Received a transmission of a new single by Cynic. Feeling a bit disappointed in this tune, called ‘Humanoid’. While it has the great active warm fretless sounding bass-lines, and Y. Malmsteen styled solos, the vocals are a completely different style than on Focus and Traced in Air. Normally their vocals have the flanged-out robo. voice. On this new track, the vocals don’t sound metal enough. They are too Pink Floyd or Lincoln Park-ish for me. The guitars have tons of solos, but leave the bass to carry the rhythm, and this doesn’t work. It makes it too light. The whole thing comes off sounding funky rather than heavy. I would like them to go back and at least out a flanger on the vocals and add another heavier rhythm guitar tracking along with the bass.

When they first came out they were a mind-blowing novelty. Over time the question has become whether its a band that simply gets old once you have heard them a few times or not. Traced in Air was a solid album, very interesting from a percussive and rhythm perspective, but lacked emotional impact, due to not being as mind-blowing as the original. This band walks a fine line between being too light, and still being metal (in a Bill and Ted’s of DM type way). Some of the jazzy breaks sometimes come off too much like a deodorant commercial, where they are walking on the beach smelling the fresh ocean air. The problem with most of Cynic’s releases are that they are overly showy, with too much sauce and not enough meat. Where’s the beef?

Tags: 2018, cynic, Humanoid, pedal metal, weak