagery superbly, and with those brilliant riffs you drifted off somewhere else in an instant. Paul tied the program together nicely and has noticeably improved his vocals, which you could hear in the new songs, while the Focus tracks reminded us of the legendary vocoder, still the hardest part of the debut to get into. If the transcendental, slower and ambient parts of the songs carry you off to new worlds, then the “headbanger” classic Uroboric Forms, in Paul’s words, nails you back to solid ground. Especially when the excellent guitarist Tymon Kruidenier opens his mouth: besides stepping into the shoes of Jason Gobel, who played guitar in the first incarnation of Cynic, without shame and with ease, he also handles the brutal side of Cynic, those excellent growls. They sound like they just flew out of the mouth of Tony Teegarden, who croaked on Focus! The instrumental classic Textures plunged us into a dream, with session bassist Robin Zielhorst shining on bass with a breathtaking solo à la Sean Malone, and the mysterious Adam’s Murmur rocked us on clouds. The colorful mix of material from Focus and Traced in Air nicely showed that the Focus material was aggressive, raw, yet damn bold and experimental, while the Traced in Air songs are polished, cleaner and a logical step forward. A true evolution of sound! But it doesn’t matter which era you touch Cynic in, because every single moment of this band is brilliant. And when you hear both Focus and Traced in Air live in full, you can’t stop marveling at everything Cynic stand for. A unique concert experience, a musical boldness that knows no conformism and mixes metal at its core with jazz, fusion, progressive rock as well as Eastern philosophy and imagery, and last but not least a brilliant instrumental foursome proving that Cynic are still one of the technically most advanced bands walking the face of our planet. And most importantly, they don’t flaunt that technical skill but put the song itself first. Every solo, riff, bass line or spectacular bit of drumming from the unmistakable Sean Reinert finds its place. Even though we can only throw superlatives at the guys from Cynic, they always look after the fans and take time for them at every single show! When Cynic step off the stage with the closing How Could I, you’re left with a feeling of fullness and contentment, as if you’d just spent an hour in a room with a being that breathes and lives only to fill you with some inconceivable, otherworldly energy. That being is Cynic!
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
CYNIC: 1.Nunc Fluens 2.The Space For This 3.Evolutionary Sleeper 4.Celestial Voyage 5.Uroboric Forms 6.Textures 7.Adam’s Murmur 8.The Unknown Guest 9.I’m But a Wave To… 10.The Eagle Nature 11.Sentiment 12.King of Those Who Know 13.Integral Birth 14.Veil of Maya 15.Nunc Stans 16.How Could I
Photo gallery
