TRACED IN AIR

And the hurricane that rips my body apart. That is a nice way to say how this album portrays itself, overall. The deranged highly technical compositional levels are staggering, and all of the performers are experts in their selected craft.

This album supposedly befits the general base element of air. I would be inclined to agree, as air can and will be terribly brutal at times, and caress you softly the next. Such is the music of this fine half hour complex excursion.

Nunc Fluens begins in a sort of cacophonous rabble that atmospherically sets the tone for the first leg of the album. It then becomes one monster roller coaster ride with jagged assaulting start stop jerking eruptions, mind boggling technical playing, and the occasional soft and seemingly warmly smooth section.

In all, this is a more laid back album compared to the highly praised Focus, which is part of why it is such a fantastic album, the brutality and calm is more balanced out, with much more focus on the robotic and soft vocals utilizing the vocoder, which adds a more ethereal and airy mood to the entire package. The knotty passages could make many music students weak in the knees. This is insanely technical.

The lyrics, as usual with Cynic, are cryptic and imagery laden, with enough complexities to deeply interest those who take lyrics into deep account. The melodic singing is superb, and the growling is expertly executed. The disc's short running time also assists in the overall charm of it. It makes for absolutely no time wasted, whatsoever. Then you've the entire twisting and ever evolving and spiraling theme of the album, which is turned inside out and back, again. No musical idea overstays its welcome, and makes for a compact listening ride.

The only real thing I could say negatively about this release, is that the brutality might put a large majority of listeners off, but what would you expect? The album ends in another moody atmospheric song Nunc Stans. Over before it began? Not really. the album takes all the time it needs to fully explore the musical ideas present. The complexity, paired with the originality, berth of musical ideas and ideas that are exceptionally well crafted and utilized, the intriguing nature of the release, and the intense emotional hell ride that it subjects you to, warrant this as a complex extreme metal masterpiece.

Best Moment - One compact half hour gold mine

*****

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