'90 DEMO

Cynic is one of the most influential bands in the tech metal genre, even though they only released one album in 1994 called Focus. Cynic is very different compared to most tech metal bands though as they have a more soft and melodic jazzy sound mixed with the tech metal madness. The robot voice from Paul Masvidal is also an original element on Focus. Allthough it was 1994 before Focus was released Cynic had been around for some time before that. They recorded 4 demos and played as session musicians on many metal albums from other artists ( Death, Pestilence, Master, Monstrosity, Atheist) before getting a record contract with Roadrunner records. The last demo was recorded for Roadrunner in 1991. This demo from 1990 is the third demo Cynic made.

This is the demo where Cynic´s music starts to take form. The two previous demos were very much rooted in the Bay area thrash metal style and didn´t hold that many tech metal elements. Allthough this third demo is still influenced by the Bay Area Thrash metal style, especially in the way Paul Masvidal sings, the music is very complex and can definitely be labelled tech metal. The songs have lots of different riffs and some of them are played with real virtuosity.

The musicians have finally become outstanding and you can hear that the interplay between them have become much better over the last year.

The sound quality is bearable this time, and allthough it´s not a professional production, which you can´t expect when it´s a demo, the instruments can be heard well enough anyway. The demo is produced by Cynic and the famous metal producer Scott Burns who has also worked with bands like Atheist, Death, Psychotic Waltz, Obituary, Napalm Death and Pestilence among others. The demo is recorded in legendary Florida based metal studio Morrisound.

This demo is quite enjoyable and you begin to hear traces of how Cynic would sound later on. There are no clean ( robot) singing here though only semi-growling vocals from Paul Masvidal. I´ll rate this 3 stars as I feel this is a very worthy purchase for fans of the early nineties tech metal scene. Don´t expect this demo to sound like Focus though. There is still a long way to that standard.