Author: Rok Klemše
Venue: Gala hala, Ljubljana
Concert date: December 10, 2011
Attendance: 350
Over the past two or three years, Slovenia has hosted two thirds of the holy trinity of progressive death metal: Atheist (in August 2009 at Paranoid Open Air) and, just two months later, the Dutch giants Pestilence. Something that was unthinkable only a few years ago has happened. And in the general wave of reunions and comebacks, the legendary progressive metallers Cynic have fired up again too. Back in 1993 they released the bible of progressive metal, the cult album Focus, which was way ahead of its time. 15 years after it came out, the band re-formed, put out the fantastic comeback album Traced in Air, and before the end of last year dropped the EP Carbon-Based Anatomy, which they presented on this tour, finally with a show in Ljubljana too.
First onto the Gala hala stage were England’s Chimp Spanner from Essex, who only a year ago still existed as nothing more than a “bedroom” project of guitarist Paul Ortiz. Ortiz’s guitar virtuosity and knack for writing varied, wildly dynamic instrumental tracks didn’t go unnoticed. After his debut came out, Basick Records signed him and released the album At the Dream’s Edge, and this year we’re still waiting on the EP All Roads Lead Here. In between, Ortiz thankfully opened up the door of his living room, put together a crew of seasoned musicians and started getting ready for live shows. And that big eight-string axe landed in his lap when his neighbor, a booking agent no less, invited him to support Cynic on a European tour. Can you even say no to an offer like that? Before climbing aboard the ghost train, Ortiz told the passengers only that Chimp Spanner are from England and play instrumental metal, and then for three quarters of an hour their music spoke for itself. And despite its complexity, Chimp Spanner’s language felt totally familiar, understandable and warm. It was as if the guys had slipped a Babel fish from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy into everyone’s ear before the start. Chimp Spanner build their musical language mostly around the all-round Ortiz, who draws on a range of guitar techniques to put together thrilling worlds full of calm, rolling waves on one side and brutal earthquakes on the other. The band mostly swims in progressive metal waters, painted by a technically stunning performance full of broken riffs, intricately constructed passages, a beast of a drummer and the odd brutal “djent” riff. During Ortiz’s ambient soloing, Chimp Spanner easily bring Holdsworth and his offbeat atonal solos to mind, and a few moments later, with the deep, crushing chords of the seven- and eight-string guitars, bands like Meshuggah and Tesseract. The crowd’s warm response kept wide grins on the Chimp Spanner members’ faces the whole set, and with this premiere (and, I hope, not last) show here, the guys made sure the chimp tighteners won’t be sinking into oblivion anytime soon.
And then, finally, we got the last third of the great trinity of progressive (death) metal here, Cynic. This legendary band wrapped us right from the start in the thick smoke of a spiritual, primal world, symbolized by the intro of the new EP Carbon-Based Anatomy. Through the shamanic intro Amidst the Coals, Cynic embraced us and sent us off for an hour and a half into a world of unknown, ethereal spheres, one that Cynic present in a way that’s understandable and somehow familiar to a human who hasn’t yet reached the next level of development. A fantastic sound helped no end here. It was so good that you could easily forget you were at a live show and feel like you were shut in an intimate room with headphones on and the record spinning. Cynic had no trouble creating an atmosphere of one big unity, as the music, the people making it on stage and the energetic yet refined crowd in front of the stage melted into one single whole. The brilliant Paul Masvidal, with his gentle play of sensual, transitional vocals and virtuoso guitar work, led us from the source of the Amazon with Focus before our eyes, across the footprints in the air and into the endless cosmos of nothingness and everything. Cynic brilliantly wove together unforgettable songs from the cult record Focus and its successor Traced In Air, and once again proved that the immortal classics Celestial Voyage, How Could I? and Veil of Maya still sound progressive and daringly experimental today, 15 years after Focus came out, with no musical limits in their heads. With Carbon-Based Anatomy, Masvidal made obvious progress as a vocalist. His gentle, sensual voice is cleaner and more convincing than before, and he no longer leans on the robotic effect, which now only shows up on the Focus songs and, to a lesser degree, the Traced in Air ones. His guitar playing is still brilliant and unique to the Cynic universe, where Paul mostly lives, giving himself completely over to the flow of the music as he plays technically flawless lines and riffs and virtuoso solos, each one a story of its own. A bit less convincing was the new guitarist/growler Max Phelps, who replaced the excellent Tymon Kruidenier. He seemed a little timid and totally static, but then again, on his first tour with Cynic he had to play technically extremely demanding lines, and the guy probably wasn’t fully relaxed because of that alone. Sein Reinert, though, once again proved his mastery, moving mountains with his drumming. Reinert is without a doubt one of the most innovative drummers in the world. He doesn’t rely on classic death metal fills, and his unique style draws much more on tribal drumming and a whole range of impressive techniques. The effective projections matched the Cynic look superbly throughout the show, and with that brilliant music underneath you suddenly drifted off somewhere else, but sadly the magic was over all too soon. Sadly, Paul and company didn’t give us the encore the crowd undoubtedly deserved, but apparently the cosmic forces let Masvidal know that the time still hadn’t come for it.
Even so, Cynic are a live experience that goes beyond the music itself, and on top of that it’s a time for self-reflection, a time to shed all your emotional baggage and give yourself over to the flow of thoughts, to the flow of music crashing into you like endless waves. When Cynic step off the stage, 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 incomprehensible, magical, otherworldly energy. That being is Cynic!
Photos: Nina Grad
Setlist
CYNIC: 1. Hieroglyph/Amidst The Coals 2. Carbon-Based Anatomy 3. Evolutionary Sleeper 4. How Could I 5. Adam’s Murmur 6. Celestial Voyage 7. Elves Beam Out 8. King of Those Who Know 9. Veil of Maya 10. Wheels Within Wheels 11. Integral Birth 12. Box Up My Bones 13. The Space for This
Photo Gallery
