CARBON-BASED ANATOMY

The Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse are back ! Yes they lost a member along the way but Reinert, Malone and Masvidal are back in the saddle spreading death and pestilance along the way. Okay i'll stop with the dramatics already. CYNIC sounded like no other band when they released their debut "Focus" back in the nineties. They were trail-blazers and as such didn't have any like-minded bands to hang with let alone play with. A year later they broke up. In the meantime countless bands have been inspired by that album. They returned with the acclaimed "Traced In Air" and haven't looked back. This EP is unlike anything they have done. They have followed the path of bands like MAUDLIN OF THE WELL and KAYO DOT turning their backs on extreme music and becoming more atmospheric along the way. There was a really good interview with Masdival in the Classic Rock Presents Prog magazine not long ago. In it he talks about how he felt like a conduit-just showing up and letting his body be used as a creative outlet. "He was aiming at an "underworld, haunting dark sense" with the versus but a childlike, lullaby-esque chorus." There seems to be themes about the mind, travelling and death. It's a very spiritual album if you ask me. While it's different from LUNATIC SOUL I was reminded of that project.

"Amidst The Coals" opens with plenty of atmosphere before female vocals sing then speak in a Shaman-like manner. I should mention that she is a Folk singer named Amy Correia who is a good friend of the band and totally gets what they are trying to accomplish here. It blends into "Carbon-Based Anatomy" where the drums come in and build in an impressive way. Male vocals before 1 1/2 minutes and they will become reserved with acoustic guitar before it kicks back in. A guitar solo after 4 minutes then it eventually blends into "Bija !" a short Middle-Eastern flavoured tune with lots of percussion as Amy offers up vocal melodies.

"Box Up My Bones" gradually builds until we get a killer sound. Almost spoken vocals 1 1/2 minutes in followed by singing as these contrasts continue. "Elves Beam Out" opens with atmosphere before it kicks in hard and uptempo. Vocals too and the guitar cries out after 2 minutes. "Hieroglyph" is as Masdival describes "...like entering the portal of your pineal gland and exiting the body. Kind of like the death experience". Lots of atmosphere with spoken words.

Masdival says he's always writing about life and death, and considering he's volunteered at a hospice for the last 10 years he certainly is qualified.