The Cynic Megathread

[Randy]

Well, I mean, the thread title is true. Cynic was always about the interplay of the Seans with Paul's weirdness over the top. So, in that regard, Cynic *is* dead.

As for new music, we'll see? After the "Re-Focused" cash grab (because those drums sound like total crap), and the last record being...not Cynic sounding, well...

They were in a constant battle between being Cynic and becoming Aeon Spoke. You look at the stage and see the number of surviving members and that tells you which side won.

I am kinda glad they at least sprung for someone to do the harsh vocals live instead of pretaped with the volume rolled back.

 

[StevenC]

Going to see them in 6 weeks and am very hyped

 

[eaeolian]

They were in a constant battle between being Cynic and becoming Aeon Spoke. You look at the stage and see the number of surviving members and that tells you which side won.

I am kinda glad they at least sprung for someone to do the harsh vocals live instead of pretaped with the volume rolled back.

Yeah, Jason Gobel being left out of the "Tribute to Sean Reinart" tour was a pile of crap.

As for Aeon Spoke, the reunion albums are all more Aeon Spoke than Cynic. That last album tried to sound more like Cynic and...failed miserably.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Call me a Cynic but I'm just not impressed.

 

[StevenC]

Yeah, Jason Gobel being left out of the "Tribute to Sean Reinart" tour was a pile of crap.

As for Aeon Spoke, the reunion albums are all more Aeon Spoke than Cynic. That last album tried to sound more like Cynic and...failed miserably.

Paul and Jason seem to be on good terms, did Jason want to be part of it?

 

[Randy]

Paul and Jason seem to be on good terms, did Jason want to be part of it?

I'm glad to see Jason re-emerge from civilian life but I haven't seen any indication he's interested in touring AFAIK.

EDIT: To clarify my thoughts on this:

I do know Jason had a less-than-stellar impression of working with Paul from what I gathered in the interview with Tymon (who also had an unpleasant experience working with Paul).

I did see the posts with Jason and Paul, I get the feeling it was a "hey lets meet up" thing with the fact both of the Seans died but I didn't get the vibe anything was necessarily going to come of it. I think Paul is kind of notoriously hard to work with, and I'm glad that Jason is finally doing *some* things in music again but touring with Paul might be a little too much. Would be great if they could get it together to sit in on some recording sessions though, like Malone was able to stomach.

 

[gunch]

power move: playing an aristides at the kiesel factory

Also I know lots of people here like cattle decap man but I don't think he sounded good at all in this context

 

[Randy]

As for Aeon Spoke, the reunion albums are all more Aeon Spoke than Cynic. That last album tried to sound more like Cynic and...failed miserably.

I thought Traced In Air had a lot of the Cynic DNA. Everything after that felt more and more like AS, with the occasional track that was Cynic-lite (Wheels Within Wheels).

I think that's what happened the more creative control Paul had over the process. TiA still had a lot of both Seans in it, and some of those tracks felt like they were maybe old Cynic or Portals songs waiting to be recorded.

 

[SalsaWood]

I hope the epicureans are next.

 

[works0fheart]

power move: playing an aristides at the kiesel factory

Also I know lots of people here like cattle decap man but I don't think he sounded good at all in this context

I imagine that they tried offering him a Kiesel to play and he declined, but Mike literally just got that custom Aristides. I don't blame him for preferring it.

As far as Travis goes, I agree. It was cool for a one off thing like this, and I love Cattle Decapitation but it just doesn't quite fit here.

 

[StevenC]

I'm glad to see Jason re-emerge from civilian life but I haven't seen any indication he's interested in touring AFAIK.

EDIT: To clarify my thoughts on this:

I do know Jason had a less-than-stellar impression of working with Paul from what I gathered in the interview with Tymon (who also had an unpleasant experience working with Paul).

I did see the posts with Jason and Paul, I get the feeling it was a "hey lets meet up" thing with the fact both of the Seans died but I didn't get the vibe anything was necessarily going to come of it. I think Paul is kind of notoriously hard to work with, and I'm glad that Jason is finally doing *some* things in music again but touring with Paul might be a little too much. Would be great if they could get it together to sit in on some recording sessions though, like Malone was able to stomach.

Malone was always a member of the band, and worked with Paul on Gordian Knot. He didn't tour because he was busy with academia and did tour with them on the last tour with Reinert. He lived with Paul for a while after his mother died. They seemed to be friends.

Reinert and Paul didn't seem to have a problem working together until the end, considering they worked together for almost 30 years straight.

 

[Randy]

Malone was always a member of the band, and worked with Paul on Gordian Knot. He didn't tour because he was busy with academia and did tour with them on the last tour with Reinert. He lived with Paul for a while after his mother died. They seemed to be friends.

Reinert and Paul didn't seem to have a problem working together until the end, considering they worked together for almost 30 years straight.

Honestly, I can't speak to the Malone thing because it's true he was always a member at least on the recordings. The public stuff with Reinert when they broke up did hint to issues going all the way back to the beginning.

