TRACED IN AIR

"We've been on an amazing journey discovering this new music and soon it will be yours. Expect the unexpected. The album is an intensely concentrated mosaic of internal and external energies, from the deepest peace to the purest aggression. There's an acquired taste that comes with a record of this density, but once your ears wrap themselves around the language at work, everything falls into place and suddenly you'll feel a sudden urge to sing, scream or maybe even cry. The album has a beginning, middle and end. The story will reveal itself after numerous listens and then you may not want to let go. Besides Reinert and I, Tymon brought some new life force and magic to the record with fierce growling and poetic guitar sensibilities. Malone also did a fine job with the low end, grooving away with Reinert in a pocket land from hell!" - Paul Masvidal to Blabbermouth, July 2008

After more than a decade from their debut, the band reunion results their 2008 album, Traced In Air. The album has the same atmospheric and progressive jazz fusion tendencies mixed together with technical death metal, played by the real pioneers of the techdeath genre. Some fans aren't happy enough with this album, cause the leading vocals are less focused on brutality, but the robotic singing. Well, this album is much more detailed and reaches the same full level as the previous one. It's funny to compare the two full lenghts with the first demos and recordings from the band, something in a pure and brutal death/thrash metal form, like Possessed. The first track and last (Nunc Fluens and Nunc Stans) has different philosophies of time. "Nunc fluens facit tempus, nunc stans facit aeternitatum. (The now that passes produces time, the now that remains produces eternity.)" - Boethius. This album has one of the best drum records ever made, in my opinion.

Space For This is just perfect. The song starts slowly and atmospheric, and the progressive, melodic technical songwriting are awesome. The whole instrumentation kickasses. This song makes me feel floating in space. I like the balance between extreme fusion and melodic tunes. Well, the guitar solos are majestic. Evolutionary Sleeper has the same vibe. The drums are outstanding. Integral Birth is beautiful right from the intro. These guys has the hability to jump from agression into a deep slowly passage and back to the heaviness suddenly as hell. The Unknown Guest is another great track, very detailed, and it features creepy tribal vocalizations. Listening to this, you just can't stop any track, the complexity and awesome unexpected riff sequence makes this one of the most catchy albums into the hardcore technical music. Adam's Murmur is good, but it's my least favorite track, and lucky as I am, my cd version includes Adam's Murmur demo. I will explain. This song is cool but too "alternative" for the album. Yeah, it's heavy and wouldn't fit into Aeon Spoke (the alternative rock project from Cynic members), but it's melodic ENOUGH for Cynic. I know, you may say "the whole stuff is melodic enough" comparing with the previous releases, but that's MY point of view. King of Those Who Know reaches the peak of complex songwriting, too many variations, a catchy but hard listening track. Pretty unique album. A must to any prog rock collector.