Musical Style
Cynic's first recordings feature a more punk, thrash and hardcore sound, but in the 1990s their sound changed towards a highly complex, experimental and extremely technical form of progressive metal, while still retaining their death metal roots. Many influences from jazz and jazz-rock fusion can be heard on their debut album Focus. Focus has both "growls" and "robotic" vocals, using a vocoder. The offshoot Portal later released a demo recording that continues even further in the direction of progressive space rock, refining and softening up their sound.
Cynic's 2008 album Traced in Air melded together the styles and influences heard on 1993's Focus with the more progressive-oriented Portal approach. The result had Cynic put less emphasis on its extreme metal elements, with new guttural vocalist Tymon Kruidenier playing a smaller role than Tony Teegarden did on Focus. Additionally, Paul Masvidal all but abandoned his vocoder robotic vocals, opting instead for a more natural singing voice, with a subtler —although noticeable— vocoder layer.
Noting the journey from metal to the progressives, The New York Times proclaimed in a positive review of Traced in Air that "Cynic should be understood not so much alongside any metal bands but along with the radical harmonic progressives in the last 45 years of pop and jazz: composers like Milton Nascimento, The Beach Boys or Pat Metheny."
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