I'd say listen to the originals first :I've never really listened to them before, but they sound a lot like Porcupine Tree in those songs to me. Too much so for me to like it.
While TIA was still really good and still quite technical without sounding retarded, I still found it was striped compared to focus, which is why I find this one too stripped.I really enjoyed it, probably because it's so different from the approach everyone is doing today of 'super technical and super fast' so to have a band who's already done a very technical album - that's not blazing fast - and say, "Let's strip it down to the core" was cool
I uh, haven't heard ...Focus yet :ugh:While TIA was still really good and still quite technical without sounding retarded, I still found it was striped compared to focus, which is why I find this one too stripped.
Well then you're not really entitled to give an opinion on much of anything, are you?I uh, haven't heard ...Focus yet :ugh:
It'll blow your mind. Namely cause its death metal with alternating growl parts and vocoder-robot vocals. And lots of distortion. And sounds NOTHING like Traced in Air.I uh, haven't heard ...Focus yet :ugh:
Too true, I never really got into Cynic until I could get over the terribe, terrible recording job that was Focus :lol:The concert of them playing Hovefestivalen is a must watch. I believe they play all the songs off of Focus, and they also play an original version of Evolutionary Sleeper that's pretty awesome.
I mention it because I loved Focus but the mix made it hard for me to enjoy, while I think quality of that concert did the songs descent justice.
You know there IS a remastered version right?Too true, I never really got into Cynic until I could get over the terribe, terrible recording job that was Focus :lol:
Have you heard the re-mastered version? They only re-mastered a few tracks anyways, and it all still sounds like shit. Just mildly different :lol:You know there IS a remastered version right?
Since my disc drive is broken I've yet to buy the album, and when I tried DL'ing it stayed at 0% for like 4 days :lol: So no.Have you heard the re-mastered version? They only re-mastered a few tracks anyways, and it all still sounds like shit. Just mildly different :lol:
They should just re-record the album from scratch.
Nah, they'd probably leave off the death metal vocals, cause they'd harsh paul's mellow. :lol:They should just re-record the album from scratch.
Yes, Malones basswork is fucking genious :steve:Also, don't let the fact that Paul and Tymon are fantastic players overshadow what an influence Jason Gobel was on the "sound of Cynic". He's did a lot of the heavy lifting on tracks like How Could I, which has to be my favorite solo of all time and one of my favorite songs as a whole.
In much the same fashion, Sean Malone is and was a fucking stud. Robin and Chris held onto a lot of the style and vibe, but Sean is the original (as Gordian Knot pretty much proved).
So, you have Traced In Air. I actually like the album as a whole better than Focus, but Veil of Maya and How Could I are still the two best songs that band ever wrote, IMO. Having Paul, Malone, and Reinert back in the studio when they did TiA gave it some of it's magic, along with the pent up decade of music that they had waiting as their answer to the first album.
Which brings me to Re-traced. It's like... it wants to be very original and true to form, but it's just not there. Feels like without Malone or Gobel there, Paul just kinda did whatever the hell he wanted to do with it. Enter Aeon Spoke v2.0. It's neat on it's own, I don't hate it... but... meh.
I love Tymon, Robin and the rest of them but Cynic is and was the original line-up, IMO... and this last album is evidence of that.