I felt this was worth a thread since it involves one of the best bands, ever.

Let's start with the music in question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqvViz4jes

I LOVED Traced in Air and I thought it was a fair step away from the legendary Focus, but this EP they've released in something completely unexpected, in a bad way.

It's really nice music, and I enjoy it, but it's not what anyone who's purchased Focus and/or Traced in Air would be expecting. I was so close to ordering this without listening first, and I'm so glad I didn't.

This just comes off as false advertisement to me.. It's like "NECROPHAGIST NEW ALBUM: SOUL STEALER!", then you turn it on and it's fucking power metal.. In fact, that would STILL be better than what happened here, but obviously non-sense. I like power metal and I like whatever this is, but it's almost entirely divorced from their previous works.

Why not just file this under Portal or something (i liked portal)? It seems they are done with metal for good, which is fine - But why use the name "Cynic" for something that doesn't sound anything like what people listened to for years during their hiatus?

In the end, it's their stuff, and we're just the listeners - they can do whatever they want, but I'm sure others will be venting about this just like many did when Traced in Air was released.

Yeah, this sounds a lot like the old Portal stuff. That said, I like the old Portal stuff and so far I like this, too. Not sure if you could call it metal, but I'd definitely call it good. I do miss the rovox, though.

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I am unfamiliar with any of the bands mentioned. This isn't really my style, as it is sorta pseudo-progressive (kinda forced) sounding. Definitely wouldn't count as metal in my book. I also wouldn't call this bad, though. I'm not a fan of the opening lyrics. Its a well produced track that I can totally see people liking.

I didn't really go anywhere with that post besides giving my first impressions and opinion. Something about the track is just a little weak in terms of composition. I've heard much better repetitive songs. If I had to rate it then it would still be above average.

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I'm with Chris. I enjoyed it. Not blown away by it but its cool. I don't think a band should change their name because they're deciding to a mellower album (if its safe to judge the entire album will be like this).

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The entire EP is like this.. It's nice stuff, but it's way more like a Portal album than a Cynic album. Going from Focus to this is like being thrown in cold water.

That said, I'm still curious about their next full length.

But they didn't go from Focus to this new released, Traced in Air was in between and I think it served as a hint in the transition they were planning on making. But yeah, I agree, this does some much closer to Portal.

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Fair enough, but Traced in Air was pretty amazing as Prog Metal goes.. I suppose if anyone bothered with Re-Traced, then that would have served as a hint. At this point, if you look at Re-Traced, and what ever this stuff is, then their full length in 2012 will probably not be all too interesting as far as metal goes.

Yeah, I've pretty much given up expecting anything metal from them after Traced in Air. That's alright with me though because the way I look at their transmogrification is this: these dudes are probably different people than they were back in '93 when they released Focus. They're probably not interested at all in trying to rehash another album like Focus as they want to be as forward-thinking now as they were then and I'd rather not have such awesomely creative and talented musicians be constrained to just one genre. Let vines grow in any direction they want! And back to your original comment: this is why I like that they're keeping with the same band name as it serves as a historical map of their progress.

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