But Robin and Tymon very clearly both had an issue working with Paul, as did Chuck. There's other people along the way. I believe there was an issue with Santiago Dobles who was supposed to play guitar on the original reunion tour. Jason's been on a few recordings with other bands after he got back into playing publicly, but still no hint of him on any new Cynic material.

Idk. A lot of it is speculation admittedly. Cynic is my favorite band of all time, and Jason Plus Paul are in my top favorite guitar players so it's not meant to be a knock on the band or even Paul. I got to meet him once on the tour with Devin and he was very humble and spent a lot of time making small talk without rushing me along. But that's a moment in time. Working together is a different animal. Personally the best music I've been a part of making was always with difficult people.

 

[works0fheart]

Honestly, I can't speak to the Malone thing because it's true he was always a member at least on the recordings. The public stuff with Reinert when they broke up did hint to issues going all the way back to the beginning.

But Robin and Tymon very clearly both had an issue working with Paul, as did Chuck. There's other people along the way. I believe there was an issue with Santiago Dobles who was supposed to play guitar on the original reunion tour. Jason's been on a few recordings with other bands after he got back into playing publicly, but still no hint of him on any new Cynic material.

Idk. A lot of it is speculation admittedly. Cynic is my favorite band of all time, and Jason Plus Paul are in my top favorite guitar players so it's not meant to be a knock on the band or even Paul. I got to meet him once on the tour with Devin and he was very humble and spent a lot of time making small talk without rushing me along. But that's a moment in time. Working together is a different animal. Personally the best music I've been a part of making was always with difficult people.

I used to take lessons with one of the above people about 10 years ago. He said that working with him (Paul) on Traced in Air they had to make a pretty big push against him to get the material to even sound metal-ish still, ie. the vocals, heavier riffs, etc. Sounds like a pretty obvious statement considering that Kindly Bent to Free Us ended up sounding super soft following Traced. Most people I've known that have worked with Paul, even if they still love him and his music have said that he has one of those frontman type personalities where he wants to be the main creative driving force. That's not always a bad thing in most situations but, for me, Focus is a masterpiece because of the sum of it's parts, not one person.

I have met Paul once and he was an awesome guy to talk to and super kind, but I do recognize that when art/creativity comes into play that people have different things they are willing to give or take.

 

[eaeolian]

Honestly, I can't speak to the Malone thing because it's true he was always a member at least on the recordings. The public stuff with Reinert when they broke up did hint to issues going all the way back to the beginning.

But Robin and Tymon very clearly both had an issue working with Paul, as did Chuck. There's other people along the way. I believe there was an issue with Santiago Dobles who was supposed to play guitar on the original reunion tour. Jason's been on a few recordings with other bands after he got back into playing publicly, but still no hint of him on any new Cynic material.

Idk. A lot of it is speculation admittedly. Cynic is my favorite band of all time, and Jason Plus Paul are in my top favorite guitar players so it's not meant to be a knock on the band or even Paul. I got to meet him once on the tour with Devin and he was very humble and spent a lot of time making small talk without rushing me along. But that's a moment in time. Working together is a different animal. Personally the best music I've been a part of making was always with difficult people.

Yeah, he's been very personable and mellow the two times I've chatted with him, but so was Schaeffer, and he was a right bastard to work with. A lot of the people who worked with them around "Focus" aren't super-fond of the idea of working with Paul, and I know Tymon and Robin basically got screwed.

I've been a fan since a buddy that worked at the label gave me the Roadrunner demo. "Focus" is probably a desert island disc for me, but I've had a hard time viewing anything post-"Traced" as anything but a Paul solo project. "Traced" has moments, like you said above, but after that it's blah, and the new drummer...isn't up to the challenge, IMO.

 

[anomynous]

Well, I mean, the thread title is true. Cynic was always about the interplay of the Seans with Paul's weirdness over the top. So, in that regard, Cynic *is* dead.

As for new music, we'll see? After the "Re-Focused" cash grab (because those drums sound like total crap), and the last record being...not Cynic sounding, well...

Not only do I not understand how people can think ReFocused sounds good, but there are people who think it sounds better than the original.


How? It sounds terrible.

 

[eaeolian]

Not only do I not understand how people can think ReFocused sounds good, but there are people who think it sounds better than the original.


How? It sounds terrible.

There's a word for these people:

Wrong.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I'm not a massive Cynic fan so I didn't know they remixed Focus. Just checked it out and... what the fuck is this shit? It sounds so... not good.

 

[Big Dumb Bitch]

I'm glad I got to see Cynic like 10 years ago in a small venue before Sean and Sean died and they had Max Phelps playing with them too. It was sick. I don't think I'd go see whatever Paul has going on now tho lol.

 

[StevenC]

The last time Cynic played anywhere near me was December 2011 and I couldn't go because it was an over 18s gig. But my brother went and got Paul to sign his ticket wishing me a happy xmas.

 

[StevenC]

This is how everyone who thinks Focus is better than TiA sounds to me