'88 DEMO

"'88 Demo" is, just as the name suggests, an 1988 cassette demo tape by US technical/progressive death metal act Cynic. While it wouldn´t be until 1993 that Cynic released their debut full-length studio album "Focus", they were rather busy in the intermediate years. Cynic recorded 4 demos and played as session musicians on many metal albums by other artists (Death, Pestilence, Master, Monstrosity, Atheist) before getting a record contract with Roadrunner Records. The last demo was recorded for Roadrunner Records in 1991. This demo from 1988 is the first demo Cynic released.

The music is on the demo is in the vein of Bay Area mid- to late eighties thrash metal ala Forbidden, Vio-Lence and Testament. The technical/progressive death metal influences that are present on "Focus", are not a part of the band´s sound yet and wouldn´t be until the third demo. The thrash metal sound are mostly due to Jack Kelly´s raw voice and his singing style, but the guitar riffs also point in a thrash metal direction. The tracks aren´t that memorable and the songwriting is obviously a bit imature at this point.

The musicians are not that accomplished yet, which is probably due to their young age. Sean Reinert sticks out a bit though as his drumming is pretty competent even this early on.

The sound production is pretty noisy and lo-fi. It´s very typical for eighties metal cassette demos, so it´s really no surprise. Especially the bass has an odd sound, that are really distracting when trying to figure out what Cynic want to do with their music. The guitar sounds very weak too.

I´d say this demo is only for the really hardcore fans and even some of those fans probably won´t be able to appreciate the demo. Personally I like the bay Area thrash metal style and enjoy this demo moderately and I´ll rate it with a 2 star (40%) rating.

Cynic '1988 Demo' 2 stars

Cynic; a band who is now known as a legendary death metal/jazz fusion act reached new heights in music with their debut album 'Focus'. It was not from humble beginnings though. The band was formed by the friendship Paul Masvidal (guitar) and Sean Reinert (drums). On this recording Mark Van Erp joined on bass while Jack Kelly is on vocals.

This release is more thrash metal than anything else. The musicianship is above par though in comparison to that genre. It is clear though, that drummer Sean Reinert is well above not only standard musicianship in thrash, but just about any genre. He was already proficient since his first official recording. This recording is very comparable to some of early 'Death' work. It seems only natural that the founding members of this band would appear on the line-up for Death's 'Human' album many years later.

Anyway, this album is mostly a thrash metal album with death metal vocals. Occasionally, Paul Masvidal will throw in a nice solo which are the highlights shared by Sean's incredible drums. Only a collector's item naturally, and good luck finding it if you want to buy it.

"A Humble Beginning."

Few would debate the serenity and calmness of the modern incarnation of Paul Masvidal, so much so that at times the more metal parts of Traced in Air seem at odds with his character. Not so when he and long-time friend and bandmate, Sean Reinert, formed Cynic in 1987, a year before this demo was released. Long before they discovered what they could do with jazz, they were a death metal band of the thrash-influenced ilk (as opposed to the slower or groovier doom/melodic/groove metal kind); a far cry from what they'd do with Focus and, later, Traced in Air.

Established Cynic fans will have no trouble listening to this demo (if only once), just for the sake of understanding where the band started and what they sounded like before the many changes (by the time the next demo arrived, Jack Kelly's tenure with the band would be over and Jason Gobel was the second guitarist while Paul handled vocal duties) that preceded the eventual line-up that recorded their first full-length. Recommending it to first-time listeners, however, is tricky (it isn't, by a long margin, the band's best work). Especially those from the prog community, because this just doesn't do much for the word "progressive", nor is it in that sense very good.

All this said, Cynic would get better with every release , and this isn't by any means a bad start for a bunch of kids trying to find their way in music. Sean's drumming is already quite proficient, although not yet as polished as in later releases; Paul's guitar playing sounds like typical thrash-riffing, with fine guitar solos; Jack adequately fills his role as the singer, but he lacks any power and variation in his voice (from what I can hear) and it's easy to see why he didn't last long; and Mark van Erp's bass is groovy in places. Once Misguided and Weak Reasoning find themselves battling vainly for attention and staying power, with their only memorable parts to the average listener being the choruses which sound too similar for taste (the riffs in Weak Reasoning, though, are pretty cool). They are let down by the band's as yet undeveloped songwriting skills, which is understandable, considering their age. Dwellers of the Threshold, the final track, is the most memorable, mainly due to the prevalence of more melody in the guitar and bass, and Paul's solo, which is his best on the demo. Production, especially the guitar, is sub-par (but not awful), but not unexpected, as this was the 1980's and done by amateurs on cassette.

Overall, it is Cynic's worst release, written when the band (and members) was still very young. As far as metal goes, it's good and some people would probably prefer this to the robotic vocals and jazz that would later become an important part of the music, seeing as it's straight death/thrash metal. But I wouldn't recommend this to someone unless they wanted to hear Cynic's discography from beginning to end, in that order, or if they're already a fan and want to know how it all started. 2.4 stars.

'88 Demo' - Cynic (4/10)

Around the same time that Floridan death metal pioneers Death came out with their seminal debut 'Scream Bloody Gore', a then-unknown act called Cynic came out with this demo, a fairly raw piece of early death metal and thrash that sounds greatly unlike the technical progressive metal act they would later develop into years later. Being a demo, there is no implication of polish or nuance here, instead just meaning to give the metal scene of the time a way to gauge the talents that were already apparent in Cynic at this time. That being said however, Cynic's '88 Demo' is nothing when compared to their jazzier material, and while it is sure to appeal to fans of other Floridan death metal, the musical quality would only improve from here.

With vocals from Jack Kelly, bass from Mark Van Erp, guitars from Paul Masvidal, and drums courtesy of Sean Reinert, this is a Cynic that is only partially recognizable when compared to the most widely regarded line-up with 'Focus'. As demos go, Cynic's work here is actually decently produced, with each musician being somewhat clearly heard. Even the bass work here (which plays a solid part in the music here) is audible and contributes to the sound. Masvidal still sounds like a disciple of Chuck Schuldiner here, but for what his technique lacks in originality here, he plays the riffs here well. The songwriting is fairly mediocre, being fairly on par with the sort of material Death released with 'Scream Bloody Gore', so if a listener enjoyed that album, the '88 Demo' of Cynic should give an enjoyable listening experience. Possibly the weakest aspect of '88 Demo' though are the vocals of Jack Kelly, who may be fairly run-of-the- mill as growlers go, but the way his voice is recorded in the production makes his voice sound like a muffled garble as opposed to anything musical.

The '88 Demo' shows Cynic as a fairly generic Floridan death metal act, and while I personally find it to be fairly mediocre and easy to digest, the quality that Cynic has even early on should spark the interest of those that are into this particular scene in metal